Caring Together, Living Better (CTLB)

Program Mission

CTLB’s mission is to support and empower caregivers by partnering with faith and community based organizations to provide resources, education and community.

Program History

Caring Together, Living Better (CTLB) began in 2009 with a grant from the Weinberg Foundation. The Program is a grassroots partnership supporting caregivers in low income and diverse communities in the south and western suburbs of Chicago. Since its inception, CTLB has relied on grant-based funding and most recently federal CARES Act monies to support the daily operations of the programs and funding provided to each of our partners.

Our program started in the south suburbs with 7 partner churches and 3 partner community organizations: South Suburban Senior Services of Catholic Charities, CJE Senior Life, Metropolitan Senior Services, Kizer Memorial Church of God in Christ, Valley Kingdom Ministries, Victory Christian Assembly Baptist Church, Word Made Flesh Worship Center, Shekinah Chapel Lutheran Church, Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, and Covenant United Church of Christ. After 4 years these partners became self-sufficient and began offering their caregiver programs independently.

How CTLB Can Help You

CTLB programs help improve health literacy by offering workshops on chronic disease management and support groups where caregivers can talk about their health challenges in a safe and supportive environment which can lead to increased knowledge of health issues and ways to seek care in their community.

Our partners offer programs such as Caregiver Paint Night, Caregiver Cafes, volunteer respite services, transportation, virtual activity nights, friendly phone visiting, food distribution, and more. Since program inception over 1,000 caregivers have received support from CTLB. Notably, our CTLB partners drastically shifted their program plans in wake of COVID-19 to provide life sustaining support to their community members.

Caring Together, Living Better offers a valuable service to caregivers who may not be reached through traditional programming. Our goal is to continue to provide support and guidance to our partners to help them find sustainable ways to continue to offer programing that best supports the caregivers in their communities.

Current Partners and Locations

In 2013, the CTLB program was replicated in our western suburbs and targeted churches and community organizations serving African American and Latino populations in underserved areas including Cicero and Maywood.

Our current CTLB partners are Cicero Area Project, New Hope Christian Center, Neighborhood United Methodist Church, Rock of Ages Baptist Church, and Quinn Center of St. Eulalia. If you are interested in learning more about each site’s programs and services, please visit the contact information and web links below.

Maywood

Neighborhood United Methodist Church

1817 Washington Blvd.
Maywood, IL 60153
(708)681-5887

New Hope Christian Center

14 S. 19th Ave
Maywood, IL 60153
(708)343-4441

Saint Eulalia Parish/Quinn Center of Saint Eulalia

815 Lexington St.
Maywood, IL 60153
(708)397-6111

Rock of Ages Baptist Church

1309 Madison St.
Maywood, IL 60153
(708)344-0704

Please contact Sis. Gwen Haney, (708)344-0704, for information about this program.

Cicero

Cicero Area Project

3801 S. Central
Cicero, IL 60804
(708)222-8301

For more information on CTLB west suburban activities, call or email Cynthia Ayala at AgeOptions: (708)934-2229; cynthia.ayala@AgeOptions.org .

For updates and additional information on CTLB partner activities, visit the Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/Caring2gether