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SGA works within all of the systems that affect youth--school, family, peer and community – to build consistency and support. Specifically, we provide services in the following areas:
SGA provides on-site, easily accessible services for at-risk youth to enhance their psychological development and address the barriers that prevent them from succeeding in s chool. Services and programs include: Individual, group and family counseling; Community School Program; Supporting Communities Through Arts Learning Environments Program (SCALE); Schnadig Parachute Project; School Drop Out Prevention Program ; Belmont-Cragin After School Program, Curriculum-Based Prevention Services (Aggression Replacement Training), Art Therapy; Mentoring and Special School Services (teacher training and consultation, crisis team participation).
2008 School-Based Community Sites:
- Community School Program – Telpochcalli Elementary (Lower West Side)
- Bellas Artes- Art Therapy, After School Program – Shields Elementary (Brighton Park)
- Belmont Cragin After-School Program – Northwest Free Will Baptist Church (Belmont Cragin)
- Kids Unlimited (Mentoring Project)—Wadsworth & Fiske Elementary Schools
- Safety Schools Initiative—Fermi, Madison, O’Keefe, Parkside & Powell Elementary Schools
- School Drop Out Prevention Program – Peabody Elementary, Wells Community Academy, Community Office at the Northwestern University Settlement House (West Town)
- Schnadig Parachute Project – Northwest Free Will Baptist Church (Belmont Cragin)
- Supporting Communities Through Arts Learning Environments (SCALE) – Telpochcalli Elementary (Lower West Side), Williams Elementary (Douglas)
- Foreman High School (Portage Park)
- Holmes Elementary School (Englewood)
- Hope High School (Englewood)
- Mercy Student Health Center – Dunbar Vocational Academy (Douglas)
- Mercy Student Health Center – Phillips High School (Douglas)
- Sherman Elementary School (New City)
- Tilden High School (New City)
- Truman Middle College High School (Uptown)
- Von Humboldt Elementary School (Humboldt Park)
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SGA provides services to youth at-risk of involvement or already involved in the justice system through three main programs: the Wraparound Program, Crossroads Program, and the Diversion Program. The North Lawndale Wraparound Program is aimed at keeping eleven to seventeen year-olds who are on probation from further juvenile justice involvement. The Crossroads Program aims to steer young people away from risk-taking behaviors that result in delinquency or more serious negative behavior. The Diversion Program, on the other hand, focuses on preventing eleven to eighteen year-olds, referred for “diversion” by the Juvenile Court, from committing more serious offenses.
2008 Juvenile Justice Services Community Sites:
- Wraparound Program – (Austin, Englewood, North Lawndale & South Lawndale)
- Diversion Program – Healy North (Near West Side), Center Factory Alternative Schools (Lincoln Park); and Community Office at 26th and Michigan (Douglas)
- Crossroads Program – Columbia Explorers and Burroughs Elementary Schools (Brighton Park)
- Peer Mediation – Prosser Career Academy (Belmont Cragin)
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In FY 2006, the agency launched two major community-organizing and drug abuse prevention initiatives: Brighton Park Drug Free Community Coalition in partnership with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and Avenues for Success in partnership with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS). The purpose of the Drug Free Community Coalition Program is to organize all sectors of the Brighton Park community to reduce youth substance abuse while Avenues for Success works to empower schools, staff, and the community by providing them with valuable information on the prevalence of substance abuse among adolescents.
2008 Substance Abuse Prevention Services Community Sites:
- Drug Free Community Coalition – Community Office (Brighton Park)
- Avenues for Success Initiative Anti-Drug Program—Prologue Learning Center: Charles Hamilton Houston (Chatham), Manley High School (North Lawndale), Kelly High School (Brighton Park), Tilden High School (New City)
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Family Life Services provided through two highly competitive grants from the federal Administration of Children & Families (ACF): Family Tree, which is aimed at helping unwed expectant or new parents who may lack the necessary skills to raise a healthy family; and Family Smart, which is designed to provide counseling and support to already married couples to help them strengthen their relationships. Both programs are rooted in the idea that strong families lead to strong communities and will be offered in Chicago neighborhoods with high rates of crime and where the need is great.
2008 Family Life Services Community Sites:
- Family Tree (Austin, Englewood, Grand Boulevard, Great Grand Crossing, Lower West Side, North Lawndale, South Chicago, South Lawndale)
- Family Smart (North Lawndale, South Lawndale, and West Town)
Teen Parenting Services In partnership with the Ounce of Prevention Fund, our Healthy Families Illinois/Parents Too Soon program provides supportive and educational home visiting, mental health services for mothers and infants and group support for family members in West Town, Humboldt Park and Logan Square. These comprehensive services strengthen parent-child bonds, reduce the rate of child abuse, ensure the healthy development of mothers and babies, enhance the parents' sense of self-sufficiency, and delay future pregnancies.
As a testament to SGA’s longstanding work and commitment to teen mothers and their children, United Way awarded the agency a Venture Grant for Operation BIG Hug, our newest teen parenting program. Operation BIG Hug addresses a major gap in service for minority teen parents and their young children—the early identification, awareness, and support program for children and families affected by autism. The program also provides trainings and workshops to professionals and community members to bring awareness to the consequences of autism on education.
The Early Advantage Prevention Initiative—a teen parenting education programs launched in partnership with the Healthy Families Illinois/Parents Too Soon (HFI/PTS) program— serves over 250 children and their teen parents in Brighton Park, Douglas, Lower West Side, New City, and West Town; this home- and school-based psychoeducational program promotes children's physical, emotional, and social health in an effort to equip them with the appropriate skills, behaviors and emotions for academic success.
2008 Teen Parenting Services Community Sites:
- Healthy Families Illinois/Parents Too Soon Program – Community Office on the west side (West Town, Humboldt Park, and Logan Square)
- Operation BIG Hug (Humboldt Park, Logan Square Community Office, and West Town)
- Early Advantage Prevention Initiative – Kelly, Dunbar, Phillips, Juarez, Tilden, and Wells Community Academy High Schools (Brighton Park, Douglas, Lower West Side, New City, and West Town)
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SGA networks with other organizations in inner city communities to build community capacity, expand, advocate and coordinate services to at risk youth and their families. SGA also provides myriad community education programs, including community workshops on youth-related issues; and a clinical training program for master's level social work interns.
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