This fall, Bickerdike received several prestigious national awards highlighting its achievements in affordable housing and community development. On October 19, 2006, representatives of the organization were invited to Washington D.C. to receive the Fannie Mae Foundation’s 2006 Maxwell Award for Excellence, as well as the award for Most Impressive Overall Housing Benefit. These awards were presented in part for Bickerdike’s efforts in reclamation of vacant properties in southeast Humboldt Park (a historic Latino neighborhood northwest of downtown Chicago), turning the once unused land into the new Harold Washington Unity Cooperative. A week later in Los Angeles, Bickerdike received the Enterprise Community Partners’ 2006 Jim and Patty Rouse Award, lauding its well-rounded and comprehensive approach to neighborhood revitalization, created by and for low income Chicago residents. The Rouse award is granted by the Enterprise Advisory Board, a panel comprised of housing directors and organizations throughout the United States. You can read more about the successes Bikerdike has had in 2006 by visiting their website. You may also download the Fannie Mae Foundation’s Maxwell Award press release (.pdf), or visit the Enterprise Foundation Website for more details about the Community Partners’ award process.

The Exelon/United Way Stay In School Initiative (SSI) recently launched a volunteer component to its already successful program. The SSI strives to augment after-school mentoring, enrichment, and tutoring programs at United Way partner agencies Youth Guidance and BUILD. The kickoff took place at the Field Museum with about 30 kids from the Humboldt Park and Austin neighborhoods and 20 Exelon volunteers. Alderman Ed Smith (D-28) spoke at the opening.

Event activities, facilitated by Play for Peace, engaged kids and adults in different experiential learning practices and set a solid foundation for the volunteer program. In the next 5-6 months, the kids will attend one Saturday business skills class that will culminate with three program participants receiving internships at Exelon, Youth Guidance and BUILD. The classes will be co-taught by the agencies and Exelon volunteers.

Pictured: Students and volunteers from the Exelon United Way Stay In School Initiative take part in a team building activity at the Field Museum.

Teens living in a group home in Lisle, Ill. run by United Way partner agency, ChildServe recently played host to Chicago Bears guard Roberto Garza and the entire Chicago Bears 2006 Rookie Class.

The Bears helped the teens build a mini-gym in their basement which the kids named the “Monsters of the Midway Fitness Center.” The project was part of the annual United Way/NFL Hometown Huddle in which NFL players across the country team up with United Way to lend a hand in their communities. In a little over an hour, the Bears and teens transformed the home’s basement into a gym, complete with rubber flooring, an elliptical machine, two recumbent bikes and a weight bench. Players also coached the youngsters on how to properly use the exercise equipment.

The teens in the home are part of a United Way funded program for at-risk youth provided by ChildServ. The program integrates its young residents into the communities in which they are located–Lisle, Downers Grove and Naperville–by housing them in regular homes and neighborhoods and enrolling them in area schools. The fully-staffed youth residential program aims at giving its young residents a sense of normalcy and avoiding the stigma that often characterizes group homes for teens.  The success rate speaks for itself—100% of the Lisle group home participants graduated from high school last year, including one as valedictorian.

“We were absolutely thrilled to host this year’s Hometown Huddle,” said James Jones, ChildServ executive director. “This service day went far beyond us acquiring a new fitness center. The NFL, the Bears and United Way have made our kids feel truly special and gave them an experience that will stay with them for a lifetime. That’s what community service is all about.”

Pictured: Chicago Bears guard/tackle Roberto Garza poses with Damante Mitchell (R) and Robert Biggs (L) at the United Way/NFL Hometown Huddle in a ChildServ group home for teens in Lisle.