Chicago’s Ethnic Communities Come of Age
From Working to Preserve Our Heritage: The Incredible Legacy of Greek-American Community Services.
"In large measure, through the efforts of CLESE, the Illinois Department on Aging began to comprehend that many older adults were underserved due to their inability to speak English and a preference for providers who speak their language and share their culture and concerns. The results of the Ethnic Elderly Needs Assessment substantiated this claim and CLESE was uniquely able to lead in this process.
IDOA Director Victor Wirth issued a request for proposals (RFP) for organizations to provide homemaker, chore housekeeping, and adult day care services targeted to limited and non-English speaking elderly. Although focused on serving ethnic elderly, providers could assist anyone in need regardless of their ethnic, racial, religious, or cultural backgrounds.
IDOA provided CLESE with a grant to provide technical assistance to members who were submitting RFPs and subsequent training to those who received contracts. CLESE hired Elizabeth “Beth” O’Grady to provide consultations and arrange the training. Beth was assistant director for several years. Upon Rosemary’s retirement, Beth succeeded her as executive director of CLESE and remained in that position until her retirement. Taiqin Dong and Eve Mayer subsequently served as CLESE program managers. Before that, Eve oversaw the Japanese American Service Committee’s adult day care program and was familiar with the CCP process.
Greek American Community Services received a contract for adult day care (for the northwest side of Chicago) in 1989 and was approved for a chore housekeeping contract from IDOA in 1993 to provide chore housekeeping assistance to Greek elderly who lived on the north side of the city.
In addition to GACS, many CLESE member agencies received contracts in that funding cycle. In some cases, existing contracts that a provider had were extended. Agencies included: ASI, Asian Human Services, Assyrian National Council of Illinois, Assyrian Universal Alliance Foundation, Cambodian Association of Illinois, Casa Central, Chinese American Service League, Chinese Mutual Aid, Hellenic Foundation, Japanese American Service Committee, Korean American Senior Center, Metropolitan Asian Family Services, Polish Welfare Association, Southeast Asia Center, and the Vietnamese Association of Illinois.
The presentation of the award letters was done during the CLESE annual membership dinner. IDOA Director Maralee Lindley and Jean Blaser presented the letters to the awardees. At a later date, Pat Michalski, Special Assistant to the Governor for Ethnic Affairs arranged for a photo opportunity with Governor Jim Edgar and leaders of the recipient organizations. This was a monumental achievement for the ethnic elderly that CLESE helped bring about.
IDOA had finally grown to understand that ethnic elderly were best served by providers within their communities. Older adults would now be serviced by homemakers that speak their language and attend adult day care programs that reflected their cultural heritage. CLESE, and in particular, Rosemary, was instrumental in bringing this about. In future years, other ethnic communities received contracts through this ethnic provision including European American Association (Romanian community); Hamdard Center (Bosnians); Indo American Center (Indian and Pakistani communities); Lao American Community Center; Urhai Community Service Center (Assyrians); and the White Crane Wellness Center (Asians).
Each time IDOA issued renewals or new contracts in the Chicago area, CLESE was called upon to provide training and technical assistance to providers. This was accomplished through workshops arranged by CLESE and facilitated by member agencies who were CCP providers. ASI and the Chinese American Service League were often called upon to train homemaker agencies while GACS and the Japanese American Service Committee were the adult day care trainers. One-to-one technical assistance was provided as needed to member agencies. CLESE received funding from IDOA and subcontracted with the organizations providing the training to cover their costs.
Another joint effort that transcended the differences between ethnic communities was the need to obtain the most accurate count possible in the US Census. In 1990, census outreach campaigns were commonplace within many of Chicago’s ethnic communities. CLESE initiated efforts to increase participation by non-English speaking older adults through its efforts and by supporting initiatives undertaken by member organizations.
Chicago’s ethnic communities understood that U.S. Census data severely underreported their populations, and organizations were determined to encourage their communities to participate in the count since funding decisions for a myriad of programs are made by governments at all levels based on census data.
Several community workshops were held to orient and train organizations about the census. Outreach activities to generate awareness and encourage participation were held by many ethnic groups. GACS trained volunteers to conduct outreach, translated materials, publicized the census within the Greek media, and recruited members of the community who could serve as enumerators."
CLESE Board meeting at Greek American Community Services. Pictured (L-R): Seated; Zumra Kunosic (Bosnian and Herzegovinian American Community Center), Rosemary Gemperle (CLESE), Awilda Gonzalez (ASI), and Sue Lee Chang (Chinese American Service League). Standing (L-R): Sue Kang (Korean American Senior Center), Elizabeth Cagan (White Crane Wellness Center), John Rassogianis (Greek American Nursing Home Committee), Lucy Le-Kissane (Japanese American Service Committee, Peter Porr (Southeast Asia Center), unknown, unknown, Peter Laylo (Asian Human Services), Isaac Toma (Assyrian National Council of Illinois), Bruce Dean (Polish Welfare Association), Taiqin Dong (CLESE), John Psiharis (Greek American Community Services), unknown, Qua Tran (Vietnamese Association of Illinois). Date unknown. John Psiharis collection.
CLESE Board members attend a CCP ethnic providers’ presentation with Illinois Governor Jim Edgar and Illinois Department on Aging Director Maralee Lindley in the Governor’s Office at the James R. Thompson Center State of Illinois Building. Pictured (L-R): Jeanne Elgarawany (Assyrian Universal Alliance Foundation), Santosh Kumar (Metropolitan Asian Family Services), John Psiharis (Greek American Community Services), Sue Kang (Korean American Senior Center), Rosemary Gemperle (Coalition of Limited English Speaking Elderly), Gov. Jim Edgar, Awilda Gonzalez (ASI), Maralee Lindley (Illinois Department on Aging), Suey-Lee Chang (Chinese American Service Committee), unknown, Cynthia Yannias (Hellenic Foundation), and Michael Chioros (Hellenic Foundation). Date unknown. John Psiharis collection.