LOGAN SQUARE — Over 200 people welcomed the opening of Logan Square’s first community-funded mental health center over the weekend, expressing feelings of gratitude, accomplishment and hope.
The LoSAH Center of Hope, called Centro de Esperanza in Spanish, is open at 3555 W. Armitage Ave. after almost seven years in the making. LoSAH — short for Logan Square, Avondale and Hermosa — offers bilingual, affordable mental health services to residents in the three neighborhoods, regardless of insurance.
The center’s opening caps off years of work by organizers, elected officials and neighbors to bring the center to the neighborhood and prioritize mental health.
“This program stands on the shoulders of two that came before it, and decades of work the coalition has done in mental health access throughout the city,” said Rebecca Jarcho, assistant director of the Chicago Coalition to Save Our Mental Health Services. “We should all be incredibly proud of this movement. We are a part of something that will help our community heal and grow for decades to come.”
LoSAH provides a full range of services, including individual therapy, couples and family therapy, group therapy, psychiatry and case management with a focus on early intervention and prevention, leaders said. Programs will also be tailored to seniors and kids in the area.
The center has inviting gold walls with a community and conference room for events and public meetings, an art therapy and meditation room, an outdoor sensory garden that will be built by community members, and eight therapy offices, said Angela Sedeño, executive director and CEO of Expanded Mental Health Services of Chicago, the service provider for the center.
“I often hear that there’s never been a greater need for mental health services, and today we take a step toward meeting that need,” Sedeño told the crowd, acknowledging the many commissioners, directors, staff and organizers who have worked on the initiative since 2018.
“We pledged to provide high-quality, trauma-informed, culturally responsive mental health care based on the needs of this community, because we believe that we all deserve to live our best-quality lives.”
Scanning the room, Sedeño had an important message for young people in the audience: “This is your center. We are committed to you and to creating programming for you. You voted for this program. The only way it ends is if you vote it out, so this is absolutely in your hands and it’s your center and your voice matters.”
The center is funded through a property tax increase approved in 2018. The tax money will initially cover 100 percent of the clinic’s expenses, and additional revenue over time will help the center expand and provide more programs, Sedeño said.
LoSAH will offer workshops and community resources like mental health first aid, art therapy classes and more for the public in the community room, which will be decorated with colorful art and possibly a mural, leaders said.
The outdoor area will be home to a sensory community garden, which will be built as the center grows. Leaders are looking to work with the Avondale Gardening Alliance on the garden.
The center is open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with virtual sessions offered Tuesdays and Thursdays while more staff are hired, said program director Gisel Romero.
The center should be fully staffed and open daily by August. Leaders hope to have eight or nine therapists and clinicians by summer.
Community members and elected officials who had a hand in creating the center and program and spoke of its importance during the grand opening included former Gov. Pat Quinn, Rep. Delia Ramirez, Sen. Sara Feigenholtz and Ald. Jessie Fuentes (26th).
LoSAH is the first step toward expanding mental health services and destigmatizing their need within the Latino community, Fuentes said.
“When we think about building a safer Chicago, about building healthy communities, it is having mental health services, quality mental health services at its core,” Fuentes said. “These [staffers] are going to pour their hearts out and they’re going to invest in every resident. It will be because of them that we we’re going to watch magic happen in the 26th Ward.”
The Logan Square center is the third community-funded center under the same umbrella program. It follows The Kedzie Center in Irving Park, the city’s first community-funded mental health clinic, run by the same provider, and The Encompassing Center on the West Side, which opened in 2019.
A group of commissioners in Bronzeville are ramping up efforts to open another mental health center with the same model and programs.
LoSAH officials anticipate serving over 400 clients and the people who help them each year once the center is fully staffed and operational, they said. The center will serve another 2,400 neighbors through community programs. For comparison, the Kedzie Center sees about 350 clients per year, Sedeño said.
LoSAH is the first business to open in the 3545-3559 W. Armitage Ave. building, a recently remodeled industrial-style property with six storefronts.
The center broke ground in August after a yearlong search for the right location. It was set to open in January, but construction delays pushed back the opening to April, center leaders said.
The center has an Amazon wish list for anyone wishing to contribute toys, furniture and other items to the therapy and art rooms.
Gladys Solano, a paramentor with Palenque LSNA at Funston Elementary School, 3616 W. Armitage Ave., has seen the need for mental health resources to address depression, anxiety and stresses from the pandemic. Now, she can tell the kids and parents she works with that there’s a place they can go for help, Solano said.
“All families need access to mental health resources, regardless of status, race or the type of income they have,” Solano said. “Thanks to the support of the entire community, the support of the leaders at Palenque LSNA, it was possible to have this clinic. Remember that it is from the community and for the community.”
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