CircEsteem: clowning around with style and confidence

When we were kids we liked to clown a lot almost all the time. As adults, we clown around too but it is more of a serious thing or a thing to have a laugh. Clowning around is something that we as adults take for granted in children and sometimes annoys us. But we don’t understand the power behind clowning and having a laugh.

Image courtesy of Beth Bullock at Flickr.com

Clowning can be ways children express themselves or let their feelings go without restrictions. It is creative, it is fun, it is even healthy for our bodies and minds. Of course, as adults, clowning around may seem like an immature thing or a thing that very few do. Depends on the personality.

But what if we told you that there is a way to make clowning around an activity where children can build confidence? Even more, when combined with other circus arts and very good guidance, it can become a source of happiness confidence and self-esteem for children, adults, teachers and everybody that is touched by these amazing approaches to life.

Let’s take a look at a charity in the Chicagoland area called CircEsteem that is doing exactly what we just mentioned: building confidence through circus arts and the activity of clowning around.

The idea of CircEsteem came to be in the year 2001 from the brains of Paul Miller, a former clown that was part of the Barnum & Bailey group. His idea was to provide a space where people could go and “clown” around without being judged or looked at. From there, it grew to a group that provided a place for kids that came from very different backgrounds and that did not know what physical activity to do or how to express themselves. With this, children went to the group to have fun and by the way, build the much-needed self-esteem that is required to face everything in life.  How did he do it? Well, he took the fine circus arts and applied them to performance approaches that were fun and useful.

Then, in 2004 a very special woman came to play an important role to grow the group and take it to new places. Her name was Maribeth Joy and she joined CircEsteem in its  4th Spring Circus working  as a stage manager, photographer, and costume maker. The way she contributed to the company was by taking the show and the idea all over the United States and even to Germany. She then became the Executive Director in the year 2009.

Image courtesy of Beth Bullock at Flickr.com

As for today, Dan Roberts is the head of the group. He used to be a CircEsteem Teaching Artist, and he took some time in Indonesia to learn and to work with different social circus programs where he sometimes was a founder and other times he was the manager.

Now, as for their programs, they are very holistic and include many activities aimed at increasing self-esteem and how to lose fear and panic of being seen on stage. All of their programs are connected to each other with the idea of helping and teaching young kids to respect for diversity and the importance of self-confidence. Another keystone in their programs is that they are always looking for ways to address social needs. For example, they created the HomeWork and CircusWork program when they found out children were not doing so well at school and they had the brilliant idea of having a free after school program which gave children the academic support the needed 3 times per week. This same program then led to other programs such as the employment opportunities program and the scholarship money for a college program.

Some of their most important programs are the following:

CircusTeens

This is their youth employment program.  Here the group gives work to older students and more responsible ones by making them teach, perform, mentor younger students, and even teach personal finances and help students open bank accounts so they can save for college.

Saturday Circus

The Saturday  Circus is a program where students from the Chicagoland area meet up with other children that are part of the HomeWork & CircusWork program to have  five hours of circus classes. Here, students from many backgrounds meet to discuss, play, do activities and learn about circus arts and how they can contribute to everyday life. This is one of the oldest programs and it addresses their mission of “uniting youth from diverse backgrounds”

CircEsteem Scholarship Opportunities

This is not a program in the full sense of the word. The idea here is that CircEsteem wants to reach everybody. They charge certain fees and ask families to try to pay them if they can. If not possible, they encourage families to swap services with the company such as graphic design, costuming and marketing services. An amazing feature that makes the programs even more accessible.

Be sure to also check this post about the American Blues Theater and their importance in philanthropy.

SOS Illinois: uniting the family around foster homes

Ok. Yes. The title is a bit strange. Uniting families around foster homes? It is a bit contradictory. But no, it is actually a reality. Unfortunately, many children are abused by their parents or relatives and it is a never ending the story and a spiral of sadness, silence, and depression.

Image courtesy of SOS Illinois at sosillinois.org

Many of those children have siblings. They have lived the same situation and have lived in foster homes due to their problems. Some people may think that this is somewhat impossible because it is almost impossible to abuse 2 or 3 children at the same time. Or, how many families have more than 2 children and abuse them both? Is the number enough to create an institution that focuses on families getting together around foster homes? Well, it is and there are families with this type of description.

SOS Illinois is that charity that is helping children get together with their siblings live in a foster home with a feeling of hope and love in the house and in the community around the foster home. Let’s take a look at what are they all about and how they came to be and started helping children in the area of Illinois.

SOS Children’s Villages Illinois addresses the problem of foster homes in a totally different way. They have a model where children can live in a home where they are loved and taught and where they are stable and live normal problems a child can have while living within a caring home. Also, the idea is to unite families by getting siblings together around that one home which provides a full-time, professionally trained Foster Parent and that is located in one of SOS Illinois´ villages. Here, children are supported by almost everyone: the community, their SOS foster parents, and the organization.

