About Us

Who We Are

The ARK is a not-for-profit, community-funded health and human services agency with facilities on Chicago’s North Side and, since August 15, 2011, in Northbrook. We recognize that many members of our Chicagoland Jewish family—Jews from all walks of life, Jews from all parts of Chicagoland—are deeply in need of help and kindness.  Hard times happen, life happens, and sometimes it feels as if there isn’t a safety net.

We work with each person or family in distress to create a unique and comprehensive care plan that draws upon The ARK’s wide array of free social and medical services under one roof.  Our primary goals are to stabilize our clients’ situations and assist them in achieving the highest degree of self-sufficiency possible.

While each year The ARK cares for more than 3,700 people from throughout the Chicago metropolitan area, we acknowledge each member of our community as an important, unique individual.  The ARK’s vital, tangible human services honor that individuality, and are delivered with the care, respect, empathy and loving kindness celebrated by our shared Jewish tradition.

The ARK—Caring for Chicagoland’s Jews, One by One. 

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About

Mission
  • Create a safety net for Chicagoland Jews in need by providing vital human services within a framework of Jewish values and laws
  • Build bridges between volunteers and those in need in our community

    • Core Values

  • Provide a model of unity for all Jews
  • Operate with high professional standards in accordance with Jewish law
  • Serve all people with the highest level of dignity and compassion
  • Help those we serve become self-sufficient
  • Create a Judaically enriching experience

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    about

    History

    In 1970, in a Chicago neighborhood, a leftist youth organization angrily petitioned a nearby clinic for free medical care for the neighborhood’s poor.  The director of this clinic and his friend, a young, charismatic rabbi who worked part-time as a youth outreach worker, held a series of meetings with the group.  What astounded the doctor and the rabbi was that the group’s young leaders, both men and women, were Jewish!

    An idea began to take shape in the minds of the doctor and the rabbi.  Could a constructive vehicle be established under Jewish auspices that would harness the concerns and energies of the activist young people in a positive manner?  Could this vehicle espouse age-old, compassionate, Biblical ethics, rather than negative, anti-establishment fanaticism?  In a time of unrest and violence, could people be made to focus on a basic commitment to one’s fellow man?

    The idea caught fire. Many caring individuals of all ages quickly became involved in the project. Doctors, social workers and others readily volunteered their time and talents to care for those in distress.  Young people began to channel their energies into service to others.  In March of 1971, after pooling all possible community resources and contacts, The ARK opened as a free medical clinic in a small, second floor suite.

    Over the years, services continued—and continue—to be added, still thanks to the volunteer and financial support of the community.  What began as an almost impossible, idealistic dream became an agency that, every year, cares for thousands of Chicagoland’s Jews, One by One. 

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    Accountability and Transparency

    The ARK is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and, as such, is committed to accountability and transparency.

    Recognitions
    Tzedakah, Inc. has awarded The ARK their Highest Rating for Transparency seal.  Charity Navigator has given The ARK a 4-star rating—their highest rating—in recognition of The ARK’s superior financial efficiency.  The Chicago Community Trust has awarded The ARK their prestigious James Brown IV Award of Excellence for Outstanding Community Service.

    Financial Information
    To view The ARK’s most recent Illinois Charitable Organization Annual Report, Internal Revenue Service Form 990, and Audited Financial Statements, click here.

    Board of Trustees

    Chairman
    Dr. Allan Malmed

    Cortney Stark Cope
    Debbie Hartman
    Keith Jaffee
    Bret Maxwell
    Eric Rothner
    Michael Shechtman
    David Strulowitz
    Natan Weiss
    Barbara Wolf

    Board of Directors

    Chairman
    Richard Hanus

    Co-Presidents
    Naomi Berkove
    Michael Philipp

    Vice Presidents
    Rabbi Ruven Barkan
    Dr. Irving Birnbaum
    Glenn Garfinkel
    Henry Goldberg
    Dr. Shimi Krauss
    Sy Zilberstein

    Secretary
    Dr. Daniel Eisenstein

    Treasurer
    Larry Goldstein

    Lisa Addis
    Bradley Alter
    Nathan Bloch
    Dr. Scott Davis
    Marilyn Allswang Eisenberg
    Wendy Fox
    Ilona Ann Hartman
    Faye Kroshinsky
    Nesanel Siegal
    John R. Silverman
    Emily Zivin

    Ex Officio
    David Gottlieb
    Debbie Hartman
    Aron Routman
    Michael Shechtman
    David Silverman

    Key Staff

    Executive Director
    Miriam Weinberger, CPA

    Director of Sarnoff Levin Residence
    Michael Bellows, LSW

    Director of Volunteers and Outreach
    Rachel Friedman

    Controller
    Richard Greenthal, CPA

    Director of Social Services
    Victoria Hass, PhD

    Director of Marketing
    Koppel Levine, MBA

    Director of Pharmacy
    Elliot Linsky, RPH

    Clinical Manager of Medical Clinic
    Mimi Seleski, RN, MPH

    Director of Spiritual Enrichment
    Rabbi Shlomo Tenenbaum

    Director of Intensive Day Program
    Na’ama Adam Wasserman, PsyD

    Privacy Policy

    The ARK does not sell, trade or share a donor’s personal information with anyone else, nor send donor mailings on behalf of other organizations, with the following exception: As a Special Grant Recipient of the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, The ARK is required to share with the JUF/JFMC the names of donors who contribute a total of $500 or more in a calendar year. Donors may tell The ARK not to share their names with the JUF/JFMC. 

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