"Buiding the future, one family at a time."

Mary Pat Maddex Place.

Mary Pat Maddex Place provides transitional housing for homeless women and children. These women are dedicated to maintaining a sober lifestyle and providing a nurturing environment in which their children can grow and thrive. The facility provides a safe and drug and alcohol free haven for these families with the help of an on-site case manager.

The idea of drug-free housing was born out of the frustration of juvenile court staff in Lake County. Time and time again, our clients would achieve sobriety through rigorous in-patient drug rehabilitation only to lose it when forced to return to a lifestyle that was totally unsupportive of their sobriety. Mary Pat Maddex, a long-time supervisor with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, realized that recovering parents involved with the juvenile court system would be better able to maintain sobriety if there was housing available that supported a drug and alcohol-free lifestyle. Most of the housing projects in which these women had previously lived were drug-infested and not conducive to the ongoing recovery of these women. They certainly were not safe environments for their children. Mary Pat's idea took root and through the collaboration of many community leaders, the concept of Mary Pat Maddex Place became a reality. In 1999, the US Department of Housing gave assistance to the project in the form of a grant for the homeless.

MPM Place is a unique partnership of housing and social service agencies. The HUD grant is administered by the Lake County Residential Development Corporation, a not-for-profit corporation with a 33 year history of providing housing for low-income families in Lake County. Social services are provided by Catholic Charities, the oldest and largest social service agency in Lake County. On-site sobriety programs, job and budget counseling, and parenting classes are provided to each resident. Each client is provided with a fully-furnished apartment and numerous programs designed to support them as they work towards independence. For many clients, their apartment is the safest and cleanest home they have ever known. Although humble by some standards, many of our clients cry when they first visit their new homes.

Our clients are homeless and recovering women and their children, most of who are already involved with – or at risk of becoming involved with – the Department of Children and Family Services and the juvenile court system. MPM Place affords them an opportunity to build new lives for themselves and thereby reduce the need for their children to be placed into foster care. We are pleased to report that the majority of our clients have had much success and are now working, contributing members to our community.

An active and growing Advisory Board assists MPM Place with fund raising and bringing awareness about the program to the community at large. We will celebrate our 11th anniversary this July with high hopes for the program's future.