UNIVERSITY VILLAGE — A non-profit that works with foster kids opened a "village for children" in Roosevelt Square Tuesday afternoon.
Surrounded by a crowd, leaders at SOS Children's Villages Illinois celebrated the opening of 14 homes in Roosevelt Square that will house up to 84 children in foster care. The homes were built over the past year in the 1200 and 1300 blocks of West Washburne Avenue.
The non-profit child welfare agency focuses on keeping siblings together. The Roosevelt Square single-family units will house groups of siblings along with a paid, professionally trained caretaker who lives at the house full time.
The Roosevelt Square homes will house children up to 21 years old. The first families are expected to move in by Thanksgiving, said Tim McCormick, CEO of the non-profit.
McCormick said the homes create stability for the foster children, and in turn, the kids often achieve more in school and in their adult lives. Since 2006, 100 percent of children living at an SOS site in Illinois have graduated from high school. Nationally, only 54 percent of foster care children in a traditional environment graduate high school, he said.
At the ceremony, 21-year-old Terik Brown talked about his journey coming to homes that the group operates in Auburn-Gresham nine years ago with his five siblings. Brown graduated as salutatorian of his high school and today attends college at the Illinois Institute of Art.
While some families are split up in the foster system, Brown didn't have to worry about his siblings, he said.
"I knew that they were living next door or in the same household," Brown said.
Ald. Danny Solis (25th), Ald. Jason Ervin (28th), Chicago Housing Authority CEO Michael Merchant and other leaders were also on hand at the ribbon cutting Tuesday.
The City of Chicago contributed $1.9 million toward the Roosevelt Square development and the CHA donated land for the homes. WinTrust Financial Corporation provided construction financing and a $500,000 grant to be used for the development of a new community center on the site.
Another $500,000 in in-kind donations were provided by Related Midwest, Amberleaf Cabinetry, Delta Faucet, Added Sales, Snaidero Chicago, Republic Services, Crawford Supply, Bosch, Thermador and Imperial Crane.
In addition to the home site in Auburn-Gresham, SOS Children's Villages Illinois operates a short-term shelter for at-risk boys in Back of the Yards. The Illinois chapter is part of an international organization founded in 1949 in Austria in the aftermath of World War II.
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