Together, We Can Make a Difference
JOURNEYS provides safe, overnight shelter and support services to people who are experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity in our community.
A community based non-profit in Chicago's north and northwest suburbs, JOURNEYS | The Road Home provides shelter and services to people experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of losing their housing.
JOURNEYS is here to help everyone find a safe, stable place to call home.
JOURNEYS is here to help everyone find a safe, stable place to call home.
This Past Year at JOURNEYS
This past year tested our community in ways we didn't fully anticipate. And this past year, our community rose to meet it.
Federal housing programs are being dismantled. Food assistance has been stripped from an estimated 360,000 Illinoisans. The largest cut to Medicaid in American history is working its way through our state. And through all of it, the people most adversely affected have had fewer places to go for assistance.
They turned to JOURNEYS. And thankfully, we were here to help.
This year, our team of staff and volunteers provided 40,722 nights of shelter, served 87,506 meals, delivered 25,303 supportive services, and helped 114 people move into permanent housing.
This year we also launched JOURNEYS Medical Respite, our first-ever program offering short-term supportive shelter for individuals recovering from acute medical issues in partnership with local healthcare providers. For people experiencing homelessness, a hospital discharge has too often meant returning to the streets. Medical Respite changes that.
JOURNEYS does not wait for people to find us. We go out into the community, build relationships across sectors, and show up at the tables where decisions get made. This past April, I left one of those tables with something rare: genuine hope. Nearly $20 million in committed regional funding directed at food insecurity, housing stability, and homelessness, because the right people sat down together and refused to let bureaucracy win the day.
Our foundation is strong. Our outlook has never been better. And none of it is possible without you.
With gratitude,
Beth Nabors Powers
JOURNEYS CEO
Federal housing programs are being dismantled. Food assistance has been stripped from an estimated 360,000 Illinoisans. The largest cut to Medicaid in American history is working its way through our state. And through all of it, the people most adversely affected have had fewer places to go for assistance.
They turned to JOURNEYS. And thankfully, we were here to help.
This year, our team of staff and volunteers provided 40,722 nights of shelter, served 87,506 meals, delivered 25,303 supportive services, and helped 114 people move into permanent housing.
This year we also launched JOURNEYS Medical Respite, our first-ever program offering short-term supportive shelter for individuals recovering from acute medical issues in partnership with local healthcare providers. For people experiencing homelessness, a hospital discharge has too often meant returning to the streets. Medical Respite changes that.
JOURNEYS does not wait for people to find us. We go out into the community, build relationships across sectors, and show up at the tables where decisions get made. This past April, I left one of those tables with something rare: genuine hope. Nearly $20 million in committed regional funding directed at food insecurity, housing stability, and homelessness, because the right people sat down together and refused to let bureaucracy win the day.
Our foundation is strong. Our outlook has never been better. And none of it is possible without you.
With gratitude,
Beth Nabors Powers
JOURNEYS CEO
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A Safe Place to Heal
This year, JOURNEYS took a significant step forward in whole-person care with the launch of our first-ever Medical Respite program.
For people experiencing homelessness, a hospital discharge doesn't mean the hard part is over. Without a safe, stable place to rest and recover, even the best medical care can unravel quickly. People discharged into homelessness are far more likely to return to the emergency room sicker than before at great personal cost and at significant expense to the broader healthcare system.
JOURNEYS Medical Respite changes that equation. In partnership with local healthcare providers, we now offer short-term supportive shelter for individuals recovering from acute medical issues who no longer need hospitalization, but who aren't ready to face the streets. Clients receive a safe space to heal, connection to healthcare providers, coordination of medical appointments, case management, and discharge planning focused on long-term stability.
It is the kind of bold, whole-person approach that defines where JOURNEYS is headed. And it is only possible because of the community that stands behind this work.
This year, JOURNEYS took a significant step forward in whole-person care with the launch of our first-ever Medical Respite program.
For people experiencing homelessness, a hospital discharge doesn't mean the hard part is over. Without a safe, stable place to rest and recover, even the best medical care can unravel quickly. People discharged into homelessness are far more likely to return to the emergency room sicker than before at great personal cost and at significant expense to the broader healthcare system.
