| GRANT HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION SUPPORTS THE QUETZAL CENTER |
| | December 30, 2005
Local Foundation Responds to Crime of Sexual Violence with Grant to the Quetzal Center of C4
Chicago, IL – Community Counseling Center of Chicago (C4) recently received a grant of $25,000 from the Grant Healthcare Foundation to support the Quetzal Center. The Quetzal Center was established by C4 in 1983 in response to the community’s need for specialized sexual assault services.
Named after a bird recognized in African, Asian, and Latin cultures that thrives only in freedom, the Quetzal Center provides bilingual, individual and group counseling for survivors of sexual violence. Over the years, the Quetzal Center has evolved to include 24-hour crisis intervention, medical and legal advocacy, public education presentations, professional training and institutional advocacy with criminal justice and medical systems that are involved with and may affect the lives of victims and survivors.
According to RAINN (Rape Abuse & Incest National Network), an American is sexually assaulted every two minutes. In 2002-2003, there was an average of 223,280 victims of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault. Less than 39% of rapes and sexual assaults were reported to law enforcement in 2003. About 44% of rape victims are under the age of 18, and about 15% are under age 12. About 10% of sexual assault victims are men, and one in six women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape.
Grant Healthcare Foundation was formed in 1996 as a result of the sale of Grant Hospital of Chicago to the Columbia Healthcare Corporation. The mission of Grant Healthcare Foundation is to continue the tradition of Grant Hospital, founded in 1883, by providing and supporting healthcare services to the people of the Chicago metropolitan area. The $25,000 grant from the Grant Healthcare Foundation will be used to provide counseling, advocacy, crisis intervention, public education and professional training at C4's Quetzal Center.
For more than 30 years, C4 has offered a full range of outpatient behavioral health services designed to assist adults, children, and families to cope with emotional and behavioral health problems and to achieve and maintain independent functioning in the community. C4 services include: 24-hour crisis response and emergency assessment, short term counseling, intensive psychotherapy, case management and linkage to community resources, psychiatric and medication evaluations, medication education, pre-vocational programs, residential options, sheltered work center, rehabilitation and socialization, a variety of therapy modalities, including art and expressive therapy, representative payee services as well as behavioral health services for survivors of sexual violence.
Established in 1972 as a grassroots response to a federal policy that left to communities the task of developing services for people who were released from psychiatric hospitals into neighborhoods that were ill-equipped to provide for their needs, C4 has continually developed services to address a multitude of behavioral health issues that exist in the community. With highly qualified staff who speak more than 21 languages and dialects, the agency receives citywide referrals and serves approximately 3,000 consumers monthly. Last year, C4 served 7,000 unduplicated consumers.
For more information on the Quetzal Center, please contact, Courtney Avery at 773.765.0612.
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