CHICAGO—Today Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) and Family Focus held a ceremony to mark the beginning of a new formal partnership between the two institutions. Sharon Hahs, president of Northeastern Illinois University, and Merry Ex, president and CEO of Family Focus, ceremoniously signed a partnership agreement at the event held this morning at Family Focus’ center in suburban Aurora.
This partnership is especially important for Northeastern as it prepares for a fall 2014 opening of its new El Centro Campus. The new NEIU El Centro Campus currently is under construction in Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood at 3390 N. Avondale Ave., near the intersection of the Kennedy Expressway and Kimball Avenue. In addition to serving Northeastern students, the NEIU El Centro Campus is dedicated to providing resources to its surrounding community.
Hahs said, “We are taking the opportunity, presented by this important new location, to expand our relationships with community partners, like Family Focus. We believe it is important to be a community partner and we want the community to feel welcomed at Northeastern Illinois University.”
Ex added, “The benefit of working with Northeastern Illinois University is that we have access to a potential pool of interns to assist in our centers and programs as well as have access to meeting space. Also, having a MOU [memorandum of understanding] is helpful if we have staff members looking to obtain advanced degrees from Northeastern Illinois University.”
