MORE FAQs
7. Why is early education so important?
8. Who are the professionals working with CFC to rebuild the Karger Center?
9. Why rebuild the Karger Center?
10. Will the rebuilt Karger Center be "Green"?
11. Do the child care and school agencies follow a particular educational philosophy?
12. What is the CFC's campaign goal and how is it going to raise these funds?
13. Who are our supporters and what is the current status of the project?
14. Will the new facility be available for use by the public?
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1. What is Community Family Center (CFC)?
A non-profit community organization working to renovate the Karger Center at 1850 Green Bay Road to house five existing Highland Park Highwood and Fort Sheridan child and family services agencies under one roof. The agencies are:
- Family Network, A Family Focus Center
- Family Service: Prevention, Education, & Counseling, NFP
- Highland Park Community Nursery School and Day Care Center
- Highland Park/Highwood Home Child Care Association
- Tri-Con Child Care Center
Collectively, these agencies have provided over 200 years of service to our community. After the move into the new facility Highland Park Community Nursery School and Day Care Center and Tri-Con Child Care Center anticipate merging. The 4 remaining agencies will continue as independent organizations.
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2. What services will be provided?
Programs will be staffed by bilingual professionals, and a sliding fee scale will be available to all who qualify. The services include:
- Licensed infant & toddler childcare
- Education (preschool and day care)
- Before and after school programs
- Early Childhood Summer Camp
- Prenatal and Parent Education
- Drop-in Center for parents and their children from birth through age three, offering parental support and parental respite
- Counseling for individuals, couples, families and groups, and seniors
- Referral Services
- Community Education Workshops
- Spanish based programs and services
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3. Where will this facility be and how did the CFC secure it?
The Karger Center is conveniently located in the heart of downtown Highland Park. It is close to public transportation, Sunset Park and the Lake County Health Clinic on Green Bay Road, just north of Central Avenue and behind Sunset Foods. Through the foresightedness and generosity of the Highland Park City Council, the CFC has executed a lease with the City for the Karger Center with the provisions of nominal rent, and up to a 40 year term.
Located in Moraine Township 43N, Range12E, Section 23.
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4. Why do we need the CFC?
Serving all children of our community is the primary focus of our efforts and resources. Although existing programs offered by our agencies are excellent, most of the facilities in which they operate are in poor condition. Three agencies are in spaces where significant time and resources are often diverted in the face of structural problems (e.g., heating, windows, plumbing, and water seepage). Keeping these spaces licensable comes at a high cost. The landlords who have been providing space, free of charge, for all these years have been the keys to allowing the agencies to exist. Our gratitude to them cannot be overstated. Despite their often heroic commitment, they are not in a position to rectify the facility issues.
Some working parents do not have access to affordable childcare for their infant and toddler childcare. The CFC childcare agencies have no room to expand to accommodate this age group in existing locations.
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5. How will the CFC benefit the current agencies and the families who use the services?
A newly renovated Karger Center will provide for a state-of-the art environment and additional classrooms, office and meeting spaces. Services will be expanded to provide additional licensed space to serve 8 infants, 12 toddlers, and 24 two year olds, as well as additional space for elementary school children in after school care.
There will also be an opportunity for more care for children who will be in afternoon kindergarten. Very little care exists now for working parents whose children are assigned to afternoon classes.
Agencies will cooperate for optimum efficiency and effectiveness in both service delivery and cost savings. Shared areas such as the gross motor rooms, and expanded outdoor playground, conference/meeting space, the kitchen, and staff resource room will be of benefit to all agencies for a one-time construction cost. Multiple service agencies housed at one site will allow clients greater accessibility and convenience.
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6. How will the CFC benefit the Cities of Highland Park, Highwood and Fort Sheridan as a whole?
There is a tremendous need for affordable services. We believe that the CFC can serve as a national model for delivering integrated family support services in an environment that dignifies its more than 4,400 participants from 2,200 households.
All five agencies provide essential services for the children and families of our community. The new center will be able to meet current needs and provide for modest expansion of services to meet the need for infant and toddler care and provide children an opportunity to begin kindergarten ready to learn.
For Example, our two nursery schools and day care centers serve not only affluent and middle income children in our neighborhoods, but an equal number of low income children from Highland Park, Highwood and Fort Sheridan with two working parents.
Another one of our agencies offers critical before and after school services that provides much needed support and academic assistance to children of working families in our community.
