North Lawndale Employment Network (NLEN) shared details for its newly acquired 20,000-square-foot facility at 1111 S. Homan Ave. during a donor appreciation event.
Elected officials joined NLEN as it celebrated public and private donors that have contributed to its $10 million capital campaign, enabling the West Side community-based organization, established by the Steans Family Foundation, to double its current capacity. Upon opening in the spring of 2020, the new campus will afford NLEN enough space to provide an additional 5,000 West Side residents, including people with criminal backgrounds, with job training and placement services and create more employment opportunities at its growing social enterprise, Sweet Beginnings, including an on-site café and event space.
With more than $5 million in funding from the public and private sector, including the City of Chicago Neighborhood Opportunity Fund and JPMorgan Chase, NLEN will invest in staffing, equipment procurement, and renovation of the newly acquired facility. Key investors in the new facility include the City of Chicago, which provided a $2.5 million grant from the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund; JPMorgan Chase, which committed $1 million; bridge funding from IFF; the Steans Family Foundation; Jim and Kay Mabie; The Chicago Community Trust; Citi Foundation; Dr. Michael McAfee; Alaina M. Anderson; Dave Davenport; Daniel O. Ash and Sara Bernstein.
In 2020, NLEN will celebrate a milestone 20th anniversary themed “Building. Believing. Beginning.”
For more information, please visit the NLEN website: https://www.nlen.org or call 773-638-1825
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