The village and foster parents include the following: individual and group meeting to give advice on day to day topics; mentoring programs to help children know what they want to be later in life; , and educational and cultural enrichment programs to give them the necessary information to understand their past and not repeat it in the future. This entire atmosphere gives the foster children the opportunity to live in a supportive community where they can feel safe, secure, encouraged and motivated to reach their full potential as adults.

SOS Illinois has a parent too. Their father is SOS Kinderdorf International which is the parent and guide for SOS Children’s Villages Illinois. SOS kinderdorf started in Europe in 1945 due to the big amount of children left parentless after the Second World War and were needing attention and care to continue their lives without their parents. The first SOS Children’s Village was started in Imst, Austria in the year 1949. Nowadays, SOS-Kinderdorf International is the biggest and most important child welfare organization in the world and they have more than 73,400 children distributed around 550 SOS Villages. SOS Illinois started in 1993 with one foster home and they have kept record of all their children and their destinations and they have continued the legacy and guidance that SOS Kinderdorf International has given them in order to give children the support and the resources they need to become productive, social and happy adults in their communities.

Image courtesy of Kasuma at Pexels.com

https://flic.kr/p/hgV3Pi

Image courtesy of Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade at flickr.com

As for today, SOS Illinois runs 3 villages and a site that offers preventative and in-home family services. The SOS Children’s Villages are designed to help children see their real potential towards the community. The villages provide a group of homes that share recreational spaces with other homes that have foster children, which builds a true sense of community.  The power of the program comes from the power that the Village has when it comes together to improve as a community and relies in the help of parents and staff that give children the tools to gain confidence, trust, and regain the sense of hope in their lives.  

The first site they opened was opened in Lockport, Illinois in the year 1993 and it is located near Joliet, IL. This village consists of 18 family homes, a management building, community and learning center and a park

The second village was in opened in the year 2004 located in the Auburn Gresham/Englewood neighborhood of Chicago and it was the first urban Village in the United States. This village has 17 single-family homes. They also have the Lavezzorio Community Center that provides the community with on-site case management and medical services.

The third village is a village that has 14-homes and it was opened in the year 2014 in the Roosevelt Square Community of Chicago. The houses are big as they consist of 2300 square feet. Apart from all the facilities, they have areas that are used for vegetable gardens and for outdoor activities.

Be sure to also check this post on a charity that is providing technology education for everyone.

Big Corporations doing important things for Chicago

It may shock some people, but some of the most powerful individuals contributing to Chicago welfare come from the corporate world. It does not matter why they do it –if it is a matter of altruism, self-interest or both-, these big corporations are responsible every year for donating millions to philanthropy in Chicago.

In this article, Yosef Meystel will describe a few corporations that are actually recognized for being big charity funders. Companies such as Northern Trust, W.W Grainger Inc, and Exelon are just a few that should be known worldwide for their amazing job in the not-for-profit arena.

Northern Trust

This financial giant located in Chicago, Illinois, is an American international company dedicated to providing investment administration, fund and assets management, fiduciary and banking services in more than 85 branch offices in 18 U.S states and 20 international branch offices in the rest of North America, Asia, and Europe.

The company believes that strategic philanthropy enhances individuals and families to make a long-lasting impact on the community and future generations. They help individuals put their wealth to work in support of a charity or cause, supporting three main funding areas: disadvantaged women, their children and people with mental and physical disabilities. Their entire philosophy argues that disadvantaged women and their children are a vulnerable population growing exceedingly fast in the world. Therefore, economic advantages should be given to them, so they can become stronger and build more sustainable communities. In the same way, people with disabilities need to help improve their well-being and quality of life.

Northern Trust is one of the few companies in the U.S that has kept up its donations despite the multiple recessions and financial crisis that have taken place in the country. They have always stated that in rough times, is when people are in need the most, for this reason, the company shouldn’t turn its back on them. Instead, Northern Trust and its philanthropic experts collaborate with every family to identify, refine and evaluate which charitable solutions that best suits their needs.

Image courtesy of Julie Kertesz at Flickr.com

Exelon Corp

This corporation is an energy giant that works in every single stage of the energy business, including competitive energy sales, power generation, transmission, and delivery. The company does business in over 48 states and Canada, employing more than 34,000 people only in the U.S.

Exelon funds a corporate giving program that aims to help communities grow and thrive in Chicago and other cities in the U.S, as one of their main goals is to have a positive impact in the areas they serve.

Some of the areas Exelon Corp funds offer measurable, sustainable improvements in the communities. These areas are listed below:

•    Education: These programs promote scholarships and internships, encouraging students to stay in school and develop their potential.
•    Environment: Programs here aim to improve the quality of our environment, working for environmental education, conservation, and preservation of species.
•    Arts & Culture: In this area, programs are dedicated to making arts and culture more accessible to a wider and more diverse audience.
•    Development: Programs here support different options from health and human services to after-school programming.

The 606: In June 2015, Exelon Corp opened the 606, a ground-breaking green space in Chicago’s park-poor neighborhoods. The 606 transformed an unused rail line that once divided neighborhoods into an elevated path of green areas on Chicago’s northwest side.

