Educating for Dignity and Opportunity: Glenn Wilke

The Midtown Educational Foundation has been helping low-income students in Chicago graduate from high school and enter college since 1965 through a series of summer and after-school programs. This week we speak with Glenn Wilke, Midtown's executive director, about the blessings he has seen in his many years with the program.

Midtown Educational Foundation is a Chicago success story, and has helped over 22,000 students gain the support and skills they need to make it through college. 

If you enjoy our interviews, please consider supporting us with an ongoing Patreon donation. Thank you! 

MEF splits it operations between the Midtown Center for boys and the Metro Achievement Center for girls. Midtown and Metro both cater to youths from the 4th to 12th grades, with summer and school-year programs that include character development, sports, electives, field trips, and tutoring. The Centers serve not only at-risk students but also their parents. The Parent Program focuses on the other side of youth education—the parents as educators. The goal of the program is to “help parents understand that they are the primary educators of their children.”