Impacting the World Around Us

Impacting the world around us The Chicago School

2009-2010 Annual Appeal

At

The Chicago School, we’re impacting the world around us.

Whether it’s supporting

Scholarships

our own students,

Garfield Park Preparatory Academy children in our backyard,

Counseling Centers of The Chicago School

families in our own community,

The Veterans Initiative our country,

The Rwanda Initiative or the world

The Chicago School’s reach extends far and wide.

As a friend of The Chicago School, we need your support.

The following pages outline these exceptional programs in which The Chicago School has assumed a leadership role.

We’re impacting the world around us.

“Because of a scholarship I received through The Chicago School, I am able to attend conferences that I would not normally attend due to the burden of paying tuition. This fall I plan to attend a conference on the Indigenous Model of Healing, which focuses on the treatment of post-war and international trauma. It is my hope to bring back the knowledge gained at the conference to help form a support group for the Mothers of Erie House Students.”

— Sujata Swaroop, Psy. D. student, Scholarship Recipient

Scholarships This year, one of the greatest needs are scholarships to benefit our students directly. The Chicago School lacks privately funded scholarships while the need for scholarships constantly rises. In the past couple of years, we have started to establish scholarships that provide students the opportunity to attend conferences, symposia, and classes that would not otherwise be possible. In return for the scholarships, the student commits to return to their peers and share the knowledge gained from their attendance.

We hope to add to the scholarship offerings we have already established with the support of people like you. Through the awarding of scholarship, the recipient may expand his/her education and outreach.

Garfield Park Preparatory Academy In the fall of 2009, the doors to Garfield Park Preparatory Academy (GPPA) swung open for the first time, welcoming 120 kindergartners through 3rd graders. At full capacity, GPPA will have 350 students in grades K through 8. Operated by The Chicago School, Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) faculty member, Dr. Denise Ross, oversees it and employs many of the students in the ABA program as teaching assistants and aides. The curriculum Dr. Ross and her team have built is based on principles that are fundamental to ABA—the systematic use of data to measure change and improve behavior. The instructional model supports highly individualized learning and has been proven to substantially increase learning in numerous studies and settings. With a 6:1 student to adult ratio, an extended language arts and math curriculum, not to mention free tutoring and before and after school care, this Chicago School initiative will affect the future of young lives forever.

“The goal of opening a school like this is what brought me to Chicago. It’s a wonderful opportunity for our students — not only in ABA but in departments like School Psychology and Forensic Psychology as well — to apply what they learn in the classroom with children who can benefit from our instructional model.”

— Dr. Denise Ross, professor of ABA and principal of Garfield Park Preparatory Academy

Counseling Centers of The Chicago School The Chicago School’s Counseling Centers offer affordable, quality mental health care to communities throughout the region with a dedication towards compassionate, mindful, ethical, innovative, evidence-based treatment for people in need. Interns and postdoctoral fellows under the supervision of licensed clinical practitioners tackle the real-world problems that face our communities, applying the latest theory to practice.

More than 50,000 homeless occupy the streets around The Chicago School’s L.A. Campus—individuals in need of a wide variety of services, including mental health care. Devastating cuts in social service funding have left tens of thousands of individuals and Southern California families without needed counseling services.

Faced with a dire shortage of qualified substance abuse counselors, TCS’s efforts will help alleviate this shortage.

“We may be nestled in a well-to-do community, but we’re reaching out to impoverished populations.”

— Dr. Melodie Schaefer, alumna director of the Counseling Centers

The Veterans Initiative The Chicago School has historically looked to the outside community for areas that are in great need. The Veterans Initiative represents an area in which the TCS community has banded together to make an impact. Veterans returning from the war have a historically high need for psychological counseling and support. The statistics are alarming and The Chicago School has committed to creating programs to support our vets in cooperation with the military and V.A. Students and faculty of TCS campuses across the nation are helping soldiers successfully re-enter society. Working within the Veterans Re-entry Project at the U.S. Veteran’s Initiative, students are providing psychological assessments and therapy to military personnel recently returned from active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan who have been diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, substance abuse issues, and other mental illnesses. The psychological services provided by students from TCS help keep at-risk veterans engaged in an active return to civilian life.

