Global nonprofit steps in to run a migrant shelter in Chicago

A former Catholic school in Chicago’s Portage Park neighborhood is now open as a migrant shelter. But instead of being run by the city, as all others in the city are, this shelter is managed by a global nonprofit with experience helping refugees.

The former St. Bartholomew school campus opened in May and now houses 93 people, mostly from Venezuela, in one of the buildings. It’s run by the Zakat Foundation, a Muslim-based nonprofit that offers a model for what many advocates want to see in city-run shetters: more community organizations involvement, better referral services and on-site education.

This is the first time Zakat runs a shelter, but the organization has experience working with immigrants and refugees. Zakat officials say they want to work closely with migrants and understand where they are coming from.

“When I think about it, a successful shelter, you have to have the right staff, people who are compassionate,” said Donna Neil Demir, Zakat’s health advisor.

The nonprofit says it is spending more than $500,000 in private money to run the place. It has hired 15 staffers, including supervisors and administrators. A second building is undergoing construction and is expected to open after repairs are completed. The food is catered from a local Ecuadorian restaurant. Zakat stepped in amid growing frustration from migrants and advocates with Favorite Healthcare Staffing — the Kansas City-based company hired by city officials to help run dozens of shelters since 2022.

The staffing company has faced strong criticism for its management style. Last winter WBEZ reported on hundreds of grievances filed by migrants, citing humiliations and xenophobic remarks from shelter staff and supervisors across several facilities. Critics also say the shelters don’t offer enough long-term support for families. So far the city has paid the staffing agency nearly $300 million to run these shelters.

Since this new shelter opened, Zakat officials say their approach includes guidance and support. When residents like Estefania Rivas arrive at the shelter, they are connected with a case worker, medical services and educational opportunities, such as English classes and know-your-rights training.

“I feel comfortable here,” Rivas, 20, said in Spanish on her way to the dining room to get lunch with her toddler. “I have received a lot of help here, especially with immigration services.”

The Zakat shelter is not part of the current 17 city and state-run migrant shelter network created to house thousands of asylum seekers in the last two years. It’s the result of a partnership that includes the Archdiocese of Chicago, which is leasing the space to the city of Chicago for free. Cook County has helped with the renovation and the Zakat Foundation is in charge of its operations.

“Cook County Health comes three times a week, and they schedule … appointments for whatever they do need,” including mental health services, said Natalie Moreno, a shelter supervisor.

She said other workshops include information on how to get around the city using public transportation.

Moreno worked at city-run shelters for more than a year. She disagreed with the way some staffers spoke to asylum seekers.

“I think the staff … needed to have more empathy towards the residents,” Moreno said.

She said the type of empathy that’s required to work with migrants doesn’t come with training; staffers either have it or they don’t. Moreno is from Texas and her family is originally from Mexico, but she said she goes out of her way to listen to the migrants’ difficult journeys and trauma fleeing their homelands.

Despite their efforts to welcome the new arrivals, Zakat officials are realizing that helping them become independent is extremely challenging and expensive. Migrant families at Zakat can stay between three and six months, but Amina Demir, Zakat’s chief operations officer said that’s not enough.

“It’s supposed to be a six-month project where individuals come and are eventually transferred out,” Demir said. “But by the time the individuals get situated [and] children are enrolled in some sort of educational program or system, [and] the six month[s] rolls around, they’re just getting on their feet.”

Learning a new language and figuring out how to move around in an entirely new city is hard. But unlike the Rohingya and Afghan refugees who Zakat has helped, many South American migrants are not able to work legally. Without a path to financial independence, Demir is bracing for a very difficult job in her quest to help migrants live on their own.