Good News Partners History

It is the mission of Good News Partners to end homelessness and hopelessness with every person God brings to us and to build bridges of reconciliation and justice among all people.

Good News Partners began in 1976, when a small group of Northwestern University students and their pastor committed themselves to live out Christ’s mandate to share Good News with the poor. They chose the North of Howard neighborhood, a ten square block pocket of poverty in Rogers Park, as the place to try to build community. In 1980, Good News Partners incorporated as a separate 501(c)3 with the purchase of the Jonquil Hotel, once a haven for drugs, prostitution, and gangs.

In our more than 30 years, Good News Partners has successfully rehabbed more than 300 units and currently manages 120 units of housing, affordable for the members of our community with the lowest income. We have built on our community’s strengths of honesty, compassion, and seizing the opportunity. We have partnered with more than 200 recovering addicts. We have shared our finances and responsibilities so that 106 formerly homeless families now have their own homes.

The Jonquil SRO is now a thriving community of 58 families and individuals, and the site of our administrative offices and several of our programs for youth. We manage 10 smaller buildings with a total of 62 units, mostly organized as cooperatives. New Life Interim Housing provides a safe healing community for 120 families of women and children each year. Good News Partners provides employment opportunities and training for neighborhood residents. For children and youth, we have after-school, evening, and weekend activities, tutoring, and camping trips. Noah’s Ark empowers older teens, with activities and leadership training. Community and spiritual development programs for adults range from cultural, and recreational programs to counseling to drug rehab.

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