Nonprofit social service organizations addressing poverty and unemployment in Chicago Heights

Chicago Heights Community Needs and Services

Demographics of Chicago Heights, Illinois

Chicago Heights is a community whose members are substantially poorer than members of the state of Illinois, more generally.

Chicago Heights median household income is substantially lower than that of other state residents.

Some of the most significant social needs of the community relate to increasing employment potential of members of the community.

Various nonprofit social service organizations provide valuable assistance in connection with vocational training and placement, developmental disability, social problems linked to poverty, and to reducing inequities in health and disease in the community.

Nonprofit Organizations Serving the Chicago Heights, Illinois Community

Metropolitan Family Services Community Center

Assistance for pregnant mothers & infants, elderly, mental illness & disabilities, teenagers, and victims of abuse.

SouthSTAR Services

Assists individuals (especially children) with developmental disabilities.

Intended to improve vocational skills and maximize employment prospects.

Proactive Community Services

Dedicated to providing health-related services to those at greater risk of communicable diseases and to resolve health and social inequities throughout the Southern Cook County community.

Southwest Community Services

Dedicated to helping children & adults suffering from developmental and physical disabilities, mental illness, hearing and vision impairments, and learning disabilities. Intended to increase the self-sufficiency of individuals in need by helping them secure the necessary training and related vocational opportunities.

Metropolitan Family Services Community Center

The Metropolitan Family Services Community Center provides a wide range of social services for members of the Chicago Heights community. They include programs designed to assist pregnant mothers and infants, the elderly, individuals suffering from mental illness and other disabilities, teenagers, and victims of abuse (metrofamily.org). More specifically, the organization maintains the following programs: Child and Youth Development, Counseling Services, Economic Stability Support, employee Assistance, Legal Aide, Mental Health, Older Adult Services, Parental Development, Public Policy Advocacy, and Violence Prevention and Intervention Programs (metrofamily.org).

SouthSTAR Services

SouthSTAR Services is a sixty-one-year-old nonprofit organization that is primarily dedicated to assisting individuals (especially children) with developmental disabilities to enable them to improve their abilities to become productive citizens and lead fulfilling lives that include maximizing their employment prospects (southstarservices.org). SouthSTAR Services maintains a Day Services consisting of senior services, vocational educations, developmental training, and both adult and child home-based assistance services. The organization maintains Community Living Services, Employment and Volunteer Services, and a new Service Center in Indiana that provides community transition services, residential habilitation and support, workplace assistance, family and caregiver training, rent and food assistance for unrelated caregivers, and respite and transportation services for individuals in need. SouthSTAR Services employs more than 130 professionals with specialized training in providing developmental assistance to individuals in need (southstarservices.org).

Proactive Community Services

Proactive Community Services is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to providing public health-related services to members of the community in need and to those at greater risk of communicable diseases (proactivecommunityservies.org). More specifically, the organization is intended to help resolve health and social inequities throughout the Southern Cook County community it serves and to provide the means to help individuals to improve their productivity and their opportunities in society. Toward that end, this organization maintains programs dedicated to reducing susceptibility to sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancy, addressing risk factor reduction in connection with chronic diseases, and to helping individuals overcome addiction and substance abuse. It also provides job training assistance and employment placement services (proactivecommunityservies.org).

Southwest Community Services

Southwest Community Services is a forty-one-year-old nonprofit organization that is dedicated to helping children and adults suffering from developmental and physical disabilities, mental illness, hearing and vision impairments, and learning disabilities (swcsinc.org). In principle, the mission of the organization is to increase the self-sufficiency of individuals in need by helping them secure the necessary training and related vocational assistance necessary to overcome their disabilities and achieve their highest educational, employment, and social opportunities in their community (swcsinc.org).

Conclusion

The community of Chicago Heights, Illinois is one that is in need of social and community services, largely because of fewer employment opportunities and a lower average income than residents of the state of Illinois. In addition to vocational training and employment assistance, Chicago Heights residents are also in need of services to help them overcome developmental and other disabilities and various social problems and health inequities linked to low income communities. The nonprofit organizations detailed provide many services of the type most needed by members of the community.