“We are serving a community that has a tremendous need of additional assistance. Donations would help us not only expand our contribution outside the Chicagoland area and into the southern most parts of the state but would allow more of our students the opportunity to assist in this rewarding program.”

— Dr. Paul Larson, director of The Veterans Center at The Chicago School

The Rwanda Initiative The Rwanda Initiative breaks new ground for The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. It’s part of the larger Chicago School goal to become the global leader in training the world’s top psychologists.

This online blended program focuses on building Rwanda’s counseling infrastructure and capacity so more counselors and para-counselors can increasingly serve larger segments of the population and train each other for an exponential impact.

The train-the-trainer model will provide essential counselors to reach out to a devastated community still overcoming the infamous and tragic genocide of 1994. The counselors support survivors of this horrific event that in its wake created a community affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, a prevalence of violence towards women and girls, and other resulting trauma.

“Funding is essential in exponentially growing our area of outreach.

In its initial stage, The Rwanda Initiative will educate and train a group of counselors, para-counselors, and teachers to help with the treatment of trauma. As the program grows, so will the need for funding. It is our hope that one day students from Rwanda will come here and students from TCS will go to Rwanda in an exchange program to help educate them beyond what we can offer onsite at either location.”

— Dr. Deane Rabe, associate vice president of Student Engagement and Student Affairs

Unrestricted Giving

Campuses

Unrestricted gifts offer The Chicago School the flexibility to direct

Chicago Campus

funds to where they are needed most. Unrestricted funds support

Under the leadership of campus President, Dr. Carroll Cradock, the

initiatives such as our open panels and symposia on critical social

Chicago Campus continues to be the leading model for our other

issues, volunteer service initiatives, research, and countless

campuses. The Chicago Campus is involved in The Rwanda

projects that benefit students, alumni, and the community. A gift

Initiative, The Veterans Initiative, and countless other initiatives

can also be designated to a particular school or program. Why is

featured on our Giving website. By supporting the Chicago Campus,

this important? Because program chairs, faculty, and our academic leadership across the school’s programs need these resources to meet specific needs in their fields.

As a partner in the future success of these important initiatives, we ask that you consider giving back to these communities and continue supporting The Chicago School values of Education,

you continue to contribute to the success of The Chicago School.

Southern California Campus Under the leadership of campus President and alumna, Dr. Michele Nealon-Woods, the Southern California Campus continues to expand to better serve the needs of the Southern California community stretching from downtown L.A. all the way to Santa Barbara. The Southern California Campus is involved in The Veterans Initiative,

Innovation, Community and Service. A gift no matter how big or

and their counseling centers provide much-needed marital and

small can greatly impact the success of the outreach our campuses

family therapy during these tough economic times. By supporting

are currently planning.

the Southern California Campus, you continue to contribute to the impact of The Chicago School on the West Coast and beyond.

To donate Washington, D.C. Campus

Over the past 30 years, The Chicago School has grown in its size,

Under the leadership of newly instated campus President, Dr.

offerings, and prestige. With this growth comes the responsibility to

Orlando Taylor, the D.C. Campus will continue The Chicago School’s

assume a leadership position and support our various communities.

legacy of attracting top-of-the-line practitioners to the community around our Nation’s capital. By supporting our D.C. Campus, you will contribute to the future of The Chicago School.

With a growing supportive base, we can meet such a challenge.

We ask for your support. Perhaps one of our initiatives struck

Online Campus

a chord due to your own personal narrative. We allow you to

Under the leadership of campus President, Dr. Darcy Tannehill, the

designate where you would like to see your money be used.

Online Campus continues to focus on providing accessible education worldwide. Their online blended programs are currently being

To find out more about The Chicago School’s initiatives or to donate

used for the Rwanda Initiative. The programs are so accessible that

online visit ego.thechicagoschool.edu/giving. Your tax-deductible

military personnel currently serving our country can continue their

gift will grow your alma mater’s influence and prestige while

education even while being deployed across the world. By supporting our Online Campus, you show your support for accessible education and offer the opportunity for others to learn no matter what is going on in their lives at any given time.

changing the world.

Chicago 325 North Wells Street • Chicago, IL 60654 (800) 721-8072 thechicagoschool.edu To donate: ego.thechicagoschool.edu/giving

Southern California Washington, D.C. Online