Providing counseling and prevention services to Chicago’s youth and their families since 1911.
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Our History
Celebrating 96 Years
In 1911, Illinois law allowed any child to go to work at the age of 14, regardless of their level of education, and many low-income families required their 14-year-olds to become breadwinners. But uneducated children had difficulty finding and keeping jobs, and many found themselves neither in school nor at work. Indeed, the average 'working' 14-year-old was actually unemployed about half the time. When these children did find work, it was often seasonal or grueling manual labor. Although the term 'drop-out' had not yet been coined and juvenile delinquency was not in the headlines, it was clear that children who were neither in school nor at work were the most likely to get into trouble. 
At that time, Chicago was home to a group of visionary women living at Hull House, determined to shift social policy toward social interventionism. They worked on the local, national, and eventually international level on issues including labor reform, civil rights, the abolition of slavery, juvenile justice reform, immigrant rights, women's suffrage,and enhancing the profession and education of social workers. The women of Hull House were active in the Chicago Welfare Council (later to become the United Way) that was formed in 1914 to coordinate services for families and children. The Council was made up of social service, local government agencies and philanthropic groups that included: the forerunner agency to SGA, The Juvenile Protective Association, Juvenile Court, Children's Home and Aid, Woman's Aid, the Board of Education, Back of the Yards Council, Greater Lawndale Association, Chicago Community Trust, Woman's City Club, and others. (SGA continues to partner with many of these same organizations today.) Their work led to major changes to our system of government, and is largely responsible for the enactment of the Social Security Act and the formation of the U.S. Children's Bureau at the Department of Labor. 
Their work led to the formation of the SGA (though the agency was not known by its current name until 1945). Founded in 1911 by Sophinisba Breckenridge, Ph.D, JD, and Edith Abbott, Ph.D, JD, the Joint Committee for Vocational Training of Girls was chiefly concerned with guiding young women to return to or stay in school, rather than pursue employment. When that was not possible, the Committee helped these girls - and, almost immediately, boys, too - find work that offered stability and training. Other notable Chicago women at SGA at the time included Jane Addams, who served on the agency's board until the 1924, Florence Kelley, JD and Alice Hamilton, MD. All of these women lived at Hull House and worked collaboratively in research, reform and social action. They came from diverse religious backgrounds - Quaker, Protestant, Presbyterian, Unitarian, Jewish, and Catholic - and because of their collaborative working style, it was often difficult to distinguish the individual contributions of each woman. The First Years: 1911-1916
The Committee, while clear in its primary goal of returning children to school to receive more training and education, recognized it was impossible for many children to do so, because of their family's dire need for the money, however miniscule, that they might be able to earn. "It is hard on the working mother if her child must be kept in school, "an early record from the Committee acknowledges. Through contributions from Chicago organizations (including Woman's Aid, Woman's City Club and the Association of Collegiate Alumni - the trio of agencies that provided the Committee's start-up funding during the prior year) and individuals, the Committee awarded vocational training scholarships to several children from families in need. The scholarships ranged from $0.50 per week, for carfare to and from school, to $3.00 per week, to replace "the amount the child would have earned if he or she had gone to work." The larger community supported the Committee's work particularly because it was preventative, rather than corrective, in nature. By 1913, the agency's small staff succeeded in interviewing one-seventh of all public school children who applied for work certificates, and arranged for 25%of them to return to school. 
In addition to encouraging children to return to school and, if that was impossible, helping them find more stable, substantive employment than they might find on their own, the Committee was dedicated to increasing public awareness of these issues. The agency sought to "induce the community, through its educational authorities, to take their work off our hands and into its own, where it legitimately belongs." This goal was partly
realized when, in 1913, the Chicago Board of Education began paying for part of the Committee's office
expenses and, in March 1916, began providing vocational services in the schools. This move affirmed that
vocational service is a public responsibility and marked the beginning of the Vocational Guidance Program
in the Chicago Public Schools, a program that continues today. With that, the agency's pioneering leadership
turned its attention to other problems affecting school-age children.
Vocational Supervision
League: 1916-1920s If the need for and value of scholarships was in question, virtually every report the agency received from children about their work experiences provided a ringing answer.
Letters like this one, from a young girl, further reinforced scholarships' value:
Over the course of the year, VSL's scholarship work tripled. In 1917, 130 children were being helped to stay in school. In that same year, the State Labor Laws were amended, but only to require a fifth grade education, a test of physical fitness, and the promise of employment before granting work certificates. Clearly, Illinois Child Labor Laws were inadequate, and so VSL renewed its efforts to raise the standards of the state's legislation regarding children, education, and labor. It was an uphill struggle, to be sure, but VSL boasted a cadre of strong voices speaking on its behalf. The names on the early Boards of Directors were a virtual roll call of Chicago's great civic leaders of the time. The agency took as its slogan this statement by John Dewey:
By 1918, in the middle of World War I, the
Scholarship Committee was spending $1,000 a month to keep more than 100 children in school.
Dedicated leaders were battling the idea, born of war hysteria that children should go to work to
replace manpower. They were continuing to fight on the legislative front, trying to have the community
take responsibility for keeping children in school until the age of 16.
Scholarship Association for Jewish Children: 1915-1942
The two organizations worked side by side, sharing offices, challenges and concern for children. They joined together in committee, studying community problems, planning, and advocating for legislation. Their relationship continued to grow closer until, in 1942, they merged into one, non-sectarian, interracial agency to help all children of Chicago. The name of the combined agency was Children's Scholarship Association. In addition to her work in the community and her commitment to
SGA, Sophinisba Breckenridge together with Grace Abbott, conducted the first social service field work
in the nation by going from house to house to gather their data. Their research with the wards of Juvenile
Court led them to the related problem of school attendance, resulting in Breckenridge writing the first
paper on the then ten-year old Juvenile Court System. Breckenridge remained on the agency's board until
the 1950s. Grace Abbott moved on to become the first director of the U.S. Children's Bureau at the
Department of Labor.
