AID/Association for Individual Development and Serenity House Counseling Services awarded $75,000 in Better Together Community grant from the Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley
AURORA, IL, October 24, 2024 – The Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley announced today its first-ever recipient of a Better Together Community Grant: a $75,000 award that will help two local nonprofits – AID/Association for Individual Development and Serenity House Counseling Services, Inc. – work together in an all-new way to offer improved access to mental health services in Aurora and Kane County.
With their new funding, AID and Serenity House will purchase and customize a new mobile outreach van to add to their fleet by the end of this year. The new van will be outfitted inside with shelving units and space to meet with clients one-on-one, ready to provide direct, in-the-field access to multiple resources, community-based engagement and education to the area’s most vulnerable residents.
This Community Foundation Better Together grant is a direct response to the findings of a two-year Community Needs Assessment completed in 2023 with the Dunham Foundation. Not only is the program intended to address a top community concern, but it encourages local nonprofits to team up and find a way to work together to tackle an urgent community concern as identified by Fox Valley residents.
“We asked our community for input, collecting the responses of residents and nonprofits through surveys and focus groups, and they confirmed that improved access to mental health services is a top need in the Fox Valley region,” said Julie Christman, President and CEO, Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley.
“Nineteen grant applications were submitted last spring from various community partners for many wonderful projects,” Christman added. “Our review committee selected one that will provide on-the-ground support for the behavioral health needs of the community, including mental health and substance use, particularly for those who have traditionally experienced barriers to access to care.”
The new van will be the primary vehicle in a Mental Health and Substance Use Street Outreach Program to be coordinated by AID and Serenity House. The van will be used to provide on-site interventions, including immediate mental health triage and substance use interventions; recovery support, such as access to peer support workers and recovery coaching; distribution of harm reduction supplies and health, wellness and hygiene necessities; and referral services to connect residents in need to ongoing treatment services.
This project will provide individualized community-based outreach services to adults 18 years and older who are dealing with substance use disorders, mental health issues, or co-occurring disorders, specifically targeting those who are unhoused or experiencing unstable housing conditions, people with disabilities, homeless individuals or families, and low-income individuals or families.
“AID does an incredible job in Outreach Harm Reduction and Serenity House is experienced with our Recovery Coach program. This new funding will support two distinctively different but needed services to the community,” said Mark Buschbacher, President and CEO, Serenity House Counseling Services, Inc. “For those still actively participating in their addiction and or struggling with mental illness, they’ll be safer, and for residents who are ready to enter a recovery program, we’ll be there. Serenity House is extremely excited about the collaboration and partnership. We look forward to proving that two uniquely different nonprofit programs can successfully work together and support our community.”
“The van from this grant will be our new office. It will allow us to be out in the community and meet these clients where they are,” added Lyndsay Hartman, Street Outreach Manager, AID/Association for Individual Development. “We are trying to create a better world by planting seeds for a brighter future. So we operate without judgment and often act as a ‘step in’ family, even showing clients how to pay utility bills.”
Lore Baker, President and CEO, AID/Association for Individual Development, agreed. “This wonderful partnership will create access for our unhoused neighbors, meeting basic needs. Thank you to the Community Foundation for this amazing opportunity!”
The original Community Needs Assessment that inspired and informed the Better Together grant program, co-commissioned in 2021 by the Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley and the Dunham Foundation, was conducted over two years with the research firm Conduent, and surveyed thousands of Fox Valley residents. It found local residents agreed the seven top community needs are 1) Housing and Affordable Housing, 2) Mental Health, 3) Economic Opportunity, 4) Education, 5) Healthcare Access and Quality, 6) Transportation, and 7) Food Access and Food Security.
Pictured in photo above, from left: Jen Borgognoni, Director of Grantmaking, Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley, Lore Baker (AID), Lyndsay Hartman (AID), Donna Renard (Serenity House), Mark Buschbacher (Serenity House) and Julie Christman, President and CEO, Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley. Credit: Thomas J. King
