The Northeast DuPage Family and Youth Services (NEDFYS) hosted a ribbon cutting and open house on Tuesday, May 30, at 4:00 p.m., to celebrate the opening of its new Bloomingdale Counseling Center, located at 255 E. Lake St., in Bloomingdale, IL.
NEDFYS was awarded a $500,000 grant from the DuPage Community Transformational Partnership (DCTP) (a $10 million grant program between DuPage County and DuPage Foundation) to fund the opening of this new center and to hire therapists to provide mental health care for youth in the Addison/Glendale Heights area.
NEDFYS increases awareness about mental health, and provides high-quality, accessible counseling and crisis intervention services that empower youth, strengthen families, and build communities.
“The demand for mental health services is at unprecedented levels,” said NEDFYS Executive Director Shannon Hartnett. “Opening a new counseling center in DuPage County will provide access to the critical mental health care that our communities need. Everyone deserves access to high-quality mental health care, and NEDFYS will reach many underserved individuals and families from our new location.”
NEDFYS is experiencing record demand for services, particularly among adolescents. 80% of its clients are under the age of 25 and most come from low-income families.
“This is a vital community project funded completely by a DCTP Transformational grant,” said Mike Sitrick, DuPage Foundation president & CEO. “DuPage Foundation is honored to be administering the DCTP in conjunction with DuPage County to address the most pressing needs of our neighbors as we progress in our recovery from the pandemic. This partnership exemplifies the power coordinated impact can have when caring people and institutions join forces to address challenges.”
The need for expanded mental health services for youth continues to escalate, which is evidenced by the increasing number of adolescents who are currently on the waiting list for counseling. “When the application was initially submitted in June 2022, the wait list was 102 individuals,” said Barb Szczepaniak, DuPage Foundation vice president for programs. “In March of this year, NEDFYS reported that its wait list was at 271 youth.” NEDFYS anticipates this grant will impact 950 individual clients over the two-year grant period. However, the opening of this center will continue to serve youth well beyond that time frame.
NEDFYS clients exceed space capacity. Opening a second counseling location increases accessibility of mental health services to individuals and families. The goal is to provide client-centered, mental health care in a safe, inviting physical space, to increase the effectiveness of the work NEDFYS is doing. The DCTP funded a welcoming, trauma-informed, therapeutic space, and two additional therapists to accommodate increased need and expand reach into some of the most underserved areas of DuPage County that would not otherwise be possible.
“We are thrilled to see the impact that funding from the DCTP is providing throughout the county, and in this case, in the area of mental health support,” said Greg Schwarze, DuPage County Board Member. “These are the kinds of outcomes we were hoping to see through our partnership with DuPage Foundation.”
About the DuPage County Transformation Partnership
The DuPage Community Transformation Partnership (DCTP) – a $10 million grant program between DuPage County and DuPage Foundation – supports social service not-for-profit organizations helping DuPage County residents in the areas of food insecurity, housing instability, mental health, and substance abuse. In 2022, the County Board voted to execute an agreement to allocate $10.6 million to DuPage Foundation in federal funds received through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) for the grant program. The Foundation received $600,000 to administer the program and disburse the ARPA funds on behalf of the County. To date, nearly $5 million has been awarded in Immediate Intervention and Transformational grants. A complete list of grantees to date is located here. The next round of Immediate Intervention grants will be awarded in July and additional grant opportunities will be offered in 2024. The DCTP recently earned a 2023 national achievement award from the National Association of Counties (NACo) for this collaboration between DuPage County and DuPage Foundation.
