Programs and Services

Serves the Altgeld Riverdale serves the Altgeld Riverdale community to build a holistic support to children’s development and equitable educational opportunities. The services provided will ensure all children in the Altgeld Riverdale community are succeeding developmentally and academically by 3rd grade.

Community Schools operates during non-school hours and expands positive choices and opportunities for youth while achieving academic success. Tutoring, homework help, recreation, life skills, cultural opportunities, and case management are included.

Digital Equity Capacity Kickstarter Program provides enriched engagement within the FOC and Altgeld Riverdale communities to increase awareness and enrollment in low-cost broadband programs, build digital learning skills, and expand access to additional technology resources.

A 4-to-8-week basic computer skills program for adults of all ages located at FOC. Participants are engaged in a robust curriculum including basic computers, Windows basics, Internet Explorer, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, social media and more.

Mentor Works is a mentoring program that services a cohort of 30 high school youth who live in a community that experiences high rates of gun violence and homicides. The program will provide high quality mentoring services that will be curriculum-driven, trauma-focused, and will teach the youth conflict-resolution skills and engagement in pro-social behavior. Mentor Works provides support and advocacy to youth to help them remain in high school and graduate.

MOMS Plus is for pregnant and/or young mothers and fathers ages 13–21 who are youth in DCFS care. Homebased services and groups help improve the mother’s parenting skills, promote healthy child development, create support networks among young mothers, address trauma that may impact emotional and/or behavioral functioning, and link caregivers to resources.

A 4-week course and certification program that prepares participants for job placement and employment in the healthcare field.

Project STRIVE is a collaboration between Metropolitan Family Services, DCFS and Chicago Public Schools that helps stabilize students who are youth in DCFS care. The program reduces truancy, suspensions and expulsions; improves academic performance; addresses emotional and behavior problems; and increases parental and caseworker involvement.

Provides educational and supportive services to eligible first-generation, college-bound students to help them successfully complete high school and enter college. This partnership involves the U.S. Department of Education and Metropolitan Family Services Calumet; serving students attending Harlan H.S., Corliss H.S., Bowen H.S. and those living in zip code areas 60628, 60643, 60617, 60619 and 60827.

Assists participants with the necessary job readiness training and placement supports to obtain and sustain employment.

Families in Transition (FIT) program provides housing, goal setting, mentoring and referrals to help homeless families whose children attend Chicago Public Schools. Services help families to become permanently housed and achieve economic stability.

A comprehensive case management program that supports families as they strive for self-sufficiency. Family Works provides employment and education services, opportunities for youth, lease compliance, clinical and wellness services, and senior support services to families in Altgeld Gardens.

A career and personal financial service center at Kennedy-King College. We help clients change their financial behavior and encourage them to make a long-term commitment to increasing income, decreasing expenses and acquiring assets. Our core services are career improvement and employment placement, financial literacy, and public benefits access. We also offer technology training on-site.

A multi-faceted approach to youth employment that invests in the future of Illinois’ at-risk transition-age youth (16-24). This approach to youth employment accounts for youth employment barriers as well as the physical, emotional, social, and mental health needs while helping them to secure and sustain long-term and/or career employment thereby ensuring a greater likelihood of success and self-sufficiency.

An initiative to rapidly connect families and individuals experiencing homelessness to housing. Through a tailored package of assistance, participants receive time-limited rental assistance and targeted intensive supportive services working toward self-sufficiency.

The Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) is part of the One Summer Chicago program that targets Chicago youth between ages 16-24. It is a 6-week program that runs from the first week of July through the second week of August. Youth are provided with part-time subsidized employment, financial literacy workshops, supportive services, and job readiness assistance.

An extension of the Summer Youth Employment Program. We serve 50 youth from the far south region, who reside in Chicago, between the ages of 16-24. Youth receive specialized training and employment by completing 54 hours of career development and planning.

