UCAN

Future Leaders Night is BACK! 🌟💫

Join us!
📍UCAN Headquarters, 3605 W. Fillmore St.
📅Friday, November 6, 2026
🕒5:30 pm – 8:30pm

Presented by the UCAN Auxiliary Board, this special evening celebrates the achievements of UCAN's future leaders. We will honor a staff member from UCAN's Behavioral Health programs, a UCAN youth, and a UCAN community partner who provides essential partnership alongside UCAN through volunteer service.

Come enjoy an elegant cocktail reception, hors d'oeuvres, and an inspiring awards ceremony!

Get your tickets and sponsorships today https://hubs.la/Q04zj5HN0

Riot Fest is Chicago's second-largest music festival and takes place in Douglass Park, right in UCAN's backyard. This year, we got to be part of the music, mud, and merriment!

UCAN joined other community organizations proudly showcasing the best of North Lawndale and the West Side to the 50,000 festival goers. We played "inspiration Jenga," provided a hydration station, and talked with attendees about our work to prevent violence and empower residents through workforce support.

Turned out it was a great way to expand our social media network, too! (If you interact with this post you can also help us connect with more people!) 🤩

We hope to make it back to Riot Fest next year. In the meantime, if you're rocking out somewhere, you might just see us there, too!

It's time for UCAN's Halloween Trunk-or-Treat!

JOIN US:
🎃UCAN's Halloween Trunk or Treat
📅Saturday, October 31st
🕒5:00-8:00 PM
📍Drost Harding Campus, 3605 W Fillmore St.

Here are some options to participate:

🚗Host a trunk! Decorate your vehicle trunk, dress the part, and pass out candy. Consider participating as a team! Register here: https://hubs.la/Q04yFcJ70

🍭Donate candy! Drop off candy at UCAN's Headquarters, 3605 W. Fillmore St.

👥Volunteer! Be a proud member of the team creating this anticipated community event. Register here: https://hubs.la/Q04yFcFc0

We hope to see you there!

A great way for us to start the day by hosting Ill. State Senator Celina Villanueva and Alderperson Michael D. Rodriguez at our Transitional Living Program facility on West Cermak Road, not far from UCAN's headquarters in North Lawndale.

The conversation highlighted the resources and services we provide to the young people who live there as they move toward independent living and adulthood. Our TLP facilities serve youth ages of 17 ½ – 21 who are under the care of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and we offer them a supervised, home-like, structured setting to enhance their skills in developing healthy, supportive relationships and reach self-sufficiency to gain the skills needed to complete their education and self-advocate as they prepare to exit from DCFS care.

UCAN was on the scene — and on the move — at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's 55th Annual Legislative Conference in the nation's capital. We were on the move to strengthen relationships with our elected officials, advocate for our program and budget priorities, and share our knowledge and experience in the important youth services sector.

UCAN CEO Christa Hamilton and Government Affairs Director Phillip Jones connected with Congressman Jonathan Jackson - IL-01 to highlight UCAN's resources and services. Christa shared the stage with other distinguished panelists on a National Reentry Issues Forum on September 18, which was sponsored by Congressman Danny K. Davis and proved to be a lively one-hour moderated roundtable focused on African American women returning to society after incarceration.

The numbers tell the story: Nearly 40 participating companies, agencies and organizations. Almost 1,800 people registered. An eye-opening 723 job seekers in the building (127 of whom were from UCAN).

UCAN's fall and winter Hiring Fair at the Shine Bright Community Center on the South Side proved to be a winner in connecting jobseekers with companies hiring for many roles — and many job offers were made and accepted on the spot. Offering permanent, seasonal and career opportunities was an impressive list of employers, including Macy's, Foot Locker, BMO, Goodwill, Illinois State Treasurer, UPS, U.S. Post Office, Illinois Tollway, Jewel Osco, Obama Foundation and Chicago Public Schools, among many others.

The fair resulted from the coordinated effort of UCAN's Workforce Development team and their laser-like focus on "connecting people to purpose." Keep yours eyes and ears open for the next workforce project designed to improve lives and brighten futures!

UCAN's Glow Up! Studio is now open!

Joined by leaders from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, and with the CROWN Act as a backdrop, today we opened our on-site beauty salon/barber shop in our residential facility in North Lawndale. We named it “The Glow Up! Studio” and the modern, quaint salon is dedicated to affirming youths’ identity, culture and dignity. The Glow Up! Studio now joins a very small number of youth agencies that provide salon services to youth in care where they live.

UCAN is humbled by the outpouring of support from our partners as we brought the important project to life. The Marc + Jeanne Malnati Family Foundation championed and funded the project from the very beginning when UCAN CEO Christa Hamilton first dreamed of even further strengthening the continuum of care we provide to our youth. We were thrilled to have Kelsey Malnati Howell and Jeanne Malanti join our team and community members today for the wonderful grand opening.

We appreciate DCFS for providing critical support and for the state's passing of the CROWN Act (Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair), which protects youth from hair-based discrimination. Thank you to DCFS Director Heidi Mueller and DCFS Chief of Staff Jacqui Dortch for helping us cut the ribbon and celebrating the project. UCAN joins DCFS in protecting youth from hair-based discrimination and providing culturally affirming care for youth in the child welfare system. And we always appreciate State Senator Lakesia Collins for coming on campus to celebrate more wins for our youth.

We are excited to ensure the Glow Up! Studio becomes a place where UCAN youth grow their confidence and feel safe to be themselves.

Come join our team at UCAN and find a career that is a perfect fit for YOU!

Join us for our Fall Hiring Fair:
📅 Date: Wednesday, October 7, 2026
⏰ Time: 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
📍 Location: 3640 W. Fillmore Street, Chicago, IL 60624

For additional information, contact: [email protected].
We can't wait to meet you!

Happy 5th UCANiversary Christa Hamilton!

Over the past five years, grace, grit, gratitude, and a lot of heart work have been the hallmark of Christa Hamilton's history-making leadership at UCAN. We salute her on celebrating a half decade of leading the charge at one of Chicago's oldest yet most innovative — and relentless — youth services organizations! We're sure that together the next half decade hold much more of the same.

Here are a few of Christa's heartfelt reflections: Five years ago, I walked into UCAN as president and CEO, becoming the first woman to lead this incredible organization. I knew it was a big deal. What I probably didn’t fully understand was just how heavy leadership could be. We have experienced some of the highest highs and some really low lows. If there is one thing I know I brought to this work every single day, it is a relentless belief in what UCAN can be and what our young people, families and communities deserve.

And sometimes that relentlessness comes with a cost.. That is the weight of leadership. But five years later, when I look at everything we have been through, I know this too: We changed a bunch of lives together. And THAT is what matters to me.
Our staff who show up every day and do this heart work. Our young people and families who trust us. Our board, partners, funders, community members and everybody who has believed in UCAN and pushed us to keep getting better. I want it to be that I made a difference while I was here. That I opened some doors. That I challenged some things that needed challenging. That I loved this organization enough to expect more from it. That I left it stronger.

Five years later, I am proud. I am grateful. I am still relentless. Because as many lives as we have changed together, there are still so many more that need us. So … back to work.

We look forward to seeing you TOMORROW for UCAN's second annual Civic Engagement Resource Fair! 🌟

📅September 12, 2026
🕒11:00 AM to 2:00 PM
📍3640 W Fillmore St.

Come visit with government agencies and community partners to explore the city, county, state, and federal resources, tools, and programs available to you.