Access Living

MISSION
Access Living’s Youth and Education Programs empower youth with disabilities to take pride in themselves and their accomplishments, find options and meaningful choices to live, learn and work in their communities, be considered and consider themselves as full and equal members of society, develop self-advocacy skills to fight discrimination and build skills, confidence and opportunities to have a voice in decisions that affect them.

We offer youth-friendly independent living and self-advocacy skills development, leadership programs, community organizing training, education policy advocacy, mentoring and a girls’ peer support group. Our Youth Advisory Board helps us stay on track to make sure youth say what they need. Our programs are housed in both our Advocacy and Independent Living Departments. Contact us to get involved today.

MISSION
Access Living advocates for increased affordable, accessible and integrated housing options in Chicago communities. Through outreach and organizing, housing staff work to ensure compliance with disability rights laws in the design and construction of housing and to encourage the creation of more housing choices for people with disabilities and their families.

CHA Family Housing Wait List Lottery Opens!
Online Registration from June 14, 2010 - July 9, 2010

For the first time in a decade, the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) is opening its Family Housing Waiting List. This is the list used by the CHA to fill rental units as they become available in CHA-owned properties across the city.

There will be 40,000 families selected by lottery for this list. The lottery will be conducted at the end of a 4-week period during which anyone eligible can register for the lottery. Those selected will be offered housing as it becomes available.

Registering is FREE & easy:

• Go to www.chawaitlist.org during the registration period (June 14 - July 9, 2010)
• Fill out the registration form online
• Click Send

For eligibility guidelines, call 866-7-thecha (866-784-3242) or 311. To receive text updates on your cell phone, text INFO to 75309.

* For reasonable accommodations or to find out where you can get assistance completing the application, call 866-7-thecha (866-784-3242).

Access Living is unique among Centers for Independent Living in its powerful capacity to implement legal strategies that promote the rights of people with disabilities. Access Living Legal Staff enforce federal, state and local civil rights laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Housing Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and related laws, which prohibit discrimination. Our attorneys and legal assistants regularly counsel people with disabilities about their civil rights and provide representation in cases implicating important disability rights issues. The enforcement mission comprises four principle components:

Counseling about civil rights and empowering people with disabilities to advocate for themselves in fighting civil rights violations

Advocating for systemic change using non-litigation strategies in the areas of housing, public transit, and community integration;

Representing people with disabilities in cases implicating important civil rights protections and/or systemic civil rights issues

Educating the general public, including government officials, business professionals, school systems, service providers and others, about the civil rights of people with disabilities.

Long-Term Care MISSION
Long Term Care staff work to end the unnecessary institutionalization of people with disabilities and improve/expand services and programs that allow people with disabilities to live independently.

Access Living is committed to improving outreach and services to underserved segments of the disability community.

Latinos, Asian Americans, and Seniors all have significant populations within Chicago. Yet, according to 2007 Client Statistics, Access Living does not reach deep into these communities.

Access Living’s client breakdown for 2007 is:

Race/Ethnicity
African American: 65%
Caucasian: 22%
Hispanic: 10%
Asian or Pacific Islander: 2%
Native American: Less than 1%
Multiracial: Less than 1%

Age
Under 24: 9.5%
25-59: 82%
60 and over: 8 %
Unknown: Less than 1%

With these numbers in mind, Access Living has committed to improving services and outreach to:

• Latinos with Disabilities
• Asian-Pacific Americans with Disabilities
• Seniors with Disabilities

To get involved with Access Living’s Outreach to Underserved Communities, contact:

Access Living is one of the most influential centers for disability advocacy and service in the United States. Our new headquarters, opened in 2007, has allowed us to establish a Disability Arts and Culture Program. Disability Culture is an international movement that includes visual art, music, dance, theater, literature and sports.

The Permanent Collection at Access Living is unique; comprised of art by professional artists with disabilities, as well as work by non-disabled artists whom have made disability a central focus of their investigations.

This page is currently under development to reflect our Advocacy and Independent Living Services Structure. Each of the programs offered by our former Community & Economic Development Team will continue to be offered at Access Living.

MISSION
Community Organizing staff work to eliminate barriers to economic opportunity faced by people with disabilities. We support activities that lead to community involvement, economic self-sufficiency and personal empowerment through strategies that encourage cooperation, interdependence, equalization of resources and asset building for people with disabilities.

A key core service of all independent living centers across the United States is peer support. Through peer support, people with disabilities can find a safe place to get together to share their concerns and solve problems about everyday issues that affect their lives.