Press Release
For more information about Erie Family Health Center, please contact Valerie Comprelli at 312.432.7463 or vcomprelli@eriefamilyhealth.org
January 28, 2008
Erie Family Health Center Receives $32,825 Grant from Levenfeld Pearlstein, LLC
For the first time, Erie will be able to offer urgently needed behavioral health services at its school-based health center on the west side of Chicago
On behalf of Erie Family Health Center, Dr. Lee Francis, Erie’s President and CEO, accepted a $32,825 grant from Levenfeld Pearlstein, LLC law firm on January 28, 2008 at the Ryerson Elementary School in North Lawndale. The grant was presented by Bryan Schwartz, LP, founding partner and chairman of the firm (pictured left).
Levenfeld Pearlstein’s generous support makes it possible for Erie’s school-based health center at Ryerson Elementary School to offer behavioral health services for the very first time. The program will focus on three key areas: 1) access to behavioral health services; 2) an intensive violence prevention workshop; and 3) outreach in the school and community on the availability of these vital services. The program provides individual therapy to assist students with immediate crises such as witnessing or being a victim of physical or sexual abuse, drive-by shootings and muggings — common problems in the North Lawndale community. Group therapy and teacher training are also offered. Fifty-five students will benefit from this program, in addition to teachers and community members. The therapist supported by Levenfeld Pearlstein, Shannon Duffy, LCSW, has found
the program to be a success so far. Duffy says, “Children are improving both academically and behaviorally in class. They seem to be happier and they are smiling more often — that’s the kind of impact that makes these programs worth it.”
Erie has successfully implemented a similar school-based behavioral health services at nearby Henson Elementary School in fall of 2006. Elementary schools are an ideal setting to provide the complicated array of services needed to positively impact the lives on children in vulnerable communities. Ryerson’s new program will no doubt provide a much needed additional resource for the North Lawndale community.
For more information about Erie Family Health Center, please contact Valerie Comprelli at 312.432.7463 or .