Program areas at Famiy Focus
The early childhood education division serves children from birth to 5 years of age. The division operates 11 early childhood education centers in the chicagoland area with total capacity to serve 229 children. The division also provides center-based and home-based early childhood services to support children and their families from prenatal to 5 years of age. The center-based program has a capacity of 263 ehs/hs children and 48 ehs home-based children. The home-based programs work to support the parent-child interaction through various activities facilitated by home visitors/family advocates. Home-based services are offered through the chicagoland area. In fy2023, we served 1,859 children and 1,623 families. Home visitors completed 23,515 home visits.
The youth development division provides education resources and mentoring for school-aged young people to support academic engagement and social and emotional development. Participant demographics are 53% hispanic or latino, 38% black or african american, 5% white, 2% asian or pacific islander and 2% multiracial or unknown. Over 2,000 youth and parents were enrolled in out-of-school programs for health, social, educational, employment, rehabilitation, and home ownership services to families who are recent immigrants and refugees.
The Family support services division provides programs and services for parents of all ages and stages, including healing care and practices, immigration services, and Family advocacy centers involved with the department of children and Family services. We also provide multiple levels of support to help families stay intact and thrive in their communities. These services include support for relative caregivers to obtain legal authority and financial support to keep the extended Family intact, housing advocacy for youth ages 16-23 who are wards of the state, and assistance with locating and attaining housing when yound adults age out of the dcfs system.