The Hope Institute Breaks Ground on a New Campus-Based Group Home

Aug. 23, 2011 - PRLog -- The Hope Institute for Children and Families today broke ground for a new group home on the organization’s 26-acre Springfield campus.  The new home represents the first phase of a multi-year campus re-design and modernization program planned by Hope.  
   
“The Hope Institute is moving forward,” said President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Mary Ellen Caron.  “Today’s important new beginning represents the result of people coming together, staying together and working together for the good of some of the most vulnerable children in our society.”

The new facility, which was designed by Steckel-Parker Architects, Inc. of Springfield, will accommodate up to ten children in a home-like setting.  It was designed with a number of special features to allow staff to meet the needs of children with multiple developmental and physical disabilities.

“All children deserve the opportunity to live in a home-like setting, and the children of Hope are no different,” Dr. Caron said.  “This home has been designed not only to blend nicely into the neighborhood, but also to meet the requirements of children with complex needs.”

Other speakers at the groundbreaking ceremony included:

    Judge Steven H. Nardulli, Chair of The Hope Institute Board of Directors.

    Mr. Ryan Croke, Deputy Chief of Staff to Governor Pat Quinn.

    Springfield Mayor J. Michael Houston.

    Clifton White, a member of The Hope Institute staff for more than 13 years.

    Karen Browning, whose son, Kyle, receives services from The Hope Institute.

Also participating in the groundbreaking was Hope board member John Jordan, son of Dr. Charles Jordan, the Springfield area dentist who founded Hope 54 years ago.  Mr. Jordan used the same shovel used by his father when ground was broken for the construction of Hope’s Lake Springfield campus in 1963.

Dr. Caron expects the campus re-design and modernization effort to occur over the next five years.  “While our education building was built in 2003, most of our residential buildings on campus date to the 1960s,” she said.  “When this process is complete, we expect to have all our children in home-like settings, either on campus or in the community.”

The home is being funded, in part, by a capital grant from the State of Illinois.  Harold O’Shea Builders of Springfield will handle the construction of the home, which is expected to take six months.

Founded in 1957, The Hope Institute currently provides residential services to 131 children on its Springfield campus or in group homes throughout the Springfield area.  186 students attend The Hope School Learning Center in Springfield.  The organization also operates Noll Medical Pavilion, an outpatient medical facility providing services to children with developmental disabilities and mental illness.  The Hope Institute Learning Academy in Chicago is a Chicago Public Schools contract school, serving 450 general and special education students in grades K-5.  Hope is also the convening agency for The Autism Program of Illinois (TAP), which operates in partnership with more than 30 nonprofit organizations and universities across the state.  TAP is the largest statewide autism resource and service network in the nation.

Through these programs, The Hope Institute impacts the lives of more than 29,000 children and their families from Chicago to Cairo each year.  For more information, visit the organization’s web site:  http://www.thehopeinstitute.us.