Former inner-city youth and Chicago Public School teacher, Rosita Chatonda founded the Coalition and Alliance of Urban School Educators (CAUSE). She also founded Teach for the Future Inc. – a curriculum-based organization providing innovative curricula as well as culturally-based social, emotional experiences for inner-city youth.

As an active CTU member, Rosita worked on Karen Lewis’s campaign for CTU President and preceded Brandon Johnson as the southside regional organizer for the Union. Rosita formed a caucus of the Chicago Teacher’s Union to organize African American Teachers in Chicago who had been wrongfully terminated by the Chicago Department of Education.

Chatonda holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Roosevelt University, a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Concordia, and a doctorate in Education from Newburgh Theological Seminary. Her dissertation entitled, “Literacy Gap,” supports her focus on Literacy for student who are African-American and Descendants of Slavery by addressing inequalities in education for Black students through literacy.