Our Annual Report Fiscal Year 2022 (July 2021 to June 2022)
We Are
Access Living
From Our President and CEO
Dear Access Living friends and allies,
The disability community is the most diverse and fastest growing minority group in the nation. One in four adults — 61 million people — living in the US have some type of disability. In Illinois, disabled people live in poverty at more than twice the rate of people without disabilities and that rate is compounded for disabled people of color. Some 400,000 Illinois residents are living with Long COVID and as a result may be experiencing disability for the first time. Survivors of escalating gun violence are suddenly faced with disability too. And there’s a growing aging population living longer with disabilities. In fact, any one of us can become a part of the disability community at any time, and all of us will likely experience disability at some point in our lives. That’s why the work of Access Living is needed now more than ever.
2022 was an incredible high impact year for us supporting people in ways that matter, and driving systemic changes to build the more accessible, inclusive world we all need and deserve.
We worked alongside people with all types of disabilities to become self advocates, helped disabled Chicagoans find affordable, accessible housing, transitioned institutionalized people to their own apartments with the supports they need, defended the civil rights of those facing accessibility barriers and discrimination, and launched a digital relief program that provided laptops and internet connectivity at no cost to our consumers.
We also played a role in passing important state legislation to expand Medicaid coverage to immigrants with disabilities, worked to increase access for disabled people to actively participate in democracy at both the state capital and via vote-by-mail, and we successfully worked with the Social Security Administration to make sure that disabled people participating in universal basic income pilots at the city and county wouldn’t lose their benefits and critical access to healthcare.
Our work is making a lasting impact and there’s still more to do. Together, I know we can tackle what lies ahead. The continued support of our dedicated staff, consumers, donors and allies will make our vision of a more inclusive world a reality. We’re grateful for each and every one of you! Thank you for all you do to support our work.
Karen
President and CEO, Access Living
Our Consumers
By Primary Disability
By Race
By Age
Our Services
2000+ people…
…reached through our disability inclusion consulting and training efforts for nonprofits, philanthropies and companies.
950+ calls…
…taken from consumers for support services.
275
Consumers with disabilities were assisted with housing needs.
205
Disabled Chicagoans received case management support through our partnership with the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities.
155+ home visits…
…to deliver meals, make assessments and provide assistance.
157
High school youth with disabilities prepared to transition into higher education or the workforce through our youth leadership trainings in 18 schools.
90
Disabled consumers got assistive technology devices and the necessary training to use them to live more independently.
67
Personal assistant trainings were held to empower people with disabilities in their daily lives.
44
Households received our housing counseling services to improve living conditions.
36
Disabled consumers transitioned out of nursing facilities.
24
Cross-disability support group sessions were held to offer peer support during the pandemic.
20
Disabled consumers graduated from an 11-week financial literacy training, and shared that they have improved their financial positions as a result.
Our Civil Rights
562
People learned about the fair housing rights of people with disabilities.
47
New fair housing and Americans with Disabilities Act cases were handled with favorable results received in 26 cases. Many cases are still pending.
50
Fair housing tests were conducted.
29
Disability discrimination cases were resolved.
24
Fair housing trainings were conducted.
Our Advocacy and Outreach
Coexisting with COVID-19
Access Living launched a Coexisting with COVID resource page for people experiencing long COVID, centering lived experience with disability.
Consulting & Training
Access Living worked with more than 20 corporate, foundation and nonprofit clients this year to provide disability inclusion training and consulting as part of their overall diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility efforts.
Diversion & Reentry
Access Living expanded its Diversion and Reentry policy work to help ensure accessible diversion and reentry for people with disabilities.
Economic Opportunity
Access Living worked with the City of Chicago to ensure that disabled people had access to and were included in the nation’s largest cash assistance pilot program.
Education
Access Living worked to help pass several state-wide bills to address emerging needs of students with disabilities during the pandemic including education plan delays and the accessibility of remote learning platforms.
Emergency Services
Right now, if you’re a wheelchair user who needs to be transported by ambulance, your wheelchair is left behind. This can cause major health and mobility challenges. So Access Living began a campaign to transport needed mobility devices to the hospital.
Healthcare
Access Living played a role in passing important state legislation to expand Medicaid coverage to immigrants with disabilities.
Housing
Access Living led a statewide coalition of organizations that successfully advocated for passage of a state bill to prohibit source of income discrimination across the state of Illinois, which as a major impact on the housing options available to disabled people.
Latinx and Immigration
Access Living continued its work to empower and support immigrants and refugees with disabilities and their families to access culturally and linguistically appropriate services.
Legal Support
On behalf of Haymarket DuPage, we filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Village of Itasca due to its denial of Haymarket’s proposal to operate a treatment center in Itasca for those with substance abuse disorder.
Plow the Sidewalks
Access Living has joined forces with Better Streets Chicago in an effort to launch a pilot program calling on the City of Chicago to plow the sidewalks this winter just as it plows the streets.
