Our Vision
Our vision:
A community where everyone thrives.
Our Mission
Too often resource and economic opportunities limit participants’ choices and capacity to achieve their vision and goals. CCL partners with those held back by lack of resources and economic opportunity to uncover possibilities, overcome barriers, and realize their potential. Our work includes coaching on financial, employment, and resource mobilization goals that enhance lives, training, and skill enhancement opportunities, and advocacy and organizing on economic policy and practices that open up opportunities and resources.
Huge thanks to Mark Wetzel and Mandy Work Wetzel for their generous efforts in directing, producing, and editing this video!
Theory of Change
Community members access their Poder both individually and collectively to work towards economic vitality, community well-being, and Black and Brown solidarity.
Our History
Center for Changing Lives (CCL) has been responding to the needs of individuals and families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness since 1989, when the congregation of Humboldt Park United Methodist Church began an outreach ministry. Initial programs focused on mitigating crisis, including a shelter for those experiencing homelessness, a food pantry, and a soup kitchen.
For over 35 years, CCL has served Chicago, with a main office in Logan Square/Humboldt Park. In 2022, CCL expanded its reach by opening a satellite office on the Southeast side of Chicago in South Chicago, located inside Claretian Associates’ Salud Center.
Today, CCL innovates to expand access to resources and opportunities and to find more effective solutions to individual, organizational, and community challenges. CCL connects people, resources, and opportunities so that households may uncover possibilities, overcome barriers, and realize their potential. The organization works in service of building a community where everyone thrives.
To that end, CCL brings a continuum of high-quality, financially focused services to Chicagoans currently experiencing homelessness or housing or financial hardship, especially those on the Northwest side of Chicago. CCL works in partnership with clients to increase income, access career pathways, improve credit, build assets, and develop the skills and capacities needed to achieve their vision for their life.
Center for Changing Lives’ Organizational Values
Innovation: We believe in continuously learning, improving and evolving. Therefore, we practice flexibility and creativity to find more principled and effective individual, organizational, and community solutions that will expand access to opportunities and better reflect our values and vision.
Poder (Spanish, meaning noun: power and verb: to be able to): We believe in the inherent worth of each person and in their innate ability to overcome their own challenges. Therefore we approach participants as peers and partners, working together to enhance their capacity to achieve their vision for their own life.
Economic Justice: We believe everyone has the right to lead a full and abundant life. Therefore, we promote equal access to and allocation of opportunities and resources; advocate for the personal and structural changes needed for equity to flourish, and encourage the radical acts of sharing that open doors to opportunity and lift all people.
Solidarity: We believe in celebrating and fostering mutual understanding of the beliefs, aspirations, and values represented in our diverse community. Therefore, we build relationships across boundaries and differences in order to learn from, encourage, support, share with, and nurture one another.
Accountability: We believe that we are all responsible for living out our promise and potential. Therefore, we hold ourselves, the individuals and communities that we work with, and institutions responsible for the stewardship, learning, change, and outcomes necessary to fulfill our personal and corporate aspirations and obligations.
Center for Changing Lives’ Organizational Principles
Visioning: We recognize the power of having the freedom to dream both on a client-level as well as on a community level. We believe that imagination is a critical tool to achieving progress and manifesting the future we desire and know is possible.
Inclusion: We believe that regardless of a person’s demographic make-up or social status, all are welcome in CCL programming and resources. This principle shows that we are dedicated to building a community and a supportive network of relationships both internally and externally.
Resourcefulness: Our team is adaptable and agile in the face of adversity, showing that we see an abundance of resources within ourselves and networks.
Unity: We understand that people are only as strong as their team. We know working together and seeing each of our work as integral and a part of the greater whole is critical to their success.
Self-determination: While many of the choices that determine our life are socially constructed, we recognize that each person has inherent power and wisdom to guide their path forward.
Our 2024 Impact:
We graduated 113 participants from Digital Skills for Small Business UnidosUS program. Had an 84% completion rate, the highest nationwide and supported 4 entrepreneurs in launching new businesses.
Local entrepreneurs secured over $15,550 in grants and stipends, with support from CCL Small Business Coaches
CCL’s HUD-Certified Coaches ensured that over 700 community members accessed housing counseling offered 77 HUD-Approved group workshops, provided 167 financial coaching sessions.
Through State Homeless Prevention, in just 6 months, CCL got approval for 187* applications ensured that over $809,000* was accessed by community members to prevent homelessness
Employment Coaching participants achieved a combined placement rate of 17.71%, participated in 18 digital literacy workshops, and engaged in 273 one-on-one sessions as they accessed their own confidence for career growth
CCL participants made progress toward financial stability with an $13,425 average net worth increase, a 42 average increase in credit score. The largest increase was 264 and a $4826 average increase in savings.
Our outreach and engagement included connecting with over 1800 individuals, a 100% increase from 2023! Welcoming 362 new participants, partnering with 50 organizations, tabling at 33 events, and securing 180 referrals to services not provided by CCL
With an integrated approach, 95% of program participants engaged in two or more CCL services. Over $90,000 in income supports was approved or reapproved. Households are less likely to fall out of economic mainstream.