JOURNEYS Medical Respite changes that equation. In partnership with local healthcare providers, we now offer short-term supportive shelter for individuals recovering from acute medical issues who no longer need hospitalization, but who aren't ready to face the streets. Clients receive a safe space to heal, connection to healthcare providers, coordination of medical appointments, case management, and discharge planning focused on long-term stability.
It is the kind of bold, whole-person approach that defines where JOURNEYS is headed. And it is only possible because of the community that stands behind this work.
Housing Insecurity: An Invisible Problem
The homelessness crisis you hear about in Chicago is real. But the crisis unfolding in our own north and northwest suburbs is just as urgent and far less visible.
In suburban Cook County, homelessness increased by the second-largest annual increase in the last decade. And experts who track these numbers closely aren't expecting things to improve.
The people showing up at our doors reflect a shift that few in our community expected to see. Rising rents, stagnant wages, and the expiration of pandemic-era assistance have pushed financial instability into neighborhoods and zip codes that once felt insulated from these pressures. To afford a two-bedroom apartment at fair market rent in the Chicago metro area, a person needs to earn $33.87 an hour (more than double Illinois' minimum wage of $15). For working families already stretched thin, a single medical emergency, a lost job, or an unexpected car repair can be the difference between a home and a shelter bed.
Nearly half of the people walking through our front door still have a roof over their heads but are fighting desperately to keep it. They don't look the way most people picture homelessness. They are our neighbors. And they are running out of time.
The homelessness crisis you hear about in Chicago is real. But the crisis unfolding in our own north and northwest suburbs is just as urgent and far less visible.
In suburban Cook County, homelessness increased by the second-largest annual increase in the last decade. And experts who track these numbers closely aren't expecting things to improve.
The people showing up at our doors reflect a shift that few in our community expected to see. Rising rents, stagnant wages, and the expiration of pandemic-era assistance have pushed financial instability into neighborhoods and zip codes that once felt insulated from these pressures. To afford a two-bedroom apartment at fair market rent in the Chicago metro area, a person needs to earn $33.87 an hour (more than double Illinois' minimum wage of $15). For working families already stretched thin, a single medical emergency, a lost job, or an unexpected car repair can be the difference between a home and a shelter bed.
Nearly half of the people walking through our front door still have a roof over their heads but are fighting desperately to keep it. They don't look the way most people picture homelessness. They are our neighbors. And they are running out of time.
When a family loses stable housing, children bear the consequences.
Disrupted schooling. Fractured routines. The slow erosion of safety, belonging, and hope. These aren't abstract concerns, they are the lived reality for thousands of children across our region right now. And the systems designed to catch them are under unprecedented strain. Federal and state safety nets are fraying. There is now real risk for more families falling through the cracks. And when that happens, the children are hit the hardest.
At JOURNEYS, we refuse to look away. Every child we help stabilize is a future that stays intact, a student who keeps their seat in the classroom, a kid who gets to just be a kid. That is not a small thing. That is everything.
Disrupted schooling. Fractured routines. The slow erosion of safety, belonging, and hope. These aren't abstract concerns, they are the lived reality for thousands of children across our region right now. And the systems designed to catch them are under unprecedented strain. Federal and state safety nets are fraying. There is now real risk for more families falling through the cracks. And when that happens, the children are hit the hardest.
At JOURNEYS, we refuse to look away. Every child we help stabilize is a future that stays intact, a student who keeps their seat in the classroom, a kid who gets to just be a kid. That is not a small thing. That is everything.
Advocating for Our Community
JOURNEYS does not wait for people to find us. We go out into the community: building relationships with local governments, healthcare systems, faith communities, civic organizations, and fellow service providers. We know that the path out of homelessness is rarely a straight line, and no single organization walks it alone. The bridges we build across sectors and systems are not just good strategy. They are the mechanism by which real, lasting change happens for the people we serve.
The policy landscape for people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity shifted dramatically in 2025 and into 2026. And the consequences are affecting families in our own backyard.
