Jeff Jenkins
Jeff Jenkins ran for election to the Chicago City Council to represent Ward 47 in Illinois. He lost in the general election on February 26, 2019.
Jenkins completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. Click here to read the survey answers.
Jenkins responded to Ballotpedia's unique candidate survey for 2019 Chicago candidates. The survey questions were developed with input from more than 100 Chicagoans in the months preceding the 2019 election. Here is one selected response:
"When my local school, Coonley elementary was under enrolled, I decided to start an after school program to help make the school better - even before my kids were old enough to attend. We brought in an arts-focused program that included movement and play time. Children learn through play."
Click here to read more of Jenkins' responses.
Elections
2019
See also: City elections in Chicago, Illinois (2019)
General runoff election
General runoff election for Chicago City Council Ward 47
Matt Martin defeated Michael Negron in the general runoff election for Chicago City Council Ward 47 on April 2, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Matt Martin (Nonpartisan)  | 62.5 | 11,813 |
 | Michael Negron (Nonpartisan) | 37.5 | 7,089 | |
| Total votes: 18,902 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
General election
General election for Chicago City Council Ward 47
The following candidates ran in the general election for Chicago City Council Ward 47 on February 26, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Matt Martin (Nonpartisan) | 39.3 | 7,586 |
| ✔ | | Michael Negron (Nonpartisan) | 21.4 | 4,126 |
 | Eileen Dordek (Nonpartisan) | 17.5 | 3,373 | |
 | Jeff Jenkins (Nonpartisan) | 8.3 | 1,602 | |
| Heather Way Kitzes (Nonpartisan) | 4.8 | 931 | ||
| Angie Maloney (Nonpartisan) | 4.6 | 888 | ||
| Thomas Schwartzers (Nonpartisan) | 1.9 | 372 | ||
| Gus Katsafaros (Nonpartisan) | 1.8 | 344 | ||
| Kimball Ladien (Nonpartisan) | 0.4 | 75 | ||
| Total votes: 19,297 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2019
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Chicago 2019 Candidate Survey
Jeff Jenkins completed Ballotpedia's Chicago candidates survey for 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Jenkins' responses.
Low-income families do not have the same choices, options, or alternatives when it comes to public school. How can this be addressed?
As a public school parent, six-year LSC member, founding board member of Raise Your Hand Action and and an active volunteer with Friends of Amundsen and GROWCommunity, I have been unwavering advocate fighting to fully fund public schools and provide equity within CPS. I will fight for full funding for to ensure equitable funding for all of our neighborhood public schools - particularly schools that don’t have the capacity to fundraise. The impact of cuts to public services, in an attempt to balance budgets are felt most harshly by people and communities who can least afford to absorb the ill effects of the reduction in services. Budget cuts to our schools are a prime example of reckless behavior, that in the end will cost our city more and hurt our most vulnerable by denying them opportunities to live up to their potential and give back to their communities and our city. I strongly oppose budget cuts to public services as a means to balance a budget. I prefer to look at ways to raise progressive revenue and ask more of people and corporations who can afford to pay more.
How would you address inequality within and between schools?
TIF reform is a critical first step. Through TIF reform, I will make sure TIF dollars go to fund schools. TIF dollars that go to private development take away from our ability to fund schools. I will prioritize investments in Amundsen and Lake View - our outstanding neighborhood high schools in the 47th ward. I will continue to support the work of GROWCommunity and work with alderman across the city to expand the GROWCommunity model citywide. Every child deserve access to a high quality public education.I always have been, and always will be, a staunch advocate for equitable funding of our public schools.
How can public schools better support their teachers and work more productively with the teachers’ union, parents, and the community?
I have been a strong proponent of an elected representative school board and have been an outspoken advocate on this issue, canvassing starting in 2012 with RYH and CTU/GEM, leading actions with my community, and bringing attention to the need for more democracy in our Ed system here in Chicago and in Springfield. This is a top priority of mine. This is how we suport teacher, parents and the community - by bringing their voice to the table. Many members of our appointed school board and CPS leadership team send their children to private school. I think it is important for those folks who make decisoins about our public schools to have some skin in the game. CPS continually makes decision without engaging the local community - whether this is the rollout of universal prek (which is devastating our community based nonprofits) or the decision to close 49 schools in 2013 and then open close to 40 new schools in the years after. CPS and the Mayor's Office make these decisions without engaging the community. They have been irresponsible and end up weakening the quality of education for our most vulnerable students while destabilizing the communities. This has to stop.
What do you believe are the greatest needs of kids in school today? How would you prioritize these needs and address them?
Two things: 1) disinvestment in neighborhood schools in favor of charter school expansion and 2) too much testing. There is no evidence that charter schools outperform traditional schools, and the proliferation of charters over the past twenty years in Chicago has caused great chaos. Charters do not have the same sunlight on their finances and I support a charter moratorium for any financially distressed districts. I am in full support of the unionization of charter school members. I am opposed to the narrowing of the curriculum to match testing requirements with a focus on reading and math at the expense of social studies, science, and social emotional learning. The narrow focus hits our schools that are less resourced the hardest. This has been a result of 30 years of failed federal education policy as a result of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top. Students do their best when their academic, health and social needs are met. Far too much time is spent teaching to the test and tying teacher evaluations to these outcomes inhibits their ability to differentiate and find creative ways to reach students. Equitable funding and strong investment in neighborhood school is a top priority.
What are your proposals for supporting children before and after school? What would be your ideal afterschool programs?
When my local school, Coonley elementary was under enrolled, I decided to start an after school program to help make the school better - even before my kids were old enough to attend. We brought in an arts-focused program that included movement and play time. Children learn through play. Before and afterschool should be a balance to allow children to expend energy after sitting still in a classroom all day with movement, homework support to allow children to stay on track in a supported environment, and STEAM type programs to give children opportunities they might not otherwise get to experience outside of the school day.
Do you believe that there is corruption in Chicago politics, such as pay-to-play practices when the city awards bids? If so, how would you address it?
I have been an outspoken critic of elected and appointed officials having outside jobs that pose conflicts of interest. This erodes the public trust and creates opportunities for cronyism and corruption. It is no different for employees working in the offices of said officials. The practice of employing people who have jobs with city contractors creates unfair advantage. This undermines a competitive marketplace for hardworking Chicagoans who would like to contribute their skills to making the city a better place to live and work. I am strongly opposed to this practice and would not employ anyone in this manner. The city council can make itself more independent from the Mayor by holding agencies accountable through public hearings, requiring more time to review budgets and ordinances before voting on measures. As alderman, I will vote as a representative of my constituents, and stand up for what’s right for all Chicagoans. I pledge to prioritize the public good over personal or political gain and plan to be a strong independent voice, and tireless advocate for transparency and accountability in City Hall. We should demand high standards from all of our elected officials and public servants - things like integrity, transparency, and effectiveness. I absolutely believe the inspector general should have the power to audit and review City Council programs, operations and committees unimpeded. It’s good for democracy and good for the taxpayer.
How would you make the city’s policies more responsive to community input instead of donors or special interests?
The city and the alderman can be more responsive by engaging their constituents in conversation using diverse formats to meet the needs of working families, older adults, single parents, and first responders, to name a few. We have a diverse ward and every voice counts. I will be truly representative. I will hold ward night and days, office hours at local businesses, and use electronic methods to survey my constituents. I will use open space technology and other facilitation methods to bring more voice into the decision making process.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2019 Elections
External links
Footnotes
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