According to Exelon website “Long-term plans for The 606 include six ground-level parks, a wheel-friendly event plaza, an observatory, art installations, educational programming and other amenities”. It is known that new education programs will guide Chicago’s youth and teachers as they explore and learn from The 606 initiative.

Image courtesy of City Year at Flickr.com

W.W. Grainger, Inc.

This Company presents itself as industrial supply company operating since 1927 in Chicago, Illinois. The Company works as a business-to-business distributor of items needed to maintain, repair and operate facilities. At least 3 million organizations and institutions in the world depend on Grainger for products like safety gloves, motors, ladders and janitorial supplies. Grainger also provides services such as inventory management and technical support.

The Grainger Foundation thrives for disaster prevention and response, support for programs related to skilled trades, an employee matching gifts program, and a combined volunteer/financial local giving program in the cities where the company has a corporate presence. The Foundation also gives community college scholarship support for training in technical skills and public safety.

The company has also made some major contributions to different universities during the past years. One of the most remarkable of these contributions was made to the University of Illinois through the Urbana-Champaign’s Grainger Engineering Breakthroughs Initiative (GEBI), boosting a massive expansion of its Engineering department with tens of millions of dollars in Grainger Foundation funding and an initial focus on “bioengineering and big data”.

Children’s Literacy in Chicago: the Right to Be Smart

Image courtesy of Ewa Rozkosz at Flickr.com

Books play an important role in our lives. They bind us to the past, allow us to travel to the future. They demand nothing from us and in exchange for our attention, they give us independence and freedom.

One of the biggest challenges Chicago has to face currently is illiteracy. 30% of adults in Chicago have low basic literacy skills, 54% of Chicago’s public school students do not meet or exceed reading standards, and what is more tragic, the first ones in line to be affected by this problem are children from low-income families. Many low-income children enter kindergarten with a significant learning gap compared to their wealthier peers.

Statistics don’t lie when they show that low-income children by age three hear approximately 30 million fewer words than a child from a wealthier family does. This gap is hard to compensate since 61% of low-income households do not even own any children’s books.

Yosef Meystel knows how important it is to improve children’s early literacy and grade-level reading skills. That is why he is in favor of supporting programs for early education through a philanthropic approach. There are some institutions that counter the myth that children from disadvantaged households have too many obstacles to overcome to reach the literacy levels of their more privileged peers, demonstrating that when the instruction is loving and expert, almost all children are willing to learn how to read.

In this article, you can find three institutions located in Chicago, which work to improve children’s literacy from a philanthropic approach. These organizations work with some of the most needed volunteers in the world right now, as they tutor children after school.

Open Books

This foundation has worked with thousands of students and reached hundreds of thousands more through their book grant programs, community events, and literacy partnerships. It focuses on the transformative impact literacy has on children, promoting writing and reading programs, team growth and volunteer engagement.

The team behind Open Books is energetic, entrepreneurial, and full of book-lovers. Every team member comes from a different background, with decades of experience in business, education, retail, development, law, finance and writing, among others. They all believe that in order to have a positive impact in Chicago, they must remain together as a team working for literacy.

With their programs, such as a Reading Buddies, they work with elementary students one-on-one, helping them boost their reading skills such as fluency and comprehension. Twice a week, a volunteering Big Buddy and a Little Buddy gather and read together. This way, Big buddies coach many students every year and work as a role model whose love for books can be often contagious.

To read more about Open Books, you can click here.

Sit Stay Read

This organization was founded in Chicago in 2003, and its mission is to improve literacy skills and motivate a love of learning in children who come from low-income neighborhoods. Sit Stay Read works with trained volunteers and Certified Reading Assistance Dogs into 16 Chicago Public Schools, some of them located in Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods. It is one of the leading organizations in the use of dogs as a fun tool to improve reading fluency in grades one to four.

Sit Stay Read volunteers – both human and canine- are in the classroom, during the school day, working with first through fourth graders on different reading and writing activities. They help to serve low-income families and students using the right resources to increase their literacy skills.

When children are able to read to dogs instead of people, the feel more confident. There is no place for judgment, just fun and excitement about reading. Dogs enable children to tackle the serious issue of literacy, changing what could be a boring reading session into a beautiful life experience.

To read more about Sit Stay Read, you can click here.

Image courtesy of ThomasLife at Flickr.com

Chicago Literacy Alliance

This organization was built based on the idea of helping people of all ages and backgrounds to receive literacy support and education. It is guided by the passion for books as reading is treated like a way for people to be free.

The Chicago Literacy Alliance’s main goal is to help all people living in Chicago become functionally literate. Literacy as a characteristic can become a point of reference and pride for the city. To achieve this goal, The Chicago Literacy Alliance serves different schools, through the coordination of projects and the generation of reading and writing experiences.

It is not only an independent organization but a growing network constantly trying to partner with other institutions, reaching most parts of the city. As this network keeps growing, different centers are being opened, allowing low-income children to visit spaces dedicated to literacy and with a regular schedule of events and opportunities.

This alliance is based on the idea of passion and commitment as the essentials for making of Chicago a better-educated city.

To read more about The Chicago Literacy Alliance, you can click here.