- Credibility:
IRVING PARK — A new child care and teen center in Irving Park will open its doors to students this fall.
The new facility at 3696 N. Milwaukee Ave. will offer early learning child care for children up to 5 years old as well as a teen leadership program, which will work Carl Schurz High School.
“We’re taking applications now,” said Brenda Swartz, Concordia’s president and CEO. “We have some final paperwork to complete with the city and we’re targeting opening on Sept. 4.”
The leadership-based teen program at the center will serve those 13-18 years old focuses on “skills they’ll need for today’s workforce.”
“Weaving in activities that help with team building and communications to help them understand what is important for their careers,” Swartz said.
The teen program is free but child care costs start at $1,071 per month for infants that will be enrolled two days a week. More information about the center’s child care costs can be found here.
Concordia is a nonprofit that focuses on offering early childhood, teen leadership and senior wellness programs. Market-rate tuition paid by families enrolling children at the new Irving Park center will help support programs at Concordia Place’s other locations in the North Center and Avondale neighborhoods.
“The impact of Illinois’ fiscal crisis fell disproportionately on low-income and working poor families,” Swartz said. “Those folks remain vulnerable to budget and policy changes and can lose access to the services they need with the stroke of a gubernatorial pen or at the whim of legislators.”
Concordia receives about one-third of its funding from the state of Illinois, and makes up the rest with private donations and sliding scale tuition fees. The North Center and Avondale neighborhoods serve about 1,000 children, teens and seniors annually, many of them at low or no-cost, according to a release.
“We’ve been operating since 1981 and serving the communities around North Center. And in 2006 we opened our center in Avondale,” Swartz said. In 2016 Concordia also opened a center in Ravenswood.
Do stories like this matter to you? Subscribe to Block Club Chicago. Every dime we make funds reporting from Chicago’s neighborhoods.
