Growing With Gratitude

Growing with Gratitude...Oak Leyden's Mission in action.

How is Oak Leyden delivering upon its commitment to pursue our mission to provide services to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities? See below for just a few examples of how we are not only serving more people that need our help but also exploring new ways to support our dedicated frontline staff; to maximize limited resources in order to best enhance our clients' quality of life; to ensure our program participants take part in the daily life of their own communities; and to be staunch political advocates for our team, our clients, and their guardians.

This year, Oak Leyden's leadership team met to review our core values and intentions as a community of dedicated professionals serving a common goal. Since those initial meetings, we have had periodic 'cultural onboarding' events with new hires to share how our organization pursues its mission and to build an immediate sense of belonging for our new colleagues. We have had great feedback from participants and have seen a noticeable increase in morale as a result.

Oak Leyden has aggressively evaluated our current inventory of CILA properties to determine if we are realizing the maximum benefit for our residents. Our commitment to providing access, dignity, and security in our client homes necessitated some creative approaches, and over the past six months we have sold and purchased several properties, with the result of positive impact upon our bottom line as well as the daily lives of the people we serve. Several of our successful grant requests also supported this effort, which is ongoing.

Despite the heavy competition for therapists that provide Early Intervention services to children from birth to three, Oak Leyden managed to increase our Children's Services staff over the summer. With so many EI therapists leaving the profession due to a multitude of statewide institutional challenges, these new hires are a ringing endorsement of the reputation that Oak Leyden has earned among its peers. We are excited to be able to serve more families with small children requiring speech, occupational, physical, social/emotional, or behavioral therapies.

Oak Leyden recently leased a property in Hillside, Illinois to provide day program services in the western suburbs of Chicago, but unfortunately this location had a massively overburdened heating and cooling system. Thanks to a creative partnership with the IBEW's Powering Chicago Foundation, the folks in our Lifelong Learning program now enjoy a comfortable and safe environment where they can develop social and occupational skills. This partnership was the result of a client's family member's suggestion, which found a supportive audience and enthusiasm; Oak Leyden is committed to giving our client families and guardians the respect and attention that they deserve.

With a significant percentage of our revenue coming from the Department of Health and Human Services, it is hugely important that Oak Leyden continually seeks to improve our relationships with the Illinois legislature. Recently, we welcomed State Senate President Don Harmon to visit our new Lifelong Learning site in Hillside, joined by a representative of Hillside Mayor Joseph Tamborino's staff. We are also welcoming Westchester's own Speaker of the House Chris Welch in the coming weeks to discuss several important budget items that impact both our participants and the dedicated service professionals that care for them. Oak Leyden is ramping up our efforts to advocate for the critical issues that impact on our community and will not allow them to be overlooked.

We have recently made a dedicated effort to raise awareness of our mission in the communities we serve and have already seen measurable results. Oak Leyden has recently participated in legislative breakfasts, social events, tours, and gatherings in many of the locations we serve, including Oak Park, River Forest, Hillside, Berwyn, Westchester, Melrose Park, Northlake, and Franklin Park. We have changed our strategy on our fundraising events, looking to hold them at locations that are in the same neighborhoods where our participants live and deepen those local relationships.

In the past year, Oak Leyden's senior leadership team has participated in a wide array of forums and advocacy efforts, providing important insight and experience to address complicated problems facing our profession. Our program leadership, particularly, is highly respected in their fields and integral to initiatives addressing massive barriers for families seeking IDD services for their loved ones. Oak Leyden is committed to collaborating with all providers of services to folks with IDD to find the most viable solutions to these issues.