[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 156 (Thursday, September 26, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5739-S5740]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        100TH ANNIVERSARY OF ADA S. MCKINLEY COMMUNITY SERVICES

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, as World War I came to a close in 1919, 
Ada Sophia McKinley founded a Chicago South Side settlement house for 
returning war veterans and anyone else in need of training, food, 
shelter, and recreation. As century later, the Ada S. McKinley 
Community Services serves more than 7,000 people annually at 70 
locations in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.
  McKinley was born 3 years after the Civil War in Galveston, TX. 
During World War I, she moved to Chicago with her husband and son. She 
was a schoolteacher and a community activist. McKinley began 
volunteering as an official hostess of the War Camp Club on South 
Wabash Avenue, helping war servicemen and their families. The club used 
recreational and civic activities to help soldiers make the transition 
back. It was a precursor to the therapies we use today for 
posttraumatic stress disorder treatments.
  The War Recreation Board cut funding to the War Camp Club when the 
war ended, but the Douglas/South Side community still needed help, and 
the Great Migration had accelerated people moving to Chicago with very 
little resources. McKinley continued helping people, eventually 
founding what became the South Side Settlement House in an old, three-
story mansion at 32nd and Wabash Avenue in 1919.
  At the South Side Settlement House, people could get a meal, some 
cash, and take classes in sewing, cooking, arts, and crafts, ceramics, 
and storytelling. There was a summer camp, a library, and even 
friendship clubs for lonely seniors.
  McKinley never collected a salary for her work. She established a 
board of directors, implemented childcare, job training, employment 
referral, and educational systems for all ages.
  After the 1919 Chicago race riots, McKinley marched with legendary 
colleagues Jane Addams, Harriet Vittum, and Mary McDowell. McKinley 
worked with the Chicago Commission on Race Relations to help restore 
order and relief to people.
  On August 24, 1952, McKinley helped lay the cornerstone for a new 
headquarters for her organization at 100 E. 34th Street. Hours later, 
she suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and passed away.
  Her legacy lives on in the work of her agency. Today, children can 
attend quality education services at the Ada S. McKinley Community 
Services locations. People can get help for their lives with mentoring 
programs, financial aid counseling, and a host of other programs. Their 
motto is ``Empower. Educate. Employ.'' Today, we honor a

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century of their good work doing just that.

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