Federal housing funding is being dismantled. New rules from HUD are restructuring the Continuum of Care funding flowing to Illinois. The changes dramatically reduce the funding for permanent supportive housing; the evidence-based approach that research consistently shows reduces homelessness and improves long-term outcomes. Experts have warned that if funds dry up or programs don't meet HUD's new requirements, the impact on as many as a thousand suburban households could be immediate. Statewide, a new analysis finds that over 5,100 Illinoisans are at risk of losing their homes as Illinois' network of housing programs stands to lose more than $60 million in existing federal funding.
The safety net for food is fraying. The most recent federal budget eliminated food assistance for an estimated 360,000 Illinoisans this year by expanding work requirements that push compliance out of reach for many. Over 250,000 households have been removed from the program already. For people already living on the edge of homelessness, losing food assistance doesn't just mean hunger, it means money that was going to groceries now has to come from somewhere else. Often, that somewhere else is rent. The Greater Chicago Food Depository has warned that disrupting SNAP benefits will cause a hunger crisis.
Access to health care is the next wave. This year's federal budget also ushered in the largest cut to Medicaid in American history, stripping coverage from an estimated 330,000 Illinoisans and burdening working families with increased premiums, deductibles, and out-of-pocket healthcare costs. And the most significant eligibility changes haven't fully taken effect yet. Health professionals warn these cuts could gut insurance coverage, strain already overburdened hospitals, and deepen access issues across the state. For people experiencing homelessness, losing Medicaid doesn't just mean skipping a doctor's visit. It means untreated illness, deferred emergency care, and health crises that become catastrophic, and far more costly to the community, because they went unaddressed too long.
When food, healthcare, and housing supports erode simultaneously, the people most vulnerable don't have a backup plan. They come to JOURNEYS.
At the same time, some municipalities continue to respond to visible homelessness with punitive measures; displacement, citations, encampment clearances that move people out of sight without moving them toward stability. Homelessness is not a crime. It is a crisis that demands a compassionate, coordinated response.
JOURNEYS CEO Beth Nabors Powers has been a consistent and vocal advocate for a different approach. An approach grounded in human dignity, practical solutions, and systemic change. She has urged local leaders, first responders, and community stakeholders to unite around long-term strategies, and she shows up at the tables where those decisions get made.
This past April, she left one of those tables with something rare: genuine hope.
At a community coordination meeting in Cook County, Beth witnessed nearly $20 million in committed funding land across the exact pressure points that drive homelessness and housing insecurity in our region. Ten million dollars to the Greater Chicago Food Depository, a direct response to SNAP cuts that are leaving hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans without food assistance. Five point eight million to the Illinois Housing Development Authority to keep its court-based rental assistance program alive; a program that keeps people in their own homes, not shelter beds, which is always the more humane choice and, by every measurable standard, the smarter use of community resources. And $4.1 million to the Alliance to End Homelessness in Suburban Cook County, of which JOURNEYS is a member, to fund homeless and emergency shelter services that serve our neighbors directly.
None of it happened by accident. It happened because government, philanthropy, and community organizations sat down together, found common ground, and refused to let bureaucracy and politics win the day.
As Beth put it to our board and supporters at the time: "This $20 million investment is proof that when we stop performing collaboration and actually do it, things change. People's lives change."
That is what JOURNEYS has always believed. It is why we show up at those tables. And it is why the support of this community matters more than most people realize. None of us gets a seat at those tables without the trust and investment of the people who make this work possible.
JOURNEYS does not wait for people to find us. We go out into the community: building relationships with local governments, healthcare systems, faith communities, civic organizations, and fellow service providers. We know that the path out of homelessness is rarely a straight line, and no single organization walks it alone. The bridges we build across sectors and systems are not just good strategy. They are the mechanism by which real, lasting change happens for the people we serve.
The policy landscape for people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity shifted dramatically in 2025 and into 2026. And the consequences are affecting families in our own backyard.
