2023 Resource Fair

“Learn about the current immigration issues in Lake County and resources to support families”.

● Agencies: Mother’s Trust Foundation, Lake County Regional Office of Education, The
Alliance for Human Services, SEDOL

● PADS- Waukegan
○ Supports with homelessness
○ Instead of using churches and school buses, they started to use hotel rooms
since hotels were suffering so much due to COVID as well.
○ The hotel program is continuing even now.
○ More than 70% of the clients are new to the agency, not repetitive clients. If it is a
repeat client, they are welcome as well.
○ They have had to turn some people away due to overcapacity, however, they
generally can help everyone.
○ They want to eventually open a shelter for all individuals in Lake County to utilize.
● Prairie State Legal (Waukegan office)
○ Affordable housing issues
○ People don’t know their rights when it comes to being evicted.
○ Free, civil legal aid
○ There is a justice gap- the civil need of people with low income, and having the
ability to have those needs met.
○ To qualify: household income below 200% of federal poverty level (there are
exceptions) .Example: A household of 3, living under $40,000 per year.
○ They attempt outreach and education in order to address the roots of the issues
before they need to approach it from a reactive lens.
○ Urgent legal needs: Protection from domestic violence, divorce with domestic
violence, evictions, foreclosure, loss of housing substance, loss of public utilities,
loss or denial of medical benefits, nursing care losses, when social security is
taken away.
○ They enjoying going to Back to School Night or Curriculum Nights to make
families aware of how they can help if need be.
○ There is a referral form.
○ Since COVID many services are presented by telephone. This has helped
TREMENDOUSLY with getting clients what they need without causing them so
much extra work with getting to the agency. Zoom court has also been a really
accommodating resource since people don’t have to take off of work and
continue to lose income.
○ They opened their doors for walk-ins
● High school counselor- Crystal Lake
○ This is the largest displacement of refugees since WWII.
○ Chicagoland area is a big hub for Ukrainian refugees
○ Families are so hesitant to ask for help.
 ■ How do we create environments that feel like safe spaces for them to ask
for help?
■ Learn greetings or salutations in the students’ native language
○ When will the war end and what condition will their home be in when they return?
● Warren Township:
○ Federal funding has ended for the most part after COVID.
○ This is a really serious transition time.
○ The entities the families were going to in order to get assistance are turning them
away because they don’t have resources anymore.
○ Families have no time, little energy, patience in order to find resources once they
get turned away from the ones they were comfortable with.
○ Connect families to agencies! They can help! They know that we are not the case
managers of families and these specific situations, but the agency IS, so they can
take the role of working everything out and take that off of us.