South Suburban PADS gains funding

Agency among first round of MacKenzie Scott grant recipients

Some of the region’s least visible people are among the beneficiaries of billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott’s first round of giving through her Yield Giving nonprofit.

An influx of resources thanks to a $1 million Yield Giving grant will help South Suburban PADS better deliver services to people who are struggling with homelessness as well as food and housing insecurity, officials from the organization said.

The grant is especially helpful because the number of people in need keeps growing in a region that is sometimes overlooked.

“It’s really huge,” said Doug Kenshol, executive director of South Suburban PADS. “We serve a region — the south suburbs of Chicago — that is really under-resourced. We have very high rates of poverty, housing instability and homelessness and yet there’s a mismatch. We don’t have the resources to address them.

“We live in the shadow of Chicago and most of the philanthropic resources and government assistance goes to Chicago.”

He estimated there are almost 13,000 homeless people in the region, and more than 3,000 of them are school kids under age 18. Nearly 50,000 people in the south suburbs experience extreme poverty, Kenshol said. South Suburban PADS, which stands for Public Action to Deliver Shelter, used to operate in a rotating base of church properties where people could spend winter nights. The agency now offers emergency stays in hotel rooms, along with affordable housing, supportive services and health care assistance.

The group’s main office is in Chicago Heights and it operates a Wellness Center in Country Club Hills where some people experiencing homelessness can stay.

More than 6,000 organizations applied for Yield Giving grants, and less than 5% were selected. Lever for Change helped with the