The Project transformed seven acres of blighted land that had been vacant for 40 years into a LEED-certified therapeutic youth home facility for the UCAN Chicagoland Institute for Transforming Youth (CITY) campus in Chicago’s highly distressed Lawndale neighborhood. The goals of CITY are to increase UCAN’s youth mentoring, advocacy, and violence prevention services by consolidating and relocating its facilities near the population it serves. At the time, the area had one of the highest juvenile arrest rates and the ninth highest violent crime rate in the City of Chicago. It is these statistics that led UCAN to develop the CITY campus at this location. UCAN’s desire for a strong presence in this high-need area of North Lawndale also supports the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and the City of Chicago in their focus on increased, community-based, prevention-driven programming.

The primary function of the facility is to provide a safe and healing home for youth who have suffered trauma while providing educational services and job training skills for these individuals to become independent, successful members of society. The facility includes 70 rooms across ten dorms designed to house children ages 7-18 who are wards of DCFS and who have had severe histories of trauma. Each dorm has seven bedrooms with a living room, restrooms, and study areas, all connected to resident staff offices. Social worker and therapist offices are located throughout the facility, with group rooms that focus on art, computer science, group counseling, and education. There is also an abundance of green space to provide “peace and tranquility,” and the CITY campus grounds are fenced and secured, allowing the youth freedom and privacy while ensuring their safety.

Community Alignment

The Project is fully endorsed by the Mayor of the City of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel. In the Mayor’s endorsement letter, he stated, “UCAN’s CITY Initiative is an outcome-based, scalable opportunity to forge public/private partnerships for the benefit of over 100,000 vulnerable youth in its first five years. I believe this project has the power to bring together our City’s resources and social service agencies in an unprecedented way.”

The Project is also strongly supported by the North Lawndale community. The project was originally proposed to community members at the annual North Lawndale Community Resource Fair where it received unanimous support for the project. UCAN has fostered relationships with several key community organizations including the Lawndale Christian Health Center and received public support from the community’s alderman.