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Our History
Our Mission
Casa Central transforms lives and strengthens communities with a special focus on Hispanics. Our network of services propels a diverse population of all ages toward self-sufficiency and a higher quality of life.
Our Vision
We see Casa Central as the organization that provides the most sought after, cutting-edge, quality services.
Core Values
Our commitment to our participants, communities, and staff, and our work as an organization are guided by the following values:
- Believing that everyone has the potential to improve their quality of life.
- Casa Central fosters and embraces new experiences and change in the face of adversity, as catalysts for growth and development.
- We respect each person's own culture and identity, drawing upon the strength and diversity of staff and community to create change.
- Casa Central embraces the faith tradition that is a founding principle and seeks God's guidance to provide direction to meet the needs of our participants.
- We strive to consistently provide the highest quality of service to all with integrity and respect for the dignity and rights of those we serve.
History
The Beginning - 56 Years Ago
Casa Central was founded in 1954 by a multi-denominational group of churches to provide social services to the Hispanic population. Since then, Casa Central has evolved from an organization with three employees and a $26,000 budget to an acclaimed model agency with over 450 staff members and a $16 million budget.
Casa Central is now the largest Hispanic social service agency in Chicago and arguably in the country, providing programs for all ages.
Accreditation
In 2000, Casa Central received agency-wide accreditation by the Council on Accreditation (COA), after undergoing a thorough review by COA. During this process, each of our programs was challenged to demonstrate that policies and practices complied with COA's national standards for their specific service area. The arduous application process consisted of:
* Submission of a self-study documenting how the agency's programs and administrative departments comply
* A three day on-site review, and
* A written response to the reviewer's ratings and observations.
On May 17, 2000, after a nearly two-year of review, Casa Central received agency-wide accreditation from COA and re-accredited in March 2008.
Our Commitment to Quality
Casa Central’s Performance Quality Improvement (PQI) system is integrated into the service provision of Casa Central to ensure a consistent level of quality services and provide a mechanism for performance monitoring and evaluation. Through the PQI process, all aspects of the agency’s daily operation, programs and departments, and service to the community are monitored and reviewed regularly. As recommendations are shared and implemented, Casa Central is able to systematically sustain and improve the quality of its programs and services.
Because the PQI system affects everyone involved with Casa Central, the stakeholders in the system play a valuable role in sustaining the quality of the agency through their input. Please click on this link to find a draft of the agency’s anticipated PQI goals for Fiscal Year 2011. We would like to hear from you, so please submit any questions, suggestions or ideas for the agency's PQI plan on or before July 30th and refer them to Nilda I. La Luz, Quality Manager, at nlaluz@casacentral.org.