DePaul University: 2021 Outstanding Community Partner Award
Connecting Communities | October 2021
We were excited to provide the 2021 Outstanding Community Partner Award to DePaul University at this year’s 14th Annual Beacon of Hope Luncheon. For over two decades, DePaul University and Marillac St. Vincent Family Services (MSV) have used our collective Vincentian spirit of service to make a difference for Chicago’s neediest. The following is a sampling of that work compiled by Julie Emms, the Director of Community Relations for DePaul University.
Over the past year, DePaul’s College of Education, Early Childhood Education program, in partnership with staff from Marillac St. Vincent Family Services, worked to create and build a toddler demonstration classroom at the St. Vincent de Paul Center. The classroom, which opened this fall, is a resource for DePaul students to observe a working, early learning environment in real-time and assist the Early Childhood Education program at MSV by providing research, analysis, and professional development.
Another partnership that launched this fall, located on the Lincoln Park campus, is between DePaul’s new Speech Language Pathology program and Marillac St. Vincent Family Services. The core of the program is service to the community by offering donation-based services for children and adults. The program is ideally located down the street from the St. Vincent de Paul Center in Lincoln Park. The clinic will serve as a referral source for children who need speech and language services and provide valuable literacy interventions and practicum experience for DePaul’s graduate students.
For years, a treasured partnership has existed with DePaul Athletics and Marillac St. Vincent Family Services. ALL student athletes have given service to MSV through service days, including play dates with the kids and making blankets to be distributed to the Center's families. That service continued throughout the pandemic when MSV shared health and wellness videos of the athletes demonstrating how to stay active with the children and families.
DePaul’s Family and Community Services (FCS) has had a long-standing partnership with Marillac St. Vincent Family Services. The focus has been on supporting the needs of individual St. Vincent de Paul Center students and their families through coordination of care with the Center to identify students who would benefit from a developmental assessment or individual or family therapy, providing on-site behavioral health services, group therapy, teacher training, and consultation for their staff. A staff member from the Center has also served on the DePaul FCS Community Advisory Board for over a decade.
Years ago, Brother Mark Elder C.M. and his DePaul art students painted a mural in the hallway of St. Vincent de Paul Center along with murals in the garage. Two living works of art to be enjoyed by all who visit the Center.
For over a decade, the DePaul Community Service Association (DCSA) has had two groups volunteer at Marillac St. Vincent Family Services, HOPE and DePaul Volunteers Serving Youth.
For a number of years, the University has offered a scholarship to an MSV staff member to attend DePaul and complete their graduate degree.
Annually, DePaul’s College of Law brings lawyers into the MSV classroom to discuss the profession with the students and to put on a mock trial competition. They have also performed service at both locations throughout the years.
At the start of every academic year, students from several DePaul’s Discover Chicago classes visit both locations to meet with staff and students.
Each May, both locations of Marillac St. Vincent Family Services are included as part of DePaul’s faculty and staff Vincentian Service Day.
The above partnerships are just a few of the many deep strategic connections between the two organizations, with many more in the works, including DePaul’s new Occupational Therapy program. DePaul and Marillac St. Vincent hope that the relationship will endure years into the future as we work together to make Chicago a better place.
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