The Middle Years: 1920s-1945 Since 1945, SGA has steadily expanded its services to adolescents and their families. Individual psychotherapeutic counseling services came to form the core of the agency's offerings, with particular emphasis on parent-child relationships. In addition, the minimum age to qualify for service was lowered, in order to start treatment closer to the onset of adolescence when trouble begins. Counseling Becomes A Primary Focus: For some years, both agencies had used psychological testing for all scholarship applicants. School achievement was measured against intellectual potential to determine the reasons when attainment did not reach innate ability. In 1943, SGA began to screen and evaluate applicants for the William J. Cook Scholarship Fund, a college scholarship fund administered by the Chicago Community Trust. Under the direction of James Brown IV of the Chicago Community Trust, policies for the administration of this fund were established which pioneered the use of flexible grants geared to meet total needs for college. Both agencies grew aware of the problems of adolescence, and recognized that teenagers can suffer from emotional, as well as financial, poverty. By the mid-1930s, they acknowledged that adolescence is a troubled time for many, when old struggles are magnified and new problems begin. The techniques for treating emotional problems were being refined, and both agencies understood that the relationship with a counselor could be a meaningful one for many youngsters, and that this relationship could be used therapeutically. The name of the combined agency- created in 1942 as the Children's Scholarship Association -was again changed in 1945, this time to its present form, SGA. This change recognized that guidance was becoming an important function of the agency. Expanding services to include families, pre-adolescents and young
adults to age 25. (1945-1980s)
During World War II and the post-war period, the number of applications for counseling without scholarship continued to increase. The schools referred more young people who needed help with personal problems even though they did not need financial assistance. In the late-1950s, a research component was added to the agency's work, including studies of the learning problems of bright children who underachieve in school. Another project, conducted over three years in cooperation with the Chicago Public Schools, and underwritten by the Weiboldt Foundation, involved studying high school dropouts. The project concluded in 1961 (SGA's 50th Anniversary) and brought the agency full circle, back to its beginnings, back to its concern for youngsters who leave school prematurely, unprepared for employment. It resulted in the publication of SGA's first professional book, The Drop Outs, in 1962. The agency published The High School Adolescent (1969) and its updated and revised edition, The Effective Counseling of Adolescents (1980). The agency's cornerstones are its concern for adolescents' unmet needs and its commitment to increasing the number of qualified counselors available to serve them. To this end, in 1960, the SGA training unit which began in 1945 was expanded to prepare an even larger number of graduate students to guide adolescents through the crucial years of their development. Beginning in 1963, SGA further expanded its counseling services to include group therapy in various public and parochial schools throughout the City of Chicago, in order to serve a larger and more diverse group. In 1971, in recognition that adolescence is a developmental process and may extend beyond age 18, the agency extended services to include single adults up to age 25. In 1971, SGA also contracted with the City of Chicago, the
Department of Human Services, and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services to provide
specialized professional counseling services to selected teens under their care.
Community-Based Counseling Begins: 1980s - present 1981- S&GA contracts with the City of Chicago, the Department of Human Services, and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services to provide specialized professional counseling services to selected teens under their care. 1986- City Colleges partnership launched for teacher training and consultation. S&GA also provides clinical services for students at two alternative high schools for drop outs on City College campuses. 1988- Opening of first community-based counseling office in the Back of the Yards neighborhood with generous support and office space from the Goldblatt Brothers Foundation. S&GA conducts its first symposia, bringing teachers, social workers and principals together to hear national experts speak on issues regarding adolescents and their families. 1990- The second community-based office opens at Northwestern University Settlement House in the West Town neighborhood. School Drop Out Prevention Program commences. 1998-Schnadig Parachute Project launches in Belmont-Cragin/Portage Park. Program for first time juvenile offenders begins with funding from the State’s Attorney’s office and seed money from Allstate Foundation. Website launched. 1999- S&GA receives additional certification from Chicago Public Schools for violence prevention education. 2000- Accredited by the Council on Accreditation for Children and Families. Healthy Families/Parents Too Soon Program launches in West Town. 2002- Homeless Youth Services added to SGA’s programming with S&GA as lead agency on the South Side Homeless Youth Collaboration with its first ever federal grant. 2003- Scholarship and Guidance Association changes name to SGA Youth & Family Services (SGA) Sliding fee outpatient clinic open since the 1950s finally closes its doors in the South Loop Partners with DePaul University to bring on first administrative intern 2004- One of four agencies to collaborate with the Chicago Public Schools to provide the Early Advantage Prevention Initiative for parenting and expecting teens SGA receives Healthy Families Illinois accreditation 2005- Lead agency for Brighton Park Drug-Free Community Coalition with 5-year SAMHSA grant Sole provider chosen by CPS to provide Avenues for Success Initiative Anti-Drug Program in four CPS high schools Administrative internships expand as SGA partners with the Harvard University Center for Public Interest Careers (one of 5 agencies in Chicago) FY 2007- SGA receives ACF Healthy Marriage Grants to provide two new programs: FamilyTree and FamilySmart D.A.S.A training First administrative fellowship position Received short-term grant for gun violence prevention program, Project ALIVE FY 2008- SGA receives U.S. Department of Education grant to provide a mentoring program your elementary students in Woodlawn called Kids Unlimited
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