Family Service: Prevention, Education & Counseling NFP

Serving the community since 1930

Nuestro Center Community of Family Service

A place where children and families come for bilingual and bi-cultural (Spanish) support, located in Highwood, IL on the North Shore Estates Housing Complex. Just some of the dynamic services offered include ESL classes, art classes, after school homework club, community-based summer camp with local mentors taking Nuestro youngsters to cultural events, computer training.

Nuestro Center, one of our most visible programs, began in 1997 as a local response to the growing needs of the Latino community. Nuestro Center literally means “our center” and provides community resources, referrals and programs for the families of the North Shore Estates apartment complex in Highwood, Illinois . Its objective is to ensure that children and parents have the necessary resources and assistance needed to assimilate to American society while maintaining a sense of strength and pride in their cultural heritage.

In January of 2003, Nuestro moved to a larger facility within North Shore Estates, effectively doubling its programming capacity and adding an additional staff member. The move included the installation of a new, networked computer lab donated through School District 113. The First Presbyterian Church of Lake Forest provided the supplies and manpower to construct two classrooms and two private interviewing offices for one-on-one time between staff members and families.

Education Programs: The on-site family resources center includes an after school program for children 6 through 14 years of age, educational field trips for youth and families, a teen leadership club and a summer day camp called Nuestro Verano.

Nuestro Center's after school program, which is supplemented by teen and adult volunteers, includes the following components:

- Homework Club/“La Escuelita” four days a week in coordination with teachers --from Oak Terrace, Northwood Schools, Red Oak and Elm Place.
- Computer training including educational software programs for students of --many ages;
- Daily supervised recreational and mentoring activities;
- Health care through monthly visits from Lake Forest Hospital 's “Care Coach,” --providing immunizations to school age children and cholesterol and --blood/sugar screenings for adults.

- The annual Health Fair at Oak Terrace Elementary School, which provides --school physicals and vaccinations to meet school requirements for the coming --academic year.  The fair is held in conjunction with local health care providers --including Lake Forest Hospital and Evanston/Highland Park Hospital.

- Nuestro Verano is a summer day camp for residents of North Shore Estates --offering arts and crafts, sports, games, team-building exercises, leadership --training, and field trips. Two paid staff and a team of 35 teen volunteers work --with as many as 100 campers on any given summer day.

New initiatives at Nuestro Center :

Friday Art Club, run by the center's program coordinator, introduces children to creative Mexican themed projects. Highland Park Suburban Fine Arts Center recently donated 10 art scholarships to Nuestro Center for their prestigious art center. In addition, a teacher from Suburban Fine Arts volunteers by teaching art classes to Nuestro children. In response to the children's excitement, we initiated ‘Friday Arts Club'. Here youth create Mexican themed projects and sell them at fairs, giving half the proceeds to the center. The youngsters take the other half of the earnings as an exercise in creativity, productivity and entrepreneurship.

Mental health/prevention: Nuestro Center maintains a holistic environment that deals with the problems of assimilation and how those social pressures can create real stress for the new immigrant family. Digna Rivera, one of our bilingual therapists, has pointed out a plethora of social pressures that lead to serious stressors such as:

- language barriers

- joblessness and financial difficulties.

- ongoing feeling of marginalization and isolation can lead to substance abuse --and domestic violence. Postpartum Depression

- teen pregnancy

- a changing of family roles from parent to child and the reverse due to a child's --faster paced assimilation, panic attacks, depression and self-mutilation are --just some of the other issues new immigrant families' experience. We work --with other agencies for psychiatric evaluations in cases where medical --intervention is necessary.