Waukegan families seeking assistance with things ranging from questions about children’s needs, to a food pantry, to legal assistance, to therapeutic support, may be able to find it in a “wraparound center” in a onetime downtown office building.
“It’s one-stop shopping for social services,” said state Rep. Rita Mayfield, D-Waukegan, who helped secure some of the funding for the facility. “It will be the first one north of Interstate 80.”
The wraparound center is moving into its planning phase under the direction of Waukegan Community Unit School District 60, with hopes of putting an array of social services in the former First Midwest Bank building in downtown Waukegan by August of next year.
Though the project is being led by District 60 personnel, Board of Education President Brandon Ewing said it is open to all Waukegan residents, whether they have children in the public schools or not.
Ewing said he, District 60 officials and other board members learned about a similar wraparound center in Peoria from Mayfield. There it was placed in a school which had extra space, as onetime classrooms became a location for community members to get a variety of services.
A respite center gave students suspended from school a place to learn with supervision. Ewing said there was a law office for people who needed help, and a medical center where students and their families could see a health care professional. Mental health services were available, too.
“We were all blown away by what we saw they were doing,” Ewing said.
Returning from Peoria, Ewing said district officials and some board members began discussing ways to bring a wraparound center to Waukegan. They wanted to place it in a District 60 building, but intended to make it available to all local residents.
Mayfield and Ewing spoke occasionally in public about their hope a wraparound center could come to Waukegan. Funding was an issue. Mayfield and district officials worked on obtaining grants. LeBaron Moten, the district’s deputy superintendent for operational supports and programs, said at an April 11 board meeting $3.3 million was available.
Moten said funding will come primarily from a $2.5 million grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, as well as $800,000 from the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority. Mayfield helped secure the larger grant.
With $3.3 million in hand, Moten said Thursday the wraparound center is planned for the basement of the six-story former First Midwest Bank building, which will become the new home of the administrative offices and other services.
With 5,000 square feet available in the basement, Moten said the plan potentially includes space with seven suites to house different social service agencies or other services community members may need.
“They’ll have one or two desks,” Moten said of the suites. “They’ll hold up to four to six people. There will be room for a receptionist. We hope people will schedule appointments, or they can walk in.”
Ewing said there will be a place for mental health services and a food pantry. He hopes there will also be room for legal services, juvenile justice advocacy and medical help. Moten said a “clothes pantry,” and space for social and emotional supports are also under consideration.
Mayfield said she hopes there will be facilities for both mental and physical health as well as drug counseling. She too sees it as a place where all members of the community can obtain needed services.
“This will be a boom for Waukegan,” Mayfield said. “It’s on all the bus lines and easily accessible to everyone in the community. The central location is outstanding.”
Mechanical plans are being developed so district officials can present a detailed proposal to the board. Moten said then contractors can bid on renovating not only the basement into a wraparound center, but the entire building into the new district headquarters.
Moten said he hopes work can begin renovating the building in January and be done within 12 or 13 months from now, before the start of the 2023-2024 school year. Along with construction, a manager for the wraparound center will be hired and a needs assessment done to determine precisely which services will occupy the individual suites.
“The manager will be an expert in knowing what services should be there,” Moten said. “We will conduct a needs assessment to determine how we build out the space.”
