Breakthrough

Breakthrough partners with people to build connections, develop skills, and open doors of opportunity. Breakthrough envisions a safe, stable, engaged Garfield Park where success is the norm and everyone thrives. Through a geographic focus on Garfield Park, Breakthrough aims to develop community partnerships to create deep and holistic change in the neighborhood through innovative service offerings in housing, economic development, violence reduction, and neighborhood health services.

Breakthrough serves over 15,000 local residents (over two-thirds of the East Garfield Park community) through an integration of core service areas focused on Education and Youth Development, Economic Opportunity, Housing, Health & Wellness, and Violence Prevention. Programs include transitional and permanent supportive housing, behavioral health supports, career readiness training, street outreach and case management, a food pantry, and youth programs from cradle to career; walking with students from preschool, into after school and sports programs, and onto high school and college preparation.

Breakthrough is a community-based nonprofit operating multiple programs across five major focus areas: Housing, Health & Wellness, Community Economic Development, Education & Youth Development, and Violence Prevention. Breakthrough operates out of five facilities and serves over 15,000 people annually.

HOUSING
Homeless Intervention services include three core programs: Daytime Support Centers which are open Monday – Friday, 9 .am. to 3 p.m., two Transitional Housing shelters for 30 men and 30 women, and 43 Permanent Supportive Housing units across the city. The program uses a trauma-informed model and offers access to wraparound services such as medical and behavioral health care, food access, employment programming, and basic emergency services.

HEALTH & WELLNESS
Breakthrough provides behavioral health and on-site therapy services for participants, healthy food access through Breakthrough’s food pantry, access to a state-of-the-art fitness center, and on-site medical services through a partnership with Lawndale Christian Health Center.

COMMUNITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (CED)
Breakthrough’s CED programs foster financial wellness by providing education, work experience, and supportive services so that individuals can become economically stable and strong community contributors. The CED provides services across 5 key domains: Employment training, Financial Coaching to increase financial literacy, Income Support to expand access to benefits, Housing Education so individuals are ready for homeownership, and Small Business coaching to help individuals launch new businesses in the community.

EDUCATION & YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
The BYN offers five comprehensive youth programs that operate year-round: (1) Breakthrough Beginners: high-quality affordable early childhood education, (2) Nettie Bailey Student Achievement Program (NBSAP): after-school and summer year-round enrichment programming, (3) London Johnson Arts & Technology Academy (LJATA): STEAM-based programming, (4) Sports & Fitness Academy: character-building sports leagues year-round, (5) Breakthrough Beyond: economically-focused post-secondary program. Youth participants and their families have access to on-site behavioral health services including individual and group therapy.

VIOLENCE PREVENTION (VP)
The VP team provides services across 4 key areas: (1) Street Outreach services that respond to violent incidents in the community 24 hours a day, (2) Case Management services, providing wraparound and referral support to individuals impacted by violence, (3) Victim Services, offering year-round support to families who recently experienced shootings or homicides, and (4) Light in the Night large-scale community events to reclaim public spaces for safety and community cohesion.

Breakthrough’s new 2027 Strategic Plan establishes goals and objectives in four major
categories: (1) growth and integration, (2) advocacy, (3) organizational excellence, and (4)
geographic expansion. Breakthrough will grow partnerships externally while improving
collaboration internally and taking care of its workforce. In partnership with the community,
Breakthrough believes that pursuing these goals will help to create a safe, stable, engaged
Garfield Park where success is the norm and everyone thrives.

Breakthrough uses a detailed evaluation framework based on the Theory of Change model. Each program area has thoughtful Theories of Change with associated goals and measurable objectives, working towards the organization’s mission and strategic goals. Each month, outcomes are reported to Senior Leadership staff used to measure progress, recognize achievements, and determine any mid-course corrections.

Most of Breakthrough’s measurable objectives are related to participant engagement, overcoming external barriers, gaining knowledge or access to services, and receiving basic needs such as housing and food. In addition to tracking outcome numbers, evaluation is also a qualitative, relationship-based process. Many staff live within blocks of Breakthrough and are very much a part of the neighborhood. Because of this close connection to the community, staff receive constant feedback about the perception of Breakthrough programs by community members and program constituents.

All current data and outcomes can be found at breakthrough.org/data