Transportation
Due in part to our advocacy, the Federal Railway Authority issued a decision that requires Amtrak to adopt a policy to provide for the removal of seats from train cars to allow large groups of wheelchair users to travel on a single train.
Our Arts and Culture
Collaborating Arts Organizations
Collaborating Artists
Our FY2022 Board of Directors
Officers
John Schmidt – Board Chair, Mayer Brown LLP
Kevin Bradley – Vice-Chair, HUB International
Kent Klaus – Treasurer, DePaul University
Felicia Rauls – Secretary, Mesirow Financial
ShaRhonda Crystal Knott Dawson – Program Committee Chair, BRONDHOUSE, LLC
Shari Runner – Program Committee Vice-Chair, The Humanity Institute
Jennifer Brown – Resource Development & Communications Committee Chair
Kristin Weaver – Resource Development & Communications Committee Vice-Chair, The Northern Trust
Ben Lumicao – Nominating & Board Development Committee Chair, Allstate
Members
Ken Bennett
Denise Avant
Sangeeta Patel Driver, MD MPH, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab
Andrés J. Gallegos, Esq., Robbins, Salomon, & Patt, Ltd.
Dr. Larry Goodman, Rush University
William Haffner
Anthony Hinton
Dr. Zachary Kordik, Modern Mental Health
Wilson Mantilla, Peoples Gas
Karin Norington-Reaves, Founder, Former CEO, Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership
Mark Owen
Kurt Schulenburg, Accenture
Beth Server, BMO (Retired)
Chad Turner, Bank of America
Molly Walsh, J.P. Morgan
Our FY2022 Young Professionals Council
Justin Cooper, President
Rachel Wittenberg, Social Media Chair
Laura Maule, Secretary & Friendraising Chair
Michelle Bonin, Friendraising Chair
Ellis Wills-Begley, Recruitment Chair
John William Abbate
Joshua Adams
Azeema Akram
Chris Alessia
Nora Ames
Sarah Arora
Natalia Avila
Margot Macaulay Babington
Becky Baker
Ray Baker
Vishal Bansal
Molly M. Bathje
Brianna Beck
Drew Beres
Jasmine Betancourt
Bavna Bhagavat
Maggie Bridger
Faith K. Brown
Jenny Burke
Jezabel Cardenas
Nirali Chauhan
Tonera Chiume
Candace Coleman
Kate Connolly
Carson Creamer
Elizabeth Cummings
Timothy M. Curtis
Melissa Dappen
Anton Dietzen
Abby L. Draper
Chelsea Emond
Norberto Escobales
Bridget Evans
Seth Feldman
Haley Elizabeth Feller
Alicia Gallegos
Katie Garvey
Tara Giuliano
Kevin Griffin
Greg Grigoropoulos
Emily Hall
Jess Hauert
Jenna Heffron
Bradley Stavros Heit
Stephen D. Hiatt-Leonard
Russell Houser
Rachel Howland
Sharon Lee Hsieh
Megan Hufnagel
Kelsey Ibach
Ben Jacobi
Leigh Juranitch
Adam Kahn
Nicholas Kaleel
Ravi Kasi
Erin Kim
Arjun G. Kumar
Kapil Kumar
Angela Larson
Josh Lewis
Jonathan Lira
Christopher A. Ly
Zhiying Ma
Chaitanya Manchanda
Amy Mashburn
Ryan McGraw
Janie Mejias
Abraham Melendez
Kaitlin Miller
Aziza Nassar
Greg Oguss
Neel Patel
Radhika Patel
Shivam Patel
Viki Peer
David Pirszel
Boss Povieng
Caitlin Powers
Caitlin Regan
Sylvie Sabones
Elizabeth Schroeder
Ray Shipley
Morgan Stasell
Alan Stupnitsky
Maggie Sugrue
Glenna Sullivan
Alex Tapas
Kim The
Hannah Thompson
Theresa Tran
Irene Tseng
Ismail Umer
Will Vandenberg
Amelia Wallrich
Kelsey Watters
Alli Wickes
Temaka Williams
Elizabeth Wirtz
Hye-Jin Yun
Robert Zimmerman
Russell Zimmerman
2021 Supporters and Sponsors of
Lead Onward & Beyond
Visionary Sponsors
Leadership Sponsors
Friends
2022 Lead On Gala Supporters and Sponsors
Gala Changemaker Sponsor
Gala Visionary Sponsors
Gala Leadership Sponsors
Gala Host Committee
Our Funders
Corporations and Foundations
Employer Giving Programs
Individual Donors
In-Kind Donors
Marca Bristo Legacy Campaign
Memorial Gifts
Peer-to-Peer
Planned Giving Legacy Society
Public Funding
Tribute Gifts
Our Financials
For security purposes, we post our financials as a PDF. Download our statements of financial position: June 30, 2022 and 2021.