Oak Leyden

12/23/2025

Oak Leyden collaborates with many friends in the Oak Park community that step up during the holidays to help families in need, and this year we were happy to add several new partners in this effort. One of those partners are our allies at 's Community Health Improvement team, headed up by our friend Rahula Strohl . We were blown away by the incredible haul of wrapped presents as well as family holiday meal kits. Our team at Children's Services were able to find families in need among our program participants and facilitated some great connections.

Do you work with an organization, a church, or even a family that would love to participate in a partnership like this next year? Let us know!

Happy Holidays!

12/08/2025

Join us for a Week of Action in support of Early Intervention! Swipe to find a variety of actions you can take this week on behalf of infants & toddlers in IL with disabilities/delays, their families and the workforce that supports them! Our !

bit.ly/ACT4EI

Thanks to the following organizations for leading this effort:
Start Early
Raising Illinois
Equip For Equality
Illinois Families for Early Intervention
The Patti Vasquez Show

12/02/2025

'Community' is a word that get's thrown around a lot these days. For the Planek family at OakParkApartments.com, they really walk the walk--as evidenced by their generous donations to no fewer than six worthy nonprofits in and around Oak Park. Oak Leyden is proud to be in such great company!

11/20/2025

I can't believe that the holidays are HERE! 😲 But it is November 20th, folks...it's game time! We are excited to celebrate this special time🎄 with our friends, family, and colleagues, and especially happy to thank our partners in the community that have committed to providing gifts and holiday treats for the families we serve. 😍 Big hugs and gratitude to our friends at Grace Lutheran Church and School, River Forest, Illinois , Rush Oak Park Hospital , Village of Oak Park, Illinois, ACH Food Companies and River Forest District 90 Schools . We are grateful to all of you! 🫶👏🙏 (and apologies for referring to the wrong district, River Foresters!)

11/13/2025

We are very fortunate to have so many deeply committed folks on our team here at Oak Leyden and nowhere is that more true than our direct service providers. Their work demands patience, creativity, empathy, intense focus and energy--on a daily basis. Let us take a moment to salute November's work anniversaries for these incredible people that ensure that our residents and program participants can live their very best life.

William Thornton--16 years (11/30)
Shakira Lane--12 years (11/7)
Michelle Reynolds--7 years (11/26)
Johnnie Duncan-- 1 year (11/11)
Katie Fleming-- 1 year (11/12)

We appreciate you!

11/06/2025

We're excited to introduce you to the newest addition to our team, our Family Advocate, Nancy Schroeder!

While your child's team of therapists are still going to be the best experts on your child's needs, Nancy's role is to support current and alumni families as they navigate complex systems. She is also available to work side by side with you to advocate on behalf of your child.

How can you use a family advocate?
As a thought partner,
To connect you to resources available to you (both at Oak Leyden and throughout the state),
To help you understand those resources,
To help you through the IEP process as your child ages out of EI,
To attend meetings with you as an extra set of ears and as an additional voice speaking up for your child,
And more!

This grant-funded support is free to you, so if a need arises, ask your therapist to connect you to Nancy!

11/03/2025

Our 'Adopt-A-CILA' program matches folks with an interest in supporting our adult residents (that live in community integrated living arrangements, or CILA homes) with one of our residential sites. Participants in Adopt-A-CILA get to know the 4-6 inhabitants of these residences 🏡and work collaboratively with them to plan parties, 🥳 holiday gatherings, and beautification projects in their homes.

These are ongoing, sustained relationships🤝 we are building, not 'one off' group volunteer events, and the impact is clear to see on the faces of our residents, 😁 the team that cares for them, and the Adopt-A-CILA folks themselves.

This past Halloween weekend, 👻 we had two separate groups visiting our Dora (Franklin Park) and Grove (Berwyn) CILAs. Shout out to Logan's team at State Farm as well as Michelle and Jeff's family for their gigantic hearts! 🥰

Would you like to know more about our Adopt-A-CILA program? Glad you asked! See below for more...

10/31/2025

10/31/2025

Our Children's Services team welcomed some adorable visitors during the week of Halloween 👻 for some trick or treating and developmental games. It's always great to see the children we work with out in the community, having fun 🥳 and playing with other kids. Great chance for parents and guardians to also socialize and join in the fun. 😃

10/29/2025

If you have a free moment during your lunch period on Friday, why not come visit our Lifetime Learning site here in Oak Park to experience some frightening fun? Our adult program participants would love to show off their Haunted House! 👻No RSVP necessary; we will be launching the tour of several terrifying vignettes at noon on Halloween at our day program site at 320 Chicago Ave in Oak Park. Our participants are really excited to have guests, so we hope you can drop by! (Plenty of street parking available.)

10/19/2025

Handing out candy and toys to hundreds of little trick-or-treaters? Taco trucks? Meeting members of the communities where we provide services? Supporting an amazing event thrown by one of our very closest municipality partners? Yes, please, to all of the above! 🥰

We had a fantastic time at Leyden Township's annual Boo Fest event, where 20 of our adult program participants enjoyed music, fun food, a petting zoo and a hayride. Good stuff for everyone involved. 🎃 Congrats to Rocco Biscaglio, the Leyden Township Supervisor, for a job well done!