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Our Stories

News and insights from The Night Ministry community.

Street Medicine Programs Collaborate to Improve Care for the Unsheltered

Members of the Loyola chapter of Chicago Street Medicine working with The Night Ministry at the CTA Blue Line stop in Forest Park.

When The Night Ministry began piloting its street medicine approach six years ago, bringing health care services directly to individuals living in encampments, it was the first program of its kind in Chicago. Today, the agency's Street Medicine Team serves as a model and a hub in the burgeoning network of street-based medical outreach programs curr...

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The Night Ministry’s Partnership with Local Nonprofit Working Bikes Empowers Youth Programs Clients

Youth Outreach Case Manager Allison Boyle and Lead Case Manager Michelle Thomas prepare to drop off supplies and a refurbished bike from Working Bikes to a client.

The Night Ministry's Youth Programs help young adults experiencing homelessness fulfill basic needs such as housing, but they don't stop there. Case Managers equip residents with tools to help them thrive. One way they do so is by tapping into connections with local partners like Little Village-based nonprofit Working Bikes, an organization that re...

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COVID Continues to Create Barriers for Chicago’s Homeless Population

Marcus, a client of the Health Outreach Program, with the COVID vaccination card he received after getting a booster shot from The Night Ministry.

The temperature is dropping on an already cold January morning. Still, Marcus, a client of The Night Ministry's Health Outreach Program, has removed his coat and sweatshirt and pulled his arm out of his shirt sleeve so Stephan Koruba, The Night Ministry's Senior Nurse Practitioner, can give him a COVID vaccination booster. Marcus had lost his vacci...

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The Night Ministry Engages in Dialogue and Examination to Foster Racial Equity

The Night Ministry is working to realize racial equity across its programs and departments.

The Night Ministry is taking steps to realize racial equity in its day-to-day operations, a process which involves becoming an anti-racist organization. The agency's mission makes it imperative for The Night Ministry to take these steps, said Chief of Staff Traci Rivera. "We have a social responsibility to move things forward. Systemic racism and i...

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President & CEO Paul Hamann Speaks with Hubbard Helps

Scroll down to listen to the interview.

The Night Ministry's President & CEO, Paul Hamann, spoke with Hubbard Helps, a program of Hubbard Radio about homelessness in Chicago, our impact in the community, the challenges of COVID, and more. This interview was first broadcast on January 9, 2022. 

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The Night Ministry in the News

The Night Ministry's mission is featured in The Chicago Sun-Times.

The Night Ministry's ongoing work to provide services to members of our community experiencing homeless as the COVID-19 pandemic continues is featured in a recent column by Neil Steinberg of The Chicago Sun-Times. ‘The need gets larger and larger’ - Chicago Sun-Times Overtaxed social service agencies struggle to cope with COVID-19 and help the city...

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The Promise of a New Year: A New Year's Reflection by Our President & CEO

Paul W. Hamann is the President & CEO of The Night Ministry

December 31, 2021Dear Friend,Call me a sentimental optimist, but I still believe in the promise inherent in a new year. When hanging up a new wall calendar and swiping into the next year on my phone, I am excited by the opportunities 12 fresh months and 365 brand new days can bring. That sense of excitement is palpable here at The Night Ministry as...

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Advocacy Efforts to Support Homeless Population Rewarded as Key Legal Measures Pass in Springfield

The 2022 Illinois state budget includes an increase in funding for homeless youth programs.

The Night Ministry and partner organizations have been busy urging state lawmakers to back funding and legislation supporting Illinois residents experiencing homelessness and poverty. These efforts have paid off with Governor Pritzker signing a budget for the fiscal year 2022 that includes over $1 billion for housing assistance and homele...

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Students at Jonathan Burr Elementary Give Back by Supporting The Night Ministry

Members of the National Junior Honor Society at Bucktown's Jonathan Burr Elementary School organize drives to support The Night Ministry.

When The Night Ministry relocated its headquarters to Bucktown in summer 2020, the agency gained a generous neighbor in the Jonathan Burr Elementary School, whose students have made a habit of giving back. "Last year we were able to do a whole school food drive to help support The Night Ministry in the spring," said Middle School teacher Sarah Craw...

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Varying Definitions of Homelessness Impact Access to Services

The definition of homelessness utilized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development precludes many from qualifying for vital services and resources.

Who is identified as experiencing homelessness and who is not varies under federal definitions, and when interpretations of the term are strict, individuals and communities may be unable to access the resources they need. According to a recent report from the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH), the vast majority of those experiencing homeless...

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Youth Programs to Offer More Flexible Long-Term Housing Solutions

Terrell Carter, Program Specialist (left), talks with two residents of the new Pathways Transitional Living Program.

