Self-Directed Assistance (SDA)
Self-Directed Assistance (SDA): individuals who receive Home-Based Waiver Funding are provided support through Self-Directed Assistance Services. For decades, Gateway to Learning has been providing this service, assisting individuals with how to utilize their funding for personal support workers, day services, jobs, housing, food, trainings, and other supports.
While home life comes in many different shapes and sizes, one thing is clear: regardless of with whom or where we live, we are responsible for contributing to the welfare of ourselves, our family members or roommates, and our environment. The road to independence and participation in each individual’s home incorporates the acquisition of a multitude of skills. At Gateway to Learning, we provide hands-on experiential learning in our kitchens, mock apartment and housekeeping groups.
Ongoing lifelong learning occurs in classroom curricula that include daily exposure to in literacy and money management. Socialization, empowerment, and choice-making are highlights of the program, culminating in afternoon enrichment groups for music, work club, yoga, healthy choices, community outings, current events, sports club and self-advocacy.
Gateway to Learning’s expert and expanding staff assist, support, and advocate for you and your loved ones at home through our Self-Directed Assistance program (SDA).
Maggie Zukowska, Self-Directed Assistance Director (bilingual, Polish)
Self-Directed Assistance Coordinator, (bilingual Spanish) *starting in autumn of 2023
Employment Services Division (ESD)
Participating in meaningful work enriches our lives. Gateway to Learning's new employment division not only supports participants looking for jobs, but provides support and education for those who are curious about job exploration and opportunities. Most participants prefer part-time employment, and our team works to find opportunities for gainful employment in the community.
Supports include, but are not limited to, on the job training and continued coaching, communication skills, organizational skills, resume building and preparing for interviews. Our Employment Division also provides training for food sanitation credentialing (good for all people working in kitchens) and will be launching a hospitality training path in 2024.
The extensive culinary arts program includes 4 commercial kitchens, a bakery and store front cafe, Dorothy’s Sweet Shoppe. Participants are involved in experiential learning and are taught to follow multi-step recipes, to properly use food sanitation guidelines as well as to operate machinery safely. In addition to these food industry standards, participants learn social skills through interaction with peers, staff, and community members, while also learning to work as a team. Through this programming, apprentices receive the education and support to become active and contributing members of the workforce.
At Gateway to Learning Life Skills Instructors and Coaches provide programming that focuses on individualized career paths and work preparedness. Pre-vocational and pre-employment skills are developed and practiced and attention is given to time management, attitude, personal appearance, quality of work and the ability to work with others.
Tricia Luzadder, Employment Services Director
Sarah Meyerson, Employment Services Manager
15 skilled Direct Support Professionals (Life Skills Instructors and Coaches)
Community Day Services (CDS)
Gateway to Learning provides daily life skills through training and programming that supports how each participant defines their own “meaningful day”. Beyond our work and beyond our homes we are called to be good citizens of our communities. To be actively included involves ongoing socialization and interaction with each other as well as being socially responsible for our neighbors.
Programming includes, but is not limited to community inclusion and activities, culinary arts and kitchen skills, self-advocacy and self-expression, home living skills, social-emotional education and engagement, wellness and recreation, and hands-on experiences with our two social enterprises, Dorothy’s Sweet Shoppe and Barley’s Dog Biscuits. CDS programming runs weekdays.
Being an engaged citizen also means being able to access all the great things that Chicago has to offer - sporting events, museums, unique neighborhoods, the lakefront, educational institutions, restaurants and retail businesses. At Gateway to Learning, we provide the support to be active in the community: riding public transportation, practicing decision-making and money management skills, supporting interactions with vendors, while also promoting social responsibility by giving back through volunteerism.
Amanda Bulgrin, Community Day Services Director
Kevin Miller, Community Day Services Program Manager
15 skilled Direct Support Professionals (Life Skills Instructors and Coaches)
*In 2024, GTL's 50th Anniversary, an adjacent open courtyard will open, allowing local customers to linger over coffee and treats, as well as a small performance area for local artists.
Wellness
Wellness encompasses not just psychical health, but also mental, emotional and social well-being. At Gateway To learning, we want to provide a wealth of resources and support to nurture every individual's wellness. From their every fitness and nutrition to mindfulness and self-care, we want to guide and inspire everyone toward a balanced and meaningful life.
In 2019 Gateway to Learning welcomed their first mental health intern, an art therapy intern from an accredited master's university in Chicago. Since then, Gateway has welcomed an art therapy intern every year. At the end of 2023, Gateway to Learning made the decision to invest in our participants' wellness by hiring one of the previous interns, Rebecca Kramer, full time as a Wellness Specialist: Art Therapist. Rebecca has been integral in developing our wellness program and is now facilitating art therapy and counseling, as well as the sex education with a focus on healthy and safe relationships. All interns and Rebecca are under weekly supervision from a Board-certified Art Therapist (ATR-BC) and Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC).
Amanda Bulgrin, the Director of Community Day Services
Rebecca Kramer, Wellness Specialist: Art Therapist