Association House is proud to announce the expansion of our Auxiliary Board of Young Professionals. This group is dedicated to support the organization’s mission and create awareness of its community impact for a wider set of professional and public audiences in and around Chicago.
Get to meet our new members below and if you or someone you may know would like to be apart of this group visit here.
Every summer, Association House hosts the community for a day of fun and back to school preparation. Under the current pandemic restrictions, our traditional event could not occur, however, we successfully supported our community by transitioning our event to a giveaway.
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Association House’s Behavioral Health division was awarded a $50,000 grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois to progress our telehealth infrastructure. The generous gift will enable the continuance of services to community members as they aim to improve their lives.
Behavioral Health programming assists in the emotional, social, education, developmental, and primary care needs by providing access to prevention, treatment, and educational services. Those include community-based and trauma-informed services to the underserved in both English and Spanish. To carry out those services, AHC utilizes case management to ensure a proper treatment plan.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, a hurdle was presented in providing that care due to social distancing guidelines. The grant allows services to continue care for those who have compromised immune systems, underlying health problems, or behavioral health needs.
“COVID provided a hurdle for our team to push through, thankfully we were able to transition to telehealth,” said Kristy Kolzow, Supervisor of Visions Substance Use Program. “The transition is helpful as the pandemic was hard for our program because of the triggers to use substances due to the stay at home order. We checked in with clients daily for sessions, made sure we were available at all times, found online meetings that participants could attend, and used each other to staff cases. We have a great leadership team that was able to apply for some additional funding as well to be able to provide more resources.”
This expansion will continue to be useful once restrictions are loosened and also reduce barriers to care that are not related to COVID-19. The expanded telehealth capabilities will enable AHC staff to effectively work off-site while allowing them access to critical clinical documents where necessary to administer help to participants.
You can learn more about our Behavioral Health programs here.
Across our community, many families were faced with immense challenges, stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to preexisting circumstances. Through this difficult time period, the Chicago Community COVID-19 Response Fund has enabled Association House to increase access to food through our Emergency Food Pantry and create an Emergency Financial Assistance Fund for our participants who are most in need.
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With much of the world transitioning to online learning and meeting spaces, Association House has announced its new Work$Ready program.
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In-person graduations have been canceled and for many, celebrations have been limited to digital celebrations. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago celebrities highlighted graduates across the area in a TV special, but that still does not highlight the bond shared by Association House High School faculty and our students, and the opportunity for many of our graduates to celebrate this significant achievement.
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Association House of Chicago President Harriet Sadauskas has announced her retirement, effective December 31, 2020. Harriet has dedicated her 47-year career to Association House, serving 27 of those years as the agency’s 20th President.
Since 1899, Association House of Chicago, located in Humboldt Park, has served a multi-cultural community through comprehensive, collaborative, and effective programs that promote health and wellness and create opportunities for educational and economic advancement. Association House serves more than 5,000 community members and their families each year through culturally-competent direct-service programs that address immediate needs and long-term goals which include: Association House High School, Community Health & Workforce Development, Child Welfare Services and Behavioral Health Services.
Harriet joined Association House in 1973 as a secretary for the Senior Outreach Program and continued to progress to her current role as President. Her “hands-on” approach to enhance the quality of life for diverse communities has enabled her to lead and implement critical programmatic and administrative efforts for the organization. During this unprecedented pandemic situation, Harriet’s dedication to the House has been on full display while she has worked tirelessly to preserve the continuity of services to the community.
The Board expressed deep appreciation and gratitude to Harriet for her leadership of Association House and its impact on the hundreds of thousands of individuals served under her direction. “We are grateful for the dedicated leadership of Harriet Sadauskas. Her contributions to Association House, participants, and the community are a critical part of Association House’s 121-year legacy. Harriet has built a strong foundation for Association House, ensuring that it successfully meets the needs of the community for years to come,” said Tadd Ingles, Association House Board Chair.
The Association House Board is committed to carrying on Harriet’s impressive legacy and has created a Transition Committee to identify Harriet’s successor and ensure a smooth transition to a new President. The Transition Committee has engaged Koya Leadership Partners to run the search for Harriet’s replacement, with the expectation that a successor will be in place by the end of 2020.
While COVID-19 has disrupted plans to honor Harriet at the Faces of Hope Gala, which has been canceled, the Board and staff of Association House are eagerly looking forward to formally celebrating Harriet later this calendar year, which will include being the Spirit of Hope award recipient. At that time, we hope you will join us in recognizing Harriet’s significant achievements.
You may have read about Association House Staff member Mary in our 2019 Annual Report success stories. Her journey includes first coming to Association House for treatment eventually leading to her roles now as Drop-In Center Team Lead and ACT Community Support Specialist. In her roles, she does home visits for multiple clients, ensuring their safety, hygiene and in the scheduling and attendance of their appointments.
Same as many members of community, Mary’s work has been impacted by the novel coronavirus. With the Stay-at-Home order in place across the state of Illinois, access to Association House for participants is limited. As an essential worker, Mary has transitioned into continuing care for our participants across digital means, along with home visits and more.
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With the commitment and support of dedicated staff, we are able to keep our doors open to ensure that our 5,000 participants and their families have us to depend on. Of that number are those who are in our Psycho-Social Rehabilitation program, which builds social, economic, vocational and independent living skills in preparation to participate in the greater community. Our participants meet with the PSR team regularly to assist in overall improvements, which was threatened due to the coronavirus outbreak.
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Association House is proud to announce the addition of a new member to our Board of Directors, Noam Avidov, Director of US Business Strategy at IMC Trading.
As a member of our board, she will provide leadership and insight for the execution of our efforts of being a community resource to Chicago through educational, vocational and health programming.
Shortly after her addition to the Board of Directors, Noam highlighted what inspired her to take the next step in furthering Association House’s mission.
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