Thursday, May 2, 2024

Erie Neighborhood House: 150 Years as a Home with No Borders Presbyterian Historical Society

erie neighborhood house

In the morning, Erie House’s newest neighbors dropped off their pre-schoolers. After work, they picked them up, along with their older children who went to Erie after school. Monday through Thursday evenings, and twice on Saturday, the adults studied English or enrolled in citizenship classes. Through foundational academic and professional programs like English as a Second Language (ESL), civics education, workforce development, and more, we provide the tools adults need for long-term success.

Second site in West Town

It first embraced the children of the neighborhood in what was described as the largest Sunday School in Chicago at that time. In partnership with The Collective Academy, we formed a strategic plan committee made up of staff, volunteers, board members and participants past and present. Their task was to reframe our vision, mission and values and develop goals (and tactics to achieve those goals) that would strengthen our impact in the community over the next 3 years—and beyond. Erie House has historically served low-income immigrant communities.

OUR MISSION

Celena Roldán served as social worker and director of child care before being named executive director. Erie House opens its community technology center, opening new opportunities for education and professional development for participants in a changing world. Erie House collaborates with the Northern Trust Company to launch Tutoring to Educate for Aims and Motivation (TEAM), a groundbreaking mentoring program that supports the growth and development of neighborhood youth. In the last 150-plus years, we’ve expanded our footprint to a second site in West Town and later into Little Village to reach more of our predominantly Latinx immigrant participant population. We also offer programming from satellite locations in Humboldt Park and Logan Square, and home visiting in Back of the Yards. Erie Neighborhood House opened its doors to Chicago’s West Town community on December 4, 1870.

erie neighborhood house

Learn more about our history

One such story, a Chicago story, that has always grabbed my attention, pertains to the birth and growth of the settlement house movement before, during, and after Hull House and Jane Addams. My view is that it was a faith-based movement – not necessarily church-based, although churches were involved. Nor was it religious, but rather, as Eleanor Stebner describes it in her book, The Women of Hull House, “a study in spirituality, vocation and friendship.” It is a gospel story about being a good neighbor. We are a diverse community of passionate individuals, bound together by a shared commitment to building proud, powerful communities across the city.

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Alvin Schexnider supervises the day-to-day operations of human resources, facilities and information technology and has a strong background in human-centered design. He arrived at Erie House in 2018, having worked previously as the director of operations at Greater Good Studio. Those of us who take an interest in history are generally drawn to it because it is full of good stories.

Community

Erie House partnered with the Little Village Development Corporation (now Enlace Chicago) in 2004 to begin offering services to residents of Chicago's Little Village community. The 1950s witnessed an increase in families migrating from Puerto Rico, drawn from the island to the mainland in part by a new San Juan-to-Chicago fare promotion offered by Pan Am Airways. Many of these families settled in parts of West Town and Humboldt Park and became connected with Erie House, thus initiating the agency's demographic shift toward Chicago's growing Latino community. Browse photos from our archives and explore the timeline below to journey through our history over the past century and a half.

By the 1980s, Mexican Americans were recognized as Chicago's largest group of immigrants, and the rising influence of Latin Americans in Chicago was reflected in the changing makeup of Erie House program participants as well as its staff members. Rafael Ravelo, an immigrant from Cuba, became the agency's first Latino executive director in 1985 (all three Erie House executive directors who have served since Ravelo's tenure have also been Latino, representing both the Puerto Rican and Mexican American communities served at Erie House). The demographics of the West Town community began to transition at the turn of the 20th century as Italian and Polish immigrants populated the area near and around Erie Chapel. By 1915, Erie Chapel consisted of three staff members and an annual budget of $6,400 (roughly $150,000 when adjusted for inflation), at which point it incorporated and renamed itself Erie Chapel Institute.

erie neighborhood house

Erie House is a social services nonprofit organization providing the most comprehensive support immigrant and low-income families in Chicago need to thrive. The organization also launched its TEAM mentoring initiative for high school students in the 1980s in collaboration with The Northern Trust Company. A decade later, in 1995, Erie House expanded to a second West Town location a half mile away at 1701 W.

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Rafael Ravelo

During the past 150 years, change has been constant for Erie House, Executive Director Kirstin Chernawsky said in a press release. She became executive director at age 24 and was the first Spanish-speaking director of the agency. Erie House's Legal Services program grows into its own department, expanding its mission of keeping families together and allowing them to achieve a greater sense of security in the U.S. Superior St., sharing a renovated factory building with Erie Family Health Center. This new space allows Erie House to expand early childhood education programming and serve more of the West Town community.

“All backgrounds” represents our commitment to inclusion across race, gender, age, religion, identity, ability and experience. We’re committed to working to unify our communities behind the shared goal of justice and equity. By contributing to PHS, you keep the stories and lessons of American Presbyterian history alive.

Erie House begins providing daycare in response to growing demand during World War II as the American workforce evolves. By equipping you with the right tools and resources, we can help you thrive in the face of adversity. With greater access to well-being comes the chance to build proud, powerful communities together. By providing your family with quality education and holistic support, we can help shape a brighter future.

Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation was also founded by Erie House in 1967 to create affordable housing opportunities for members of the community. And in 2005, Erie Elementary Charter school was founded out of Erie House to provide a bilingual school option for neighborhood families. In 1893, we offered one of twenty flagship programs in Chicago’s Free Kindergarten Association, and in 1942 we began providing daycare in response to growing demand during WWII as the American workforce evolved. In 1984, we launched TEAM, a groundbreaking mentoring program that supports the growth and development of neighborhood youth. We work with young people from infancy through high school graduation to equip them with tools and resources to build a bright future, including educational programs and activities, mentoring, and family support.

Its programs operate on a blend of federal, state and private foundation funding. The organization also relies on a generous donor base in addition to an active volunteer corps. While Erie House serves Chicagoans of all backgrounds, clients predominately include Latino immigrant families, including documented and undocumented immigrants. These communities have been among the hardest-hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Our in-house team of attorneys and legal representatives help their clients navigate the US citizenship and immigration system, keeping families together, and allowing them to achieve a greater sense of security. Paul Kasper is responsible for directing the activities of facilities, management and engineering, strategic planning and energy management for all Erie House sites. Prior to joining Erie House in 2001 as executive assistant, he was manager of workforce development for economically disadvantaged adults at Association House of Chicago. With an annual budget of approximately $8M,[14] the organization employs a diverse workforce of 150 full- and part-time employees.

She also spent 14 years teaching in the Early Childhood Education department at Morton College. Cheryl Philip oversees development and communications and is responsible for sustaining and increasing private, institutional and public funding to support the agency's objectives. Her background is in individual giving, specifically mid-level and major gifts.

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