In The News

For years, the US Forest Service has been a vital ally to El Valor, shaping our educational approach by emphasizing the link between nature and learning. A recent spotlight on our Education Supervisor, Sinead Abarca, highlighted her journey from a participant in...

Chicago Sun-Times recently featured El Valor's Community Baby Showers. The bi-annual event started in 2019, after the death of Marlen Ochoa-Lopez, an expectant mother from Little Village lured to her death by someone promising her baby clothes. Following the tragedy,...

Borderless Magazine highlighted El Valor's Valentine Day Celebration, showcasing our vital services for individuals with disabilities. Established in 1973, El Valor fills a crucial gap in Chicago's services, offering English and Spanish programs tailored to the...

ABC 7 Chicago showcased El Valor's Executive Director, Jillian Gonzalez, on December 24, shedding light on our remarkable 50-year journey. From our beginnings in a church basement, we've expanded to 12 facilities, serving diverse communities across Chicago. The...

On Thursday, June 22, we welcomed Mayor Brandon Johnson to El Valor’s Cantu Children & Family Center. Mayor Johnson toured the facility and met with parents and staff. He even made time to read to our little ones. El Valor is grateful to Mayor Brandon Johnson for...

Rey B. Gonzalez, President and CEO of El Valor Corporation, recently celebrated 40 years with the Agency. Rey has served in this role since 2013 after retiring as Vice President for Legislative and Community Affairs at ComEd, an Exelon Company. Rey also served as...

El Valor’s Early Childhood programs have received the Vanessa Rich Innovation and Leadership Program Award from the Illinois Head Start Association. This award celebrates the memory of the late Vanessa Rich, former chair of the Board of the National Head Start...

El Valor is committed to supporting and educating our community as we navigate the pandemic together. Nina Duenas, El Valor Senior Vice President, was featured on Univision Chicago to talk about the impact of the pandemic on people with disabilities, available...

Thank you to our partners and friends over at Univision for always supporting El Valor’s employees, children, adults, and families and creating a thank you video for the essential services we continue to provide to our community!

ABC7 hosted a virtual town hall with Chicago's community and civic leaders to discuss expectations and hopes for elected officials after the election. Stacey Baca led the town hall and panelists explored the positive impact newly elected officials can have on...

El Valor and over 34 Latino-led and Latino-serving organizations throughout the state of Illinois are coming together to encourage Latino voters to vote in the upcoming presidential election. ¡VOTA YA! is a campaign to encourage and increase Latino voter participation...

El Valor and 13 other mostly minority-led and staffed community nonprofits known collectively as the Early Childhood Education CEO Roundtable, are working to bridge the opportunity gap between the ‘haves’ and “have nots” by building solid foundations upon which...

"This is my heart, I love what I'm doing. I love making sure the individuals have a smile on their face." -Jacqueline Johnson, El Valor Direct Support ProfessionalCourage is most recognizable in difficult times. As many individuals in our community have placed...

El Valor’s President & C.E.O., Rey B. Gonzalez, is committed to advocacy that supports inclusion and diversity at all levels of society. We applaud this commitment in his most recent support of House Bill 3394. State Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch,...

El Valor is proud to present ComEd with the Corporate Visionary Award at this year’s Don Quixote Dinner. ComEd has been a generous and steadfast partner in assisting El Valor to better serve its communities of children, individuals with disabilities, and...

El Valor is honored to present Senator Antonio Muñoz with the Don Quixote Leadership Award at this year’s Don Quixote Dinner on June 12th. Senator Muñoz has consistently been an advocate in Springfield and a representative who fights for the people in his...

Congratulations to all of our athletes who competed in this year’s Special Olympics Winter Games!

We had a wonderful afternoon with the Lt. Governor and her family!

Thank you to all of our extremely generous sponsors for making the 25th Annual Don Quixote Dinner a great success.

Each year, the El Valor community raises Monarchs at home and in classrooms. They are released during an annual fall celebration and begin their symbolic migration to Mexico.

The El Valor community enjoyed food, fun, games, and family at our annual Summer Block Party.