SOS Children's Villages Community Center

An international organization with facilities and programs in 132 countries, SOS Children’s Villages is best known for its creation of homes for children without parental care and children of families in difficult circumstances. When it chose Chicago as a location, it sought to make its complex one that could serve not only residents of the Village, but also members of the surrounding Auburn Gresham community. To achieve this goal, SOS added the handsome Lavezzorio Community Center to the Villages’ 12 single-family homes and four duplexes. With input and guidance from local leaders and neighborhood residents, the SOS Children’s Villages Lavezzorio Community Center welcomes foster children, their biological and foster families and community members alike. The inviting, colorful facility offers case management and counseling services as well as child care, after-school care programs, a computer laboratory and job training assistance to those who live in the Children’s Village and the broader community. For its exceptional responsiveness to community needs and its innovative solutions to the challenges of development, funding, and community building, SOS Children’s Villages Lavezzorio Community Center is the 2009 recipient of the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Award for Outstanding Non-Profit Neighborhood Real Estate Project.