Sick and abused children Child Advocacy Program serves sick and abused children who have been removed from their homes due to unsafe living conditions preparatory to entering into the foster care system. While the children have their basic healthcare, food, and clothing needs taken care of, they do not have the necessary extra’s most kids take for granted. This special needs program provides the additional funding for specialty healthcare such as eye, ear or dental exams; a winter coat, hat, and gloves; resources for school supplies; or, a suitcase to carry their meager belongings and few personal treasures in when they are placed in a foster home.

The Children Achieving Maximum Potential Program (CHAMP teaches at risk, poverty stricken children in one of Chicago’s most economically challenged areas (Cabrini Green) how to help themselves by growing food to assist in feeding themselves and others by learning how to work together. The grant provides camp supplies (including healthy meals and snacks) and equipment to help provide for the safe haven of an urban farm in conjunction with after school and summer activities. This camp program allows at risk children to explore food production and healthy nutrition while still focusing upon academic achievement through a blend of creative arts, applied science and environmental stewardship. The farm has also become a safe haven from street gangs that inhabit the area.

The Rice Center offers high-level treatment and programming for extremely vulnerable children who are in need of 24 hour care. The TSR Project to enable the agency to provide vital tools (electronic tablets, digital video cameras, writing journals, clothing, and luggage) to foster youth who are preparing to successfully transition into long-term, less restrictive settings with caring families.

Unique recreational, educational, and therapeutic program to help meet the physical, emotional, and social needs of children (7-10 years old) diagnosed with cancer. The grant helps to underwrite room & board, transportation, and program/medical supplies expenses associated with the operation of the camp. Inasmuch as some participants have cognitive issues or disabilities, adaptive equipment is also provided for those campers. These programs help the children to bond with each other, and their supervisors, in a non-hospital setting, challenging them to learn new skills, while providing access to sports, camping, and other activities. The skills, lessons, support, and hope these children gain at camp empowers them as they return home to face the challenges of cancer after learning they are more than cancer patients, they are survivors!

Funding to expand services to sick, abused and neglected children living Within the Partner agencies: Dr. Jorge Prieto Family Health Center, Christopher House, Bethel New Life, and Mujeres Latinas En Accion. Financial assistance is offered to families in desperate need of medications, rental assistance, clothing, and other critical items necessary to exist under impoverished conditions.

Golf First Program

Grant support for the Have Dreams’ need based Scholarship Fund that enables children with Autism, age 13 and younger, to receive much needed intervention services through the Social, Communication, and Independent Life Skills Program. This program has provided children with Autism the opportunity to build critical skills through classes that address the core deficits of Autism.

Program providing equine therapy (therapeutic riding and hippotherapy) to special needs children through trained professionals and licensed therapists. The grant provides four each full-year scholarships for economically challenged families with sick children.

This foundation’s mission is to improve the comfort and quality of life for developmentally challenged and/or sick & disabled children with special needs by providing education, therapy and playground equipment, therapy toys, resources, and scholarships for families in need of financial assistance or community support.

The fifth extension of a one-year grant program to provide much needed, recreational services specifically designed for children with autism spectrum disorder. Exclusive summer camp programs give these children a more structured environment to provide continuity from school year to school year and prevent loss of skill development over the summer. The children are given an opportunity to experience community outings (museum tours, zoo visits, water park exploration, library visits), in-house activities (arts/ crafts projects, interactive play, cooking), as well as art and music therapy.

This is the sixth extension of a one-year grant program to provide after-school snacks and suppers, summer lunches and weekend food-filled backpacks for low-income children at risk of hunger. In these poverty stricken homes, lack of nutritious food affects a child’s ability to develop and perform academically, physically, emotionally and socially. The NIFB serves over 4,370 children weekly, these lunches are typically the only meal the children receive each day.

This critical service works with children between the ages of 4 & 11 who are witnesses to and victims of domestic violence to provide intervention and prevention services that teaches them how to express their feelings and learn how to resolve conflict without using violence. This is achieved through individual advocacy and counseling, support and education groups, art therapy, safety planning, and parental support services.

The purpose of this Project is to introduce underprivileged children in the agency’s transitional and emergency housing to cultural opportunities, develop children’s social skills in public settings, and promote healthy interactions between mothers and children as well as to promote values such as curiosity, empathy, self-control, and tolerance. The end result of the project will be to break the cycle of abuse, violence and poverty in future generations.