An innovative construction education training program that teaches the basic concepts of construction for individuals ages 16–24. It is an option for high school drop-outs to earn their GED and a certification from National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER). We provide high school dropouts and alternative school students the education and entry level occupational skills that prepare them for jobs with sustainable wages. Youth alternate between the classroom and the work sites learning construction skills, while building affordable housing in their communities. Certifications also may include First Aid/CPR, OSHA 10, forklift training, and the eight core modules of NCCER construction training.

Adoption and Guardianship Support and Preservation provides home-based intervention to families formed through adoption or subsidized guardianship. Counseling, crisis intervention and assistance help address adjustment, grief/loss resolution, attachment, and educational and emotional issues. This DCFS-supported program also provides therapeutic respite services, psycho-educational and support groups, workshops, and help securing resources.

Behavioral Health builds on individual strengths and capacity for change while addressing special needs, behavioral and situational problems, or mental illness. Counseling services are offered for children, families and adults. Services are provided in the office, client homes, schools, and other human service agencies.

Provides clinically intensive therapeutic interventions to emotionally and behaviorally disturbed children in DCFS custody.

Reimagine High Risk Youth Services provides evidence-based clinical interventions and case management services to mitigate the impact of violence exposure and to promote protective factors among youth ages 6 -17 residing in Riverdale, Roseland, South Chicago, South Deering, and West Pullman. Services are client centered, trauma-informed, culturally specific, and strength-based to help build client self-efficacy. Services are provided in the office, client homes, schools, and other human service agencies.

Trauma Informed Centers of Care (TICC) provides expanded mental health services in Riverdale that are trauma-informed and build on individual strengths and capacity for change to individuals ages 5-21 regardless of ability to pay, immigration status, or health insurance. Services are provided in the office, client homes, schools, and other human service agencies.

Domestic Violence Clinical Services are for survivors of partner abuse and their children, and for teens and children who have witnessed domestic violence. Staff provide safety planning, individual and group counseling, case management, information, and referrals.

Supports individuals and families who have survived various forms of gender-based violence and are experiencing homelessness find housing. Advocates support the survivors though the housing process. Through a tailored package of assistance, participants receive time-limited rental assistance and targeted intensive supportive services working toward self-sufficiency.

Extended Family Support serves relative caregivers facing issues that threaten the safety, stability and placement of the child within the home. The DCFS-funded program helps caregivers obtain guardianship, apply for public aid grants, advocate with schools, and access community resources and referrals.

Supports individuals and families who have survived various forms of gender-based violence and are experiencing homelessness find housing. Housing Advocates navigate survivors throughout the process to ensure that they are successfully connected to housing.

Services support individuals who have survived various forms of gender-based violence and are experiencing homelessness find housing. Advocates support the survivors though the housing process. Through a tailored package of assistance, participants receive time- limited rental assistance and targeted intensive supportive services working toward self-sufficiency.

Provides housing-related information and referrals to low- and moderate-income homeowners, renters, landlords and unhoused individuals and families, especially seniors (55 and over), in the City of Chicago. The program provides workshops covering topics such as tenant rights, community housing resources, and fair housing.

Provides legal assistance and community education to low-income individuals in the areas of domestic violence, family and elder law, housing, and consumer issues.

The MyChiMyFuture Safe Spaces program targets youth who live in the Auburn Gresham and Roseland areas (through two separate programs) between the ages of 16-24. It is a 21-week paid leadership program where youth work within their community to plan 11 kickbacks designed to create a safe space for both adolescents and young adults alike. The program is a part of the City of Chicago’s violence reduction initiative and will also provide youth with financial literacy, job readiness training, and supportive services.

Safe from the Start offers a variety of family support and mental health services to families with children age 0-5 years old who have been affected by abuse or neglect, or exposed to community, domestic and/ or media violence. Safe from the Start provides assessments, referrals, linkages, individual and family counseling, and support and education groups for parents and children.