Casa Central is the largest Hispanic social service agency in Chicago (and arguably the entire United States). The city of Chicago is home to over 810,000 Latinos – and an amazing 20,000 new immigrants are arriving every year! Needless to say, Casa Central is a vital resource to newcomers and the Hispanic community in general. They provide daycare, early learning classes, teen programs, transitional housing, senior programs, parenting classes and a whole lot more!

CSM has had the amazing opportunity to partner with Casa Central for about a decade in serving the people of Chicago. One of the most unique (and loved by CSM groups) service opportunities is working with the School Age Program (SAP). CSM volunteers help Casa Central provide after-school care to 100 students so that their parents can continue working or attend school. They bring them to Casa Central, feed them dinner, help with homework, provide tutoring and club activities. Casa Central has 12 staff members dedicated to SAP – all are bilingual, bi-cultural and really meet the needs of the kids. Groups serving with CSM have the opportunity to help in the classrooms and make wonderful connections with these great kids!

Megan Kissell, Casa Central’s Director of SAP, has been working hand in hand with CSM groups for the last year and a half. Though groups partner with Casa all year round, the majority of CSM volunteers help during the summer months.

“CSM's involvement has really helped improve our services in the summer,” she says, “They bring games and activities, provide new ideas for the staff to use. They bring arts/crafts and resources that we wouldn't have access to otherwise. They bond with our kids so quickly in the short week that they are each here. The kids love having new volunteers each week- it adds such variety to our programming.”

Last summer, a church from New Jersey came with CSM on a trip to Chicago. They were scheduled to serve at Casa Central throughout the week and just fell in love with the kids there. One of the adults from the group had come on the trip with a desire to financially help a family in need. While partnering with Casa Central that week, the leader let their staff know of this desire and they immediately knew who to connect him with.

The boys from Casa loving their new clothes!

A father of three boys who attend Casa programs had recently gained custody of them. Their mother had been sent to jail, and the boys weren’t able to bring any personal items with them as they were handed off to their dad. The adult from this NJ group was able to take the boys out shopping for everything they would need.

“They started living with their dad for the first time that summer and had literally nothing with them. So buying items for this family was a huge blessing,” says Megan.

But it didn’t stop there! Our CSM Chicago Team recently talked to the staff at Casa Central and found out that this NJ group has been able to assist another family in need since serving in Chicago with CSM. They continued to help from home. That’s what we call going above and beyond!

Casa Central’s dedication to the people of Chicago and realistically meeting their needs both inspire and encourage our groups to reach out in their own communities – after their CSM trip. We thank them for their partnership over the years and the countless lessons they have taught us as we strive to do the same – simply love people.

1. The State of Latino Chicago, This is Home Now. Timothy Ready and Albert Brown Gort, University of Notre Dame Institute for Latino Studies, 2005

Speak Spanish? Watch Casa Central's Promo Video!

To learn more about serving with Casa Central, check out our Chicago page.