CISCO and its member organizations believe in inclusion for ALL
December 5, 2025

BURR RIDGE – CISCO and all of its Member Organizations are PROUD to support Gateway to Learning. The message below from Gateway to Learning Chief Executive Officer Kathryn Lavin underscores the transformative power of love, respect, and INCLUSION. Please see her remarks below:
 
 
Please let me share with you some of my recent thoughts about Gateway to Learning, as many people are asking.

• In the 7.5 years that I have been here, I never would have thought that I would have written policies and protocols about a global pandemic, OR, about how to interact with federal agents.
• I never would have thought that someone we support, a man with autism, would be pulled aside by federal agents and mocked.
• I never thought that people who love to come to Gateway to Learning, would chose not to come due to the risk of detention based upon the way they look.
• I never thought that the word “inclusion” would become a nasty word.
• I never thought that the world I have tried to build for people with intellectual disabilities long before Emily was born, would be under attack.
• I never in a million years, thought that the attacks and use of the R-word would be used multiple times by a sitting President.
• I did not think that the quality of services that we have worked so hard to create here, would be at risk due to cuts in federal and state Medicaid and SNAP benefits.

My request for your support was never meant to sound political, but I cannot help but see that what we have accomplished and our vision to create a more inclusive world for those who just happened to be born with a disability, would be so much at risk in 2025.

And what does a more inclusive world look like at Gateway to Learning?

• More adults with intellectual disabilities are getting jobs!
• More adults with intellectual disabilities are getting paychecks!
• More adults with intellectual disabilities are volunteering!
• More adults with intellectual disabilities are making friends with neurotypical neighbors!
• More adults with intellectual disabilities are truly experiencing Chicago’s amazing cultural institutions!
• More adults with intellectual disabilities are gardening, cooking, and creating together!
• More adults with intellectual disabilities are healing from childhood trauma!
• More adults with intellectual disabilities are finding their own voices and speaking up!
• More adults with intellectual disabilities are getting engaged to be married!
• More adults with intellectual disabilities are able to access the internet safely!
• More support staff are making higher wages and getting great benefits!
• More support staff went to school with someone with an intellectual disability!
• More adults with intellectual disabilities are being treated with respect!

The list could go on and on. The examples of how the people we support are more engaged, more social, more empowered, more skilled, and just downright happy, are endless.

I am so proud of what we have built here. I am so proud to be doing so alongside so many amazing partners. I am so blessed to be doing so WITH the people we support. I am grateful that you are a co-creator in all that we do. Really, we could not do what we do, without you. Thank you again for your incredible support today, and always.

With so much Gratitude, Kathy