Trinity Services - Non-Profit or Government Organization of the Year

Company: Trinity Services, Inc., New Lenox, IL
Company Description: Trinity Services, Inc., founded in 1950, is a nonprofit, nonsectarian organization that provides the highest quality person-directed services and supports to people with developmental disabilities and mental illness so that they may flourish and live full and abundant lives. Trinity serves more than 4,000 adults and children who have intellectual/developmental disabilities or mental health needs.
Nomination Category: Company / Organization Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Organization of the Year - Non-Profit or Government Organizations - Large

Nomination Title: Trinity Services, Inc.

Trinity Services, Inc., founded in 1950, is a nonprofit, nonsectarian organization that provides the highest quality person-directed services and supports to people with developmental disabilities and mental illness so that they may flourish and live full and abundant lives.

Trinity serves more than 5,500 adults and children who have intellectual/developmental disabilities or mental health needs. Trinity’s mission to help people flourish is at the heart of all it offers, including residential services, numerous community day services, employment services, a school, therapeutic horseback riding, respite services, a recreation center, a range of therapeutic services, and more.

Services are provided in more than 30 Illinois communities in the Southwest, Northwest and Western Suburbs of Chicago, as well as Southern and Central Illinois.

Since 1992, Trinity has maintained the highest possible level of accreditation—Person-Centered Excellence Accreditation, With Distinction—from the Council on Quality and Leadership.

Trinity staff members work with the understanding that “Everything Counts”—that every action, thought and experience is significant. Every personal interaction is an opportunity to promote self-confidence, heighten self-esteem and lead to the achievement of personal goals for the people Trinity serves.

Since 2019, Trinity Services:

-earned Person-Centered Excellence Accreditation, With Distinction, from The Council on Quality and Leadership, among 1% of organizations nationwide to achieve this prestigious accreditation.

-opened a 16-unit permanent supportive housing development for people with disabilities in Northlake, Illinois, and broke ground on a similar 25-unit development in New Lenox.

-launched Abilities Behavior Services to provide applied behavior analysis services to children, adults and seniors with dementia in Southwest Illinois.

-received a $700,000 U.S. Department of Justice grant for the creation of a Mobile Crisis Response Unit, in partnership with the Orland Park Police Department, to improve emergency response to people experiencing a mental health crisis.

-received a $268,684 grant from the Will County Continuum of Care for the expansion of its rapid rehousing program.

-received a grant from the Illinois Department of Human Services’ Division of Developmental Disabilities to pilot remote support services in six residential locations.

-had approximately 200 direct support professionals who care for people with developmental disabilities decide to temporarily move into group homes during the pandemic to shelter-in-place there. This sacrifice eliminated shift changes to keep people as safe as possible.

-helped approximately 50 people experiencing homelessness find housing during the pandemic.

-offered free mental health consultations to people in its counseling center’s coverage area during Illinois’ stay-at-home order.

-organized vaccination clinics in partnership with the Illinois Department of Human Services and numerous community organizations to ensure people with disabilities and staff who support them had access to vaccines.

These achievements highlight how Trinity Services is always on the cutting edge of providing the highest quality, person-directed services to people with developmental disabilities and mental health needs.

Trinity was able to delve into innovative new areas of service, like offering remote support through assistive technology and developing a Mobile Crisis Response Unit in partnership with local police to help people experiencing a mental health crisis. Despite the disruptions of the pandemic, Trinity was able to continue working on these initiatives and even expanded the services it offered – ensuring it provided help where it was needed.

Cases of domestic violence surged during the pandemic, as did the unemployment rate, and Trinity’s Homeless Support Program was there to help people find housing. People struggled with their mental health as they faced the weight of the pandemic, and the Trinity Counseling Center provided people with free help.

Trinity would not be able to do all it does without its dedicated staff members, and those staff members always put the people they support first. Approximately 200 direct support professionals at the organization made the selfless sacrifice to move into the homes of the people they support for weeks and even months at a time during the pandemic to keep people as safe as possible through the elimination of shift changes. This ensured that people with developmental disabilities who have complex medical conditions that make them especially vulnerable to the coronavirus stayed as safe as possible during the height of the pandemic.

-The link to the article from The Council on Quality and Leadership highlights our accreditation.
-Our FY20 Annual Report highlights our pandemic response, the launch of Abilities Behavior Services, the opening of a permanent support housing apartment complex in Northlake, the grants we received, and more.
-The Prairie Trail at the Landings press release highlights the groundbreaking of a permanent supportive housing apartment complex in New Lenox.
-The Q12021Compass newsletter highlights our vaccination clinics.