CityLine Care Center began as a response to real families in crisis and has grown into a pathway toward dignity, stability, and hope.

Our Story and the Work God Is Doing

CityLine Care Center was not born out of a strategic plan.
It was born out of a response.

In recent years, Chicago became a landing place for thousands of families arriving by bus from Texas. Many were refugees fleeing economic collapse, violence, and instability in Venezuela. Families arrived with few belongings, limited English, and no clear pathway forward.

In and around our community, more than 300 refugee families began seeking help.

They were not statistics.
They were parents carrying children.
They were young adults searching for work.
They were families trying to survive.

They arrived hungry, disoriented, and afraid.
And they came to the church.

A Church Responds

At CityLine Bible Church, we did what churches are called to do first.

We prayed.
We listened.
We opened our doors.

We shared food. We helped families navigate unfamiliar systems. We connected people to resources. We sat with those who had lost everything. We offered prayer, dignity, and hope.

As families continued to come, something else became clear.

They were not only looking for assistance.
They were looking for community.
They were looking for spiritual care in their heart language.

Out of that need, CityLine Bible Church launched a Spanish-speaking church campus. What began as pastoral conversations became weekly worship. What began as translation became discipleship. A community formed where families could worship, heal, and grow together.

When Compassion Needed Structure

But the need continued to grow.

Very quickly, it became clear that this moment required more than goodwill. The need was larger than Sunday services. Larger than short-term relief. Larger than what a single church structure could sustain.

Compassion alone was not enough.
Love demanded organization.

CityLine Bible Church discerned that caring for refugees, the overlooked, and the left behind required infrastructure, accountability, partnerships, and a long-term vision. What began as pastoral care needed to become durable community care.

That realization became the turning point.

The Birth of CityLine Care Center

CityLine Care Center was created not as a replacement for the church, but as an extension of its heart.

By forming a separate 501c3 nonprofit, we were able to steward resources with transparency, partner broadly, and build pathways toward long-term stability while the church continued to provide spiritual community and discipleship.

CityLine Care Center exists so care does not disappear when the crisis fades.

Our Impact in 2024

In 2024, CityLine Care Center moved from response to structure.

By God’s grace and through the generosity of partners, we have already:

• Served hundreds of refugee and immigrant families navigating life in a new country

• Provided consistent food assistance to families facing food insecurity

• Distributed furniture and essential household items, helping families move from shelters into stable living spaces

• Offered ESL support and practical life skills to empower adults with confidence

• Connected families to legal guidance and critical community resources

• Walked alongside families through crisis with relational care, prayer, and dignity

• Helped cultivate a thriving Spanish-speaking church campus

• Built partnerships with churches, organizations, and local leaders to strengthen the community safety net

This work did not happen because resources were abundant.
It happened because compassion was active.

Looking Ahead: From Relief to Restoration

We believe care should not stop at emergency response.

Our vision is to build pathways out of instability, not cycles of dependence. In the years ahead, CityLine Care Center is working toward affordable housing solutions, job training and workforce development, job creation through social enterprise, and employment pathways rooted in dignity rather than charity.

This is about restoring opportunity.
Helping families move from survival to sustainability.
Building systems of care that last.

The Honest Reality

The need continues to grow, and our funding has not kept pace.

We did not wait until everything was funded to begin caring. But to expand programs, deepen impact, and pursue long-term solutions, we need partners who believe compassion should be organized and faith should move beyond words.

An Invitation

CityLine Care Center exists because a church said yes when families showed up with nothing.

Now we are inviting others to say yes with us.

Together, we can turn care into stability, relief into opportunity, and crisis into community.