Through our efforts, we seek to support and grow existing and new West Side businesses and to develop the West Side’s workforce. Why are we doing this?

We believe that building a healthy community requires the full integration of the West Side of Chicago with the rest of the region. To achieve this integration, the West Side needs to move from a net importer of goods, services and government-sponsored programs to a net exporter of goods, services and talent. To accomplish this integration, West Side residents need access to quality education and good jobs.

It should not be that in our nation, where you are born determines whether  you will have access to a quality education and whether you will have opportunity to live the American dream. But right now, an aspiring entrepreneur on the West Side lacks access to a quality education and lacks sufficient opportunity to join the ranks of "job creators." The stories of success are too few. We need your help to change this.

If we believe that our nation is still the land of opportunity, where each of us has the chance to achieve our dreams, then we must take action to assure that everyone has access to the opportunities that our national identity is built upon. I hope that you will act to support our efforts to create access to opportunities for education and for good jobs for Chicago’s West Side.

Here are some things you can do: (1) share your gifts and talents; (2) provide financial support; (3) introduce Bethel to others who seek to create access to opportunities; (4) pray for our efforts and our participants.

Thank you for being a blessing to so many,

Lori R. Vallelunga, Ph.D.                                                                                                               President & CEO