Modernizing family shelter with greater dignity, accessibility, and care
Cornerstone is excited to move forward with a major renovation and modernization of the Sylvia Center, our longtime shelter for families experiencing homelessness in Uptown. With over twenty-five years of serving families at Sylvia, this building has been a place of safety, stability, and new beginnings for thousands of parents and children as they worked toward permanent housing. The strength of that work, and the outcomes families have achieved with Cornerstone’s support, are what make this next chapter so meaningful.
With significant investment from both the City of Chicago and the State of Illinois, the project will transform Sylvia from an existing congregate shelter into a modern, fully accessible, non-congregate shelter designed around privacy, dignity, health, and stability.
The project is funded by the Chicago Department of Family & Support Services’ Shelter Infrastructure Initiative and is jointly funded by the Illinois Housing Development Authority Non-Congregate Development Program, and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Trust Fund.
A more dignified space for families
The most important transformation will be what families experience every day.
Congregate sleeping areas will be replaced with private family accommodations and individual bathrooms, giving families greater privacy, safety, and stability while they work toward permanent housing. These improvements are designed to create a healthier, less stressful environment and support better outcomes for families during their stay. And with better use of the space, there will be a small increase in capacity from two hundred and thirty beds to two hundred and fifty-two beds, providing space for a few more families in need.
The renovated residential areas will also include spaces for children and families, community gathering areas, laundry, case management, and other services that support families during their stay.
Modern infrastructure for a century-old building
Sylvia operates in a building that is approximately one hundred and twenty years old and wasn’t originally designed as housing. The renovation will comprehensively update the building’s infrastructure, including heating and cooling, ventilation, plumbing, electrical systems, elevators, windows, accessibility, and life-safety systems.
Major focuses of the project are making the facility fully ADA accessible while also creating a healthier, more efficient, sustainable, and environmentally sound building for residents and staff.
Supportive services and healthcare built in
The renovated Sylvia Center will incorporate integrated health services, bringing care directly into the shelter environment. Proximity to care is an important factor in successful engagement, and having services onsite will make it easier for residents to access care consistently, supporting better health outcomes and overall stability.
Families will also continue to have access to case management, housing support, youth programming, employment and workforce development, and other services designed to help them move toward long-term stability.
An investment in better shelter, grounded in care
For Cornerstone, that investment is about much more than renovating an old building. It is an opportunity to create a shelter environment that better reflects how families experiencing homelessness deserve to be welcomed and supported: private, accessible, healthy, dignified, and connected to care.
The Sylvia Center Transformation is an investment in the building, the services inside it, and most importantly, the families who will call it home while they work toward permanent housing.
We are grateful for everyone’s support in bringing this vision to reality. We couldn’t have done it without the municipal partners leading the opportunities to make these changes, the team working with Cornerstone to move it forward, and you, our supporters.
To learn more about this project and share your support, email Andrew Winter, Executive Director, at awinter@ccolife.org.
You can also contribute to the project’s ongoing shelter programming by donating today and considering becoming a monthly supporter through a financial donation!
