2026 Annual Report Microsite Sneak Peek

Metropolitan Family Services Mpowers families to learn, to earn, to heal and to thrive.

Part mentor, part motivator, part advocate, since 1857 Metropolitan Family Services has been the engine of change that Mpowers families to reach their greatest potential and positively impact their communities.

MFS walks alongside our clients as they navigate their journey, overcome obstacles and discover paths to progress. Through our wraparound services, we’re providing the resources, encouragement and support needed to keep moving forward—meeting each person where they are and helping them chart a course towards empowerment. Together, we’re creating new paths and opening the way to brighter destinations.

From our CEO and Board Chair

This year, Metropolitan Family Services moved forward with purpose—meeting change with resolve, seizing new opportunities, and deepening our commitment to helping children, families and communities thrive.

One powerful example of that progress was the ribbon-cutting of the Joyce Mpower House, a new state-of-the-art facility equipping youth in Chicago’s Greater Englewood community with the technology skills, creative tools and confidence they need to prepare for tomorrow’s careers. Opened in July 2026 through the extraordinary generosity of Ashley and Mike Joyce and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, the Joyce Mpower House includes a computer and gaming lab, makerspace and the Robert R. McCormick Media Center, featuring recording and podcast studios. Located on the We Grow Peace Campus, the House is part of a larger collective of locally led organizations advancing renewal, opportunity and transformation in West Englewood. MFS is proud to stand with these partners in this important work.

Ric Estrada (left) and Erik Barefield (right)

We were also deeply honored by an historic gift from MFS Board Member Steve Patton, his wife Linda, and their family. Their generosity will support the building of a new Midway Children’s Center (MCC) and the new Patton Family Mpower House, which will be part of the Howard & Evanston Community Center (HECC). The new MCC, located on Chicago’s Southwest Side, will give our youngest clients a modern, welcoming space designed for optimal learning and development. MFS began providing Head Start services in the Midway community in the 1980s, and generations of families have since entrusted us with their children’s early learning. This new facility will expand classrooms and create much-needed space for parent support services, motor skills development, counseling and wellness.

The Patton Family Mpower House will create a new and expanded home for HECC’s youth Clubhouse, where young people build advanced technology skills and imagine new possibilities for their futures. The Clubhouse helped inspire the Joyce Mpower House, and together these investments strengthen our ability to open doors for young people across communities.

Sustaining and expanding behavioral health services remains one of our highest priorities. MFS was selected to join the State of Illinois’ Certified Community Behavioral Health Center (CCBHC) Learning Collaborative—an important first step toward our goal of becoming fully certified as a CCBHC. Based at our Southwest Center in Merrionette Park, MFS’ CCBHC will provide integrated behavioral health care for anyone in our southwest suburban service area who needs support. Certification will help us broaden comprehensive services, improve care coordination, and secure enhanced funding to better meet the needs of our clients.

We also obtained our Substance Use Prevention and Recovery (SUPR) license from the Illinois Department of Human Services for our Southwest, Southeast Chicago, and DuPage Centers. This milestone allows us, for the first time, to provide outpatient substance use prevention and recovery services and respond more fully to the complex needs of the people we serve.

We strengthened our leadership as well, welcoming Peggy McGuire as Executive Director of Metropolitan DuPage Center and Meghan Kelly as Executive Director of Metropolitan Southwest Center. Peggy brings new perspective and deep experience to MFS, while Meghan steps into this role after serving as Southwest Project Director. We are grateful for their leadership and excited for the impact they will have at their respective Centers.

Most importantly, our Leadership Team and Board of Directors recently completed MFS’ new strategic plan with the support of BCG Consulting, a trusted partner to MFS for more than two decades. With this plan, we recommit ourselves to being a central institution in Chicago’s social service ecosystem: a high quality human services provider, an employer of choice, and a trusted partner responsive to the evolving needs of our communities and employees. The work ahead is to turn our strategic priorities into clear action—so our staff colleagues understand the path forward and, most importantly, so the people and communities we serve experience meaningful results. As always, we will listen, learn and adapt while staying firmly focused on service quality and the people who deliver it.

As we look to the new fiscal year, we do so with momentum, gratitude and determination. Thank you for believing in this work and for walking alongside MFS on the path ahead. Together, we will continue creating pathways to progress for the individuals, families and communities we are privileged to serve.

Thanks to all of you who partner with us to “Mpower Families” and make our communities stronger!

Sincerely,

Ric Estrada,
MFS President and CEO

Erik Barefield,
MFS Governing Board Chair

Building Bridges to New Careers:

“The BTC program and MFS have empowered me to be myself and have the confidence that I know I have to be a union carpenter and be all I can be because they believe in me and they just empower every single person that walks into here, whatever program you’re in.”

Creating a Foundation for Education:

“From then to now, just watching her grow constantly. It’s our biggest happiness because she loves waking up for school. She loves coming to the Center. She loves everything. Honestly. I love the fact that she loves coming to school.”

View Financials

View Donor List

Download the MFS 2026 Annual Report here!

Stay tuned for our full Annual Report microsite soon!