Published on May 20, 2025 10:24 am
Last Updated on May 20, 2025 10:24 am
Ground was broken Monday on a 15,000-square-foot addition to the existing Community Day Service building in Teutopolis for the Effingham County Opportunity Foundation and Community Support Systems.
Once the addition is completed and renovations are made to the existing facility, Community Support Systems will relocate all of its services under one roof at the Harvester Street location. CSS now operates children’s and family support programs in two office suites in the Lincoln Land Building in Effingham, while adult service programs operate out of the Harvester Street and Main Street locations in Teutopolis.
CSS Executive Director Andy Kistler said the goal is to get the project completed in the middle of 2026.
Community Support Systems was founded in 1962 by a group of parents who “simply wanted better for their children with intellectual and developmental disabilities.” The parents used a $500 contribution from the then-United Fund and started a day school for 12 children ages 6 to 21. Today, Community Support Systems employs 140 staff members who provide support services to over 1,100 children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities throughout 11 counties in Central and East Central Illinois.