The Night Ministry is restructuring aspects of its Youth Programs to offer more flexible long-term housing and deepen the impact of its services to young people experiencing homelessness. "We are making these changes in response to the evolving challenges faced by the population and to reflect demographic shifts among the youth we se...

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Straight Outta Quarantine

Straight Outta Quarantine” presenters, clockwise from the upper left: Malika, Persie, Maria, and Julie. Scoll down to watch the video.

The adversities brought by the COVID-19 pandemic have been met with persistence and matched by progress. That is the message underlying "Straight Outta Quarantine," a creative video presentation by members of Youth 4 Truth, The Night Ministry's leadership development program for young people who have experienced homelessness. The video premiered at...

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Homeless Count in Chicago May Have Dropped, but Are More People Exiting Homelessness?

Nearly 60,000 Chicagoans experienced homelessness in 2019.

Data indicate that Chicago's homeless population has fallen over the last several years. But that doesn't mean the challenge of homelessness is going away. In a new study, the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) reports that 58,723 Chicagoans experienced homelessness in 2019, down 16% from the year prior. The decline is part of a trend seen du...

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Celebrating 45 Years: The Night Ministry Pioneers Mobile Health Care on Chicago's Streets

The Rev. Peter Brick (left) speaks with a client outside the Health Outreach Program’s first vehicle, a converted RV.

For the first fourteen years of the agency's history, The Night Ministry staff conducted outreach on their feet, supporting the community members they encountered while walking the nighttime streets of Chicago. Realizing that many of those individuals had unaddressed health challenges, in 1990 The Night Ministry added a mobile health care component...

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Celebrating 45 Years: The Foundations of The Night Ministry

The Rev. Tom Behrens (right), is The Night Ministry’s Founding President & Former CEO.

By Paul W. Hamann, MA, MNAPresident & CEO The Night Ministry was formed 45 years ago when a diverse coalition of Chicago-based congregations hired the Rev. Tom Behrens to reach out to individuals struggling with homelessness, isolation, and despair during the lonely overnight hours. Tom was a minister of the United Church of Christ. But as he t...

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Celebrating 45 Years: The Night Ministry Launches Chicago's First Street Medicine Program

The Night Ministry’s Street Medicine Team assisting clients along Lower Wacker Drive. Photo by Lloyd DeGrane.

By 2015, The Night Ministry's Health Outreach Bus had been on the road for 25 years, providing free health care to Chicagoans experiencing poverty or homelessness, but the agency sensed it could be making a wider impact on the streets. "There was this inkling that we could reach more people who were really falling between the cracks if we were a li...

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Celebrating 45 Years: The Crib Turns Homeless Advocates' Vision into Reality

Youth from H.E.L.L.O. and members of The Night Ministry staff with former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley at City Hall in August 2009.

The Crib, The Night Ministry's overnight shelter for young adults experiencing homelessness, owes much to a group of young change makers called Homeless Experts Living Life's Obstacles (H.E.L.L.O.). For years, H.E.L.L.O. members would meet weekly to discuss their experiences and insights as young Chicagoans struggling with homelessness. Their big b...

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Celebrating 45 Years: West Town Facility Enhances and Expands Services for Homeless Youth

Program Specialist Henry Merrill (right) speaks to a resident of the Interim Housing Program at the Open Door Shelter—West Town facility.

On August 3, 2006, the residents of The Night Ministry's Open Door Shelter–Lakeview packed up their belongings and made the journey, along with the shelter's staff, to a newly rehabbed facility in Chicago's West Town neighborhood. The move came nearly 14 years after the Interim Housing Program, providing up to four months of supportive shelter to y...

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Celebrating 45 Years: The Night Ministry Opens Its First Youth Shelter in a Time of Dire Need

Residents and staff enjoy a meal together at The Night Ministry’s first youth shelter in Lakeview.

By the close of the 1980s, Chicago's population of unsheltered young people had reached an estimated 10,000 individuals per year. State law prohibited nonprofits from operating group shelters for them, leaving youth experiencing homelessness with few, if any, options for a safe place to spend the night. "At the time, if you were a young person, you...

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Street Medicine Volunteer Physician Dr. Aaron Brinkman is Dedicated to Service

Dr. Aaron Brinkman (left), a volunteer physician, treats a Street Medicine patient.

Even before Dr. Aaron Brinkman joined The Night Ministry's Street Medicine team as a Volunteer Physician, he sought ways to provide medical care to those living on the streets. Though Brinkman had a busy professional life as a primary care physician and a National Guard Commander, a television show featuring Pittsburgh's pioneering street medicine ...

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The Night Ministry is a 501(c)3 charitable organization. Our Federal Tax ID (EIN) is 36-3145764.