The Community Family Center not only enhances the lives of our children, but also their parents by providing them with a wide array of educational and social supports and networking opportunities. These services help parents gain confidence by teaching them new skill to help strengthen their family which ultimately strengthens our entire community.
The substantially improved and expanded environment that we will create at the Karger Center will immensely help the teachers and staffs of our agencies to be more effective at providing quality care, and improve parent participation and involvement.
Local business employers and employees will benefit from having quality child care facilities in a centrally located building. School District 112 will benefit from the early childhood education programs. The entire community (serviced by school district 112) will benefit from having affordable services available to all who need them.
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7. Why is early education so important?
The academic achievement gap between low-income children and their peers is evident as early as 18 months. Early childhood programs help level the playing field for low-income children and prepare them for success throughout their school years. According to research by Prof. James Heckman, a Nobel laureate in economics from the University of Chicago, investing in quality early learning programs is the most efficient way to affect school and life success and to reduce social expenditures later. Returns are greatest for the most at-risk children. For that population in particular, quality early learning programs can result in reduced costs later on special education, remedial classes, and even incarceration. Heckman's research also shows early interventions for disadvantaged children "raise the quality of the workforce, enhance the productivity of schools and reduce crime, teenage pregnancy, and welfare dependency"
8. Who are the professionals working with the CFC to rebuild the Karger Center?
The CFC is fortunate to have retained the services of Holabird & Root as architects. Holabird & Root is over 100 years old and are acknowledged leaders in designing early childhood and family centers such as Concordia University Chicago, Howard Area Community Center, Chicago Commons, and Concordia Avondale Campus. They have a thorough understanding of our needs.
We have also engaged the services of IFF (formerly Illinois Facilities Fund) to be our design, construction and financial advisor. IFF is itself a non-profit organization dedicated to providing these services to non-profit organizations, such as community centers, charter schools and primary health care clinics. They, too, are extremely experienced in advising community organizations similar to the CFC.
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9. Why rebuild the Karger Center?
We believe it is cost efficient and environmentally sound to revitalize an existing community asset. The central location of the building will encourage its use and promote the agencies' family focus philosophy.
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10. Will the rebuilt Karger Center be "Green"?
Yes. Our plans are to achieve Silver LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certification as created by the US Green Building Council (USGBC). This certification is a nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings. The use of carefully selected material, energy efficiency, water savings, and the overall environmental quality of the building will have a significant impact on maintenance costs upon completion.
We also plan to provide a roof garden to enable the children to grow their own plants and vegetables.
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11. Do the child care and school agencies follow a particular educational philosophy?
Highland Park Community Nursery School and Day Care Center and Tri-Con Child Care Center both support the Italian, 'Reggio Emilia' approach to early childhood education. This curriculum is built upon the following set of principles: Children must have some control over the direction of their learning; children must be able to learn through experiences of touching, moving, listening, seeing, and hearing; children have a relationship with other children and with material items in the world that children must be allowed to explore; and children must have endless ways and opportunities to express themselves. It includes the interests of the children, family and/or community events, and a curiosity about the world in which they live. The physical classroom and building environments are very important elements that help in following this approach.
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12. What is the CFC's campaign goal and how is it going to raise these funds?
Our campaign goal is $11.1 million which will provide sufficient funds to fully rebuild the Karger Center into a state-of-the-art facility. This goal will provide improved and expanded care and services to all community members regardless of their ability to pay.
We are also raising $4 million for operations and maintenance.
The CFC has been dedicated to locating the appropriate site for this project since 2001. Thus far, the CFC has raised $2 million.
To achieve our campaign goal, we will be approaching private foundations, corporations, individuals, and alumni, as well as seeking federal, state and local funds. We already have commitments for the land and building from the City of Highland Park, pledges from the State of Illinois, Lake County and Moraine Township as well as dedicated board members.
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13. Who are our supporters and what is the current status of the project?
This project is endorsed by the Highland Park City Council, the Moraine Township, Lake County, School District 113 and 112 administrators, and elected state officials. We have an active board of directors who volunteer their time and expertise. Over the years many community members have contributed financially and professionally to the effort of exploring sites, and designing a structure that will house five agencies and provide for the synergies of co-location. We have begun the Capital Campaign phase of our project.
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14. Will the new facility be available for use by the public?
We anticipate that space within the Center will be available for community meetings and other community activities when not in use by the Agencies.
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