MCKINLEY PARK — After 20 years in the neighborhood, the Aquinas Literacy Center is looking for a new home.
In a letter sent to the center Tuesday, the Archdiocese of Chicago notified Aquinas staff that it would not renew the center's lease when the current one expires in June.
The news was a shock to Alison Altmeyer, the center's executive director.
"We're really disappointed," Altmeyer said.
The center has rented several classrooms from Blessed Sacrament Parish at 3540 S. Hermitage Ave. since 1996, when the Adrian Dominican Sisters founded the group.
Over the next two decades, the center graduated about 200 adults, ranging in age from 18-75, from its literacy program — a four-level, volunteer-taught curriculum covering a broad spectrum of language skills including the basic alphabet, reading and conversation.
Blessed Sacrament leaders have new plans for the space according to the Archdiocese of Chicago.
"The Pastor of the Parish has determined that the Parish requires use of the entire School building for Parish ministries and program," Eric Wollan, the archdiocese's director of capital assets, wrote in a letter to the school.
Blessed Sacrament's pastor, the Rev. Ismael Sandoval, was not immediately available Thursday to talk about how the parish plans to use the building.
The parish offered the literacy center an opportunity to rent out its convent, according to Altmeyer, but she said it's too small to host the school.
Volunteers and leaders at the Aquinas Center plan to carry on business while they search for a new facility to rent.
Citing the center's low-cost program — learners who work part-time and make little money pay only $25 to cover the cost of books — students said the school is a valuable neighborhood asset.
Marisol Salgado, a 22-year-old recent arrival to the United States, and Abraham Garcia, a 42-year-old intermediate student, together wrote a statement about what the school means to them:
"This is sad news, because we, as students of the school, are affected a lot. We do not want to lose the privilege of studying to improve ourselves personally and professionally."
Altmeyer is confident the Aquinas Literacy Center will remain open — even if its headquarters is no longer in McKinley Park.
“We’ll go wherever there’s a need for service,” she said. “We’re really optimistic of finding a new home and filling a need.”
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