Today we’d like to introduce you to Lorell Marin.
Lorell, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I started off as an educator and worked in different capacities around the city as a citywide itinerant teacher. I helped train teachers how to adapt curriculum and modify the environment to include students with special needs in the classroom. From there, I started working with early intervention, which included families and children ages birth-3 in their homes. At this time, it became clear there was a gap in services for children ages 3-5 that had special needs. Families were not sure where to go to continue with the 1:1 therapeutic care their children were receiving. LEEP Forward was created to fill that gap in services for children and provide a tailored program to meet each child’s individual needs. Once this program was created, another gap for services became clear. I saw how parents would drive all around the city to piece together the different services that their child needed. These included speech and occupational therapy. LEEP Forward then added these related services to create more of a collaborative, multi-disciplinary “one stop shop” for their clients. LEEP Forward continued to grow by responding to our clients and the communities needs. We soon needed a bigger space and made the transition to expand and create more groups for our therapeutic preschool. Since then, we have expanded 3 times. In addition, we have expanded services to include speech, occupational, developmental and physical therapy. We also provide behavioral and mental health services all under one roof for children birth through teen years. While we focus on working on children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, we have also expanded to include all children with developmental differences.
LEEP Forward has expanding to include LEEP Beyond, NFP. LEEP Beyond provides low-cost therapeutic programming and is raising funds to provide scholarships that will help families afford the growing costs of therapy. We also started NPDDF (National Pediatric Developmental Differences Forum). The NPDDF is an annual conference focusing on providing a platform for thought leaders around the world to share best practices and more importantly, educate others that there are different ways to provide intervention and these also should be considered for insurance coverage. We have had a full house of attendees since starting 3 years ago.
Our most recent endeavor is also out of a community need. We have founded Quantum LEEP Academy, which is a K-5th grade school opening in Ravenswood this fall.
LEEP Forward has received a few business awards recently including being on the INC. 5000 fastest growing companies list last year and the ICIC Fortune 100 list for inner city growth the past 2 years. We know it takes a village to make this all happen and we are proud to have such a dedicated team that helps the dream stay alive and continue to provide quality services for our families.
LEEP prides itself on supporting employee ideas and this commitment is what helps LEEP grow by providing programming the staff is also passionate about. We look forward to continued growth and would like to see LEEP add more clinics and schools as we continue to grow.
Has it been a smooth road?
I am not sure what a smooth road really means. I have never shied away from hard work. I love what I do so it also never really feels like work to me. It took me 8 years of creating a business before I realized that is what I was doing. 16 years later the growth really comes from the love of what we are creating and believing in the kids and families we work with. I have also had two children while growing the business, so sometimes it feels like I have spread myself to thin but I have a supportive family and they know creating this business is like breathing for me. I need it.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the LEEP Forward story. Tell us more about the business.
I described the business above but we are a developmental mutli-disciplinary therapeutic clinic and school. We provide individual and group therapy, clinic and home based. We provide a therapeutic preschool, transitional kindergarten, K-5th grade school, educational advocacy and parent training and support groups. We pride ourselves on staying on top of the latest research, hiring and training the best staff and having fun with what we are doing. I have worked in every aspect of the business and participated in every job description. I am currently the CEO and have 48 employees to help keep the ship afloat.
I am proud that we have been able to continue to stick to our mission for over 16 years. We have created a community and have been able to watch kids make significant progress. I am most proud when a family walks through our door feeling hopeless and we are able to show them another way. Over time I have had the honor of watching kids prove everyone wrong and do things they were told they might never be able to. Nobody has a crystal ball to tell the future but I know for sure that when you believe in a child and find and support their strengths there is no telling what they can do.
We are truly a one-stop shop that really works together to find the best approach to help each child and family. We are able to rely on each other’s skills to tailor our program around each child’s individual needs. We are also able to provide services from birth through teen years. We help transition to other programs and schools as needed and have created a community where families can truly call home. We are here for any need that may arise. We have also been able to create community partnerships and bring in other businesses to provide different inclusive programming for our children.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I see the industry moving towards including more technology and being able to provide more services that will help prepare our kids for more independence and the job force. I see more tele-health being provided that will allow us to reach more children and families that cannot access services currently. As our population ages, I also see more adult services needed. Companies having the opportunity to create positions to help fill a growing need for adults with special needs needing employment. It is my hope that we start to see a more inclusive and accepting shift. There is an increase in the diagnosis of children with autism spectrum disorder. We have a chance to get this right and work on promoting strengths and creating positions that help support employment rather than trying to fit our children into meaningless positions.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1280 W Washington Blvd. Chicago, IL 60607
- Website: www.leepforward.com
- Phone: 773 255 8155
- Email: lorell@leepforward.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeepForward
- Twitter: leepforwardinc
Image Credit:
Joe Caballero
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