Lives transformed. Communities changed for the better. A brighter future for all. These goals are at the very heart of the work we do every day at Ada S. McKinley Community Services, Inc. Guided by our founder’s legacy, Ada S. McKinley is driven by our mission to serve the most vulnerable individuals and communities in the Chicago area. We believe that all individuals, regardless of disabilities or other limiting conditions, deserve the opportunity to live healthy, productive, and fulfilling lives. Since our founding in 1919, we have worked to bring real, lasting, and positive change to the lives of thousands of individuals through vital social services. Each year, Ada S. McKinley touches the lives of more than 12,000 people, helping them build pathways to success and live their lives with dignity and respect.
 

Nearly 90 years ago, our founder, Mrs. Ada Sophia McKinley, a retired school teacher and pioneer social worker, organized a settlement house in Chicago's Bronzeville community to meet the pressing needs of returning World War I soldiers and their families and to help these individuals integrate into and become productive citizens of the city of Chicago.

Since that beginning, Ada S. McKinley Community Services, Inc. has expanded from a settlement house to 43 sites across six divisions and has become a comprehensive, fully-accredited, human services agency. 

Included among those sites are six Head Start programs; one school for children with multiple disabilities; one charter school for high school drop outs; seven janitorial work-training sites for adults with disabilities; one foster care emergency shelter; and many other services and programs. 

In fiscal year 2009, Ada S. McKinley Community Services, Inc.:

• Provided emergency food assistance to 5,000 individuals through our food pantry
• Offered tutoring, life planning and college preparation and placement services to over 2,400 middle and high school students
• Was a summer internship site for 80 teens interested in child care and early childhood development through a program sponsored by After School Matters, Claretian Associates and the Urban League
• Offered supported employment to 60 adults with developmental disabilities
• Provided basic and pre-vocational education to 26 students with severe developmental disabilities
• Provided early childhood development service to over 300, 0-5 year-olds in our Head Start programs
• Served 124 children and youth, ages 5-12, through our after-school programs at McKinley Neighborhood House

To effectively facilitate these programs and service our more than 13,000 clients, we work in collaboration with the Illinois Department of Human Services, Chicago Department of Family Services, U.S. Department of Education, State of Illinois, City of Chicago, the Mayor's Office and numerous other businesses, government entities and community-based service providers located throughout Chicagoland.