Federal housing funding is being dismantled. New rules from HUD are restructuring the Continuum of Care funding flowing to Illinois. The changes dramatically reduce the funding for permanent supportive housing; the evidence-based approach that research consistently shows reduces homelessness and improves long-term outcomes. Experts have warned that if funds dry up or programs don't meet HUD's new requirements, the impact on as many as a thousand suburban households could be immediate. Statewide, a new analysis finds that over 5,100 Illinoisans are at risk of losing their homes as Illinois' network of housing programs stands to lose more than $60 million in existing federal funding.
The safety net for food is fraying. The most recent federal budget eliminated food assistance for an estimated 360,000 Illinoisans this year by expanding work requirements that push compliance out of reach for many. Over 250,000 households have been removed from the program already. For people already living on the edge of homelessness, losing food assistance doesn't just mean hunger, it means money that was going to groceries now has to come from somewhere else. Often, that somewhere else is rent. The Greater Chicago Food Depository has warned that disrupting SNAP benefits will cause a hunger crisis.
Access to health care is the next wave. This year's federal budget also ushered in the largest cut to Medicaid in American history, stripping coverage from an estimated 330,000 Illinoisans and burdening working families with increased premiums, deductibles, and out-of-pocket healthcare costs. And the most significant eligibility changes haven't fully taken effect yet. Health professionals warn these cuts could gut insurance coverage, strain already overburdened hospitals, and deepen access issues across the state. For people experiencing homelessness, losing Medicaid doesn't just mean skipping a doctor's visit. It means untreated illness, deferred emergency care, and health crises that become catastrophic, and far more costly to the community, because they went unaddressed too long.
When food, healthcare, and housing supports erode simultaneously, the people most vulnerable don't have a backup plan. They come to JOURNEYS.
At the same time, some municipalities continue to respond to visible homelessness with punitive measures; displacement, citations, encampment clearances that move people out of sight without moving them toward stability. Homelessness is not a crime. It is a crisis that demands a compassionate, coordinated response.
JOURNEYS CEO Beth Nabors Powers has been a consistent and vocal advocate for a different approach. An approach grounded in human dignity, practical solutions, and systemic change. She has urged local leaders, first responders, and community stakeholders to unite around long-term strategies, and she shows up at the tables where those decisions get made.
This past April, she left one of those tables with something rare: genuine hope.
At a community coordination meeting in Cook County, Beth witnessed nearly $20 million in committed funding land across the exact pressure points that drive homelessness and housing insecurity in our region. Ten million dollars to the Greater Chicago Food Depository, a direct response to SNAP cuts that are leaving hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans without food assistance. Five point eight million to the Illinois Housing Development Authority to keep its court-based rental assistance program alive; a program that keeps people in their own homes, not shelter beds, which is always the more humane choice and, by every measurable standard, the smarter use of community resources. And $4.1 million to the Alliance to End Homelessness in Suburban Cook County, of which JOURNEYS is a member, to fund homeless and emergency shelter services that serve our neighbors directly.
None of it happened by accident. It happened because government, philanthropy, and community organizations sat down together, found common ground, and refused to let bureaucracy and politics win the day.
As Beth put it to our board and supporters at the time: "This $20 million investment is proof that when we stop performing collaboration and actually do it, things change. People's lives change."
That is what JOURNEYS has always believed. It is why we show up at those tables. And it is why the support of this community matters more than most people realize. None of us gets a seat at those tables without the trust and investment of the people who make this work possible.
JOURNEYS programs and services could not operate daily without the efforts of the volunteers who go above and beyond to make sure safe, comfortable space is always ready for people who need help.
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Overnight shelter at JOURNEYS main facility is for clients with higher barriers to stability or have special needs. PADS Shelters, open October through April every year, are emergency shelters operated in partnership with local faith communities every night of the week. Guests receive a hot dinner, a safe overnight space, and a packed lunch for the next day. In total, JOURNEYS operates 12 local shelters in the north and northwest suburbs.
SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR PADS SHELTER PARTNERS 2026
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JOURNEYS is proud to share that the financial state of the organization is stable and strong. Through years of consistent partnerships and organizational leadership, the agency has been able to grow and maintain a steady stream of programs to support those in need.
Here's a glimpse at our current financial state.
Here's a glimpse at our current financial state.
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