Uhlich Children’s Advantage Network (UCAN) is the organization which provides assistance to the Youth with the traumatic past in order to address the persons’ basic needs and provide the necessary support. Currently, UCAN is developing the specific project, the main purpose of which is to build the new center in Chicago, which can be used as the campus to locate the organization’s Institute for Transforming Youth.
To cover all the additional expenses and costs associated with constructing the center, UCAN needs $50,000. These resources are planned to be used for funding the construction of the building to create comfortable surroundings for the young people who receive assistance in the center and for hiring the qualified staff.
Statement of Need
The number of young people in Illinois who suffer from the traumatic experience, abuse, poverty, and violence in families and in the street increases each year. In spite of the fact that UCAN proposes and follows the effective programs developed to assist the Youth in overcoming the traumatic experience, the organization has no enough facilities to respond to the needs of the community and to develop the programs effectively.
The necessity to address the needs of the increasing number of neglected and suffering Youth is the main cause to focus on building the new UCAN center in Chicago. Following the organization’s previous experience in overcoming the young people’s traumas, it is important to state that the most appropriate solution to the social problems in Chicago is the construction of the new UCAN center to help more abused young people the number of which can double in the future.
Description of the Program and Financial Justification
The program developed by UCAN is oriented to building the new center in Chicago as the large institution that will include the hostel for the victims of abuse in the family and for homeless children; the educational facilities for those young people who did not have the opportunity to take classes or had to drop out from school; the clinic to control the Youth’s health and to work with the cases of the teen pregnancy; the facilities to guarantee the adolescents’ comfort such as shops, dining rooms, and leisure rooms (“UCAN”; “Uhlich Children’s Advantage Network”).
The new center should address such needs and goals as the placement of more children and adolescents in hostels, the provision of the effective medical and psychological treatment and care, and the provision of the conditions for meeting the educational and developmental needs (“Uhlich Children’s Advantage Network”). The program is focused on constructing the center which expands the opportunities of the UCAN specialists to provide assistance for many abused and neglected children and adolescents at all the levels.
The realization of the project is expected to take about two years. The new center is planned to be built in Chicago’s peripheries where there are many green territories which can be used to locate the center’s facilities. The most part of the budget will be spent on constructing the 70-acre center, and the overall expenses are expected to be about $30 million (Trice par. 1-4). The required $50,000 are planned to be used for covering the costs associated with hiring the qualified staff for the center.
About UCAN and Its Mission
Uhlich Children’s Advantage Network (UCAN) is the organization which supports children and adolescents who became the victims of abuse in their families or experienced the traumatic events. UCAN develops a range of programs to work with the homeless young people and families in Chicago and Illinois to provide them with the necessary services and assistance. The UCAN’s mission is “to build strong youth and families through compassionate healing, education, and empowerment” (“UCAN”).
To respond to this mission, the organization develops the programs oriented to provide therapeutic assistance, counseling, and mentorship. Certain UCAN programs are developed to prevent violence and juvenile delinquency, decrease homicide rates, decrease the number of homeless children and adolescents in Chicago, and to satisfy the young people’s educational needs.
The organization provides support for those young females who are pregnant and for parenting teenagers (“Uhlich Children’s Advantage Network”). The specialists of the organization also work to support the vocational training in order to create perspectives for the young people’s further development and career.
Outcomes and Assessment
The construction of the new UCAN center in Chicago is the effective approach to contribute to overcoming such social problems as the parents’ violence, children and adolescents’ violence in relation to their peers, cases of abuse experienced in families and in the community, and teenagers’ psychological and physical traumas (“UCAN”). Thus, there is a range of questions and problems which should be addressed by UCAN in order to create positive conditions for the Youth’s development in Chicago.
The new campus will provide more space to propose the well-designed hostels for homeless young people and for those ones who were separated from their families. Today, the organization has to limit its services because of the impossibility to provide all the young persons with the required assistance (Bertagnoli par. 2-3). The construction of the new center can be discussed as an effective decision to resolve the problem of rooming the homeless Youth and the victims of the violence in their families.
The realization of the project is closely associated with the improvement of the provided services. In spite of the fact that today UCAN specialists pay much attention to counseling, therapeutic assistance, and classes, many young people who need the help cannot be covered because of the organization’s limited opportunities due to the lack of facilities. UCAN demonstrates perfect results in assisting many teenagers, but these results can be even more remarkable if the focus on constructing the new center is accentuated (“UCAN”).
Conclusion
The specialists who work with young persons in need in the context of the UCAN programs note that all the persons who experienced traumatic events should have the chance to become leaders in their life. The construction of the new UCAN center in Chicago is one of the important steps to contribute to young people’s dreams and inclinations.
Many children and adolescents in Illinois need support and assistance of a specialist because they became the victims of violence and abuse or because their living conditions made them act as aggressors in relation to the other people. To overcome the consequences of traumatic pasts, these young persons should work with UCAN specialists. That is why the construction of the new center is important for many teenagers in Chicago and in the state because of the increased opportunities to receive the appropriate assistance.
Works Cited
Bertagnoli, Lisa. Scholarships and Then Some: UCAN Annual Gala. 2013. Web.
Trice, Dawn Turner. UCAN to Break Ground on New Campus, Address Gun Violence: Social Services Organization Helps Victims of Trauma. 2013. Web.
UCAN. 2014. Web.
Uhlich Children’s Advantage Network. 2014. Web.