Bright Days Ahead
The calendar may say we are heading into the dreary days of winter, but it feels like spring at The Chicago Lighthouse. There is a familiar energy of purpose and meaning around the building. All of our Programs have resumed at least some in-person services. Our Preschoolers are in the classroom. Our Seniors are visiting Lighthouse North once a week and our Adult Living Skills participants are finally able to gather in-person.
There is also the energy of new faces at The Lighthouse. We have a new Vice President of Educational Services, Jordan Owens; a new Preschool teacher, “Miss Val,” and a new Director of Adult Services, Marykay Culleton. As you will read in the following pages, they are reinvigorating our Programs to help our students and adult participants become and remain lifelong learners.
As we look to 2022 and beyond, we want to harness all of this energy to do more life-changing work for people who are blind, visually impaired, disabled and Veterans everywhere. You may already be familiar with our recently launched partnership with BlindSight Delaware to expand our Call Center social enterprise model into another area of the country.
Finally, we are moving forward with our building project, “The Foglia Residences at The Chicago Lighthouse.” We expect site planning and construction to begin in early 2022, so that we can have our 76 fully accessible, affordable housing units ready for use by Fall 2023. This building, which will also include ground-level retail space, will make a huge impact in Chicago and could serve as a prototype for other organizations to build similar residences in other areas of the country.
I think you will agree that our future is bright.
Janet P. Szlyk, Ph.D.
President and Chief Executive Officer
