For nearly 50 years, El Valor has been a staple in the community. What started in a church basement by a group of Pilsen mothers, including our founder Mrs. Guadalupe Reyes, has expanded to 13 facilities serving over 4,000 children, adults with disabilities, and families throughout Chicagoland.
As we’ve adapted to fit the needs of our community, we decided that our logo should grow with us. This new design includes a tagline, courage – inclusion – community, representing the growth of our mission to support children, people with disabilities, and their families to achieve excellence and participate fully in life. In channeling the spirit of Don Quixote, who was committed to chasing his dreams, the logo has a shield and spear that represent El Valor and our community’s strength. Like Don Quixote, El Valor and our community fight for equity and social justice, which is represented by the spear and the hands. They remind us to uplift and empower all of our strengths as our founder Mrs. Reyes always did.
CARF ACCREDITATION
The Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities awarded El Valor’s adult program a three-year accredidation. This worldwide nonprofit provides accreditation for health and human service organizations that provide rehabilitation services to vulnerable populations. An area of strength highlighted by CARF was El Valor’s “warm, competent, and respectful” staff members. Especially their “compassion, enthusiasm, and pride” in the support they provide our participants. While we see these qualities every day, we are glad to know their passion shines through to those outside the organization. Congratulations to our wonderful adult program staff for this significant accreditation.
Our President and CEO, Rey B. Gonzalez, celebrated 40 years with El Valor this year. Rey has served as President and CEO since 2013 after retiring as Vice President for Legislative and Community Affairs at ComEd, an Exelon Company. Rey also served as Chairman of El Valor’s Board of Directors for 31 years prior to his current role.
Rey started with El Valor when it was a small organization in a building needing serious repairs. Through Rey’s leadership, El Valor flourished and became the first bilingual, bicultural rehabilitation center in the State of Illinois; started the first computer programming training center for people with disabilities in Illinois; built the first intermediate care facility in the State of Illinois; initiated the Tocar El Futuro/Touch the Future early childhood education model; and helped develop an awareness campaign on the importance of early childhood development: Parents As First Teachers.
For the past 40 years, Rey B. Gonzalez has been a champion and fierce advocate for our community of children, adults with disabilities, and families. Thousands of lives have been changed through his leadership. We are so grateful for his endless support of El Valor. We cannot thank him enough for his advocacy and passion for social justice.
PNC & Virtual Reading
Literacy and instilling a love for reading is a core focus in our early childhood programs. With the help of dozens of PNC volunteers, our Children & Family Centers held virtual story times throughout the year. Volunteers virtually read to classrooms, shared their time with us, and participated in fun activities after. The PNC Team did not stop at just volunteering their time however, PNC employees donated resource kits and warm clothing items for our children, as well as essentials for new and expecting moms in the community. Thank you PNC for your never-ending support of our young learners and families.
COMED'S 10TH ANNIVERSARY
ComEd’s Energy Force Ambassador Program recently celebrated it’s 10th Anniversary. To honor this milestone, Special Chronicles, a podcast network giving respect and voice to people with disabilities, hosted El Valor’s Energy Force Ambassador, Cristian Salazar, on their podcast. Cristian shared his experiences as an Energy Force Ambassador and programming at El Valor. Through El Valor and ComEd’s programming, Cristian has gained confidence and improved his public speaking abilities.
ComEd’s Energy Force Ambassador Program is a one of a kind and designed specifically to empower individuals with developmental disabilities. Ambassadors are taught about electricity use and they are expected to conduct ten outreach events through the year to educate the public to do the same. ComEd also provides a stipend to cover time, costs and materials.
Our Annual Don Quixote Gala went virtual this year! With the help of Univision, our sponsors were able to tune into a live event featuring our honerees, Dan Arce, President of Sun Optics and General Manager of Tropical Optical and Matt Turk, President of INTREN, our clients Esmeralda and Ruby, and special interviews by our children, teachers, adult participants, and guardians. With the generosity of our sponsors, a total of $315,923 was raised! We are able to continue to provide services and critical care in our community through events like these.
A special thank you to our Presenting Chair, INTREN; Co-Chairs, PNC Bank, ComEd, and Univision Chicago, and to our generous anonymous donor who made a matching donation of $40,000.
Watch the 2021 Don Quixote Virtual Gala!
2021 Monarch Butterfly Release
The symbol of the Monarch Butterfly appears many times throughout history, to show rebirth, transformation and perseverance. Here at El Valor, we believe the monarch butterfly is a powerful cultural symbol for our community and an important learning tool for our agency.
Our adults, children, and families grow milkweed, and raise monarchs year round to release them in September for their journey down to Michoacan, Mexico. This year, all of our sites released butterflies throughout the week, we hosted a small gathering for our Monarch Butterfly Release at our Cantu Children & Family Center, and reached larger audiences through our virtual live event. We are so grateful that our community comes together for this yearly tradition.
Thank you to our sponsors, U.S. Forest Service, Wintrust, and the Carlos H. Cantu Family Foundation.
We have so many stories to tell, from our adults who have been with us for years to children growing up in our programs now bringing their own little ones to El Valor. All these stories emphasize the importance of our mission, programming, and services we provide.
Thanks to Univision Chicago and its talented team, we were able to bring some of the stories to life. This year, multiple videos of our adult clients, children, and programs were created by Univision. These videos showcase a few of our El Valor stories and help bring them to the public in time for our Don Quixote Virtual Gala.
We want to thank Univision for their continued support and their commitment in helping our mission and stories reach wider audiences everywhere. Thank you for making our voices heard.
EL VALOR VOICES
Ruby attends our Community Day Services and also lives in an El Valor residential home. Ruby, who is hearing impaired, is able to communicate with her friends and family through assistive technology. She has advanced her American Sign Language through courses created and taught by an El Valor staff member.
Esperanza has been with El Valor for 20 years. She loves to help out those around her and is very helpful around her home. She also attends our Community Day Services and both girls live in the same residential home.
Laura has two children at El Valor, ages 3 and 1. When her oldest first started the program, he didn't speak and depended a lot on Laura. After his first year at El Valor, he is a completely different child.
Cuando inició el ciclo escolar 2020, fue y ha sido en plena pandemia, y su maestra días antes vino a conocer a quien sería su alumno y a presentarse conmigo, eso para mí fue un hermoso detalle y voto de confianza que yo le día ella, pues gran parte del día, mi hijo estaría a su cuidado, en este mismo periodo a mi hijo lo diagnosticaron con Espectro de Autismo y su maestra como la trabajadora familiar estuvieron presentes y mostraron su apoyo hacia mi.
"When the 2020 school year began in the midst of the pandemic, his teacher came to introduce herself to me and get to know my son; that for me was a beautiful detail and gave me a vote of confidence. During this period, my son was diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum and his teacher and family worker were a huge support. I am completely grateful to his teachers for their dedication and help. I am happy to have the best choice for my children and family. "
* Testimonial has been edited for clarification
