The Shriver Center on Poverty Law in Chicago is shutting its doors after years of financial struggles, the advocacy organization announced Tuesday.
The Shriver Center, which has spent more than 50 years advocating for economic, health care and racial justice, plans to close at the end of this year, it said in an email announcement.
The organization has been running at a structural deficit for multiple years, as it has seen its earned and donated revenue decrease, according to the Shriver Center.
Over the past year, the organization’s board of directors has been evaluating the best path forward, “knowing that to do our work effectively requires long-term resources,” according to the announcement.
“Unfortunately, we do not have the capacity to continue this work, and we have made the difficult decision to sunset the organization at the end of 2025,” the announcement said.
“This decision – while deeply painful – is the right one to honor the legacy and mission of the Shriver Center,” according to the announcement, which noted that other local and national organizations will continue work on economic justice, housing justice and health care justice.
The center’s executive director did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday morning. The center has focused much of its work on litigation and policy as well as training multi-state networks of lawyers, community leaders and activists.
The organization was originally called the National Clearinghouse for Legal Services and was known for publishing the Clearinghouse Review, for lawyers fighting poverty. Robert Sargent Shriver lent his name and financial support to the organization. Sargent Shriver, who was married to Eunice Kennedy, was instrumental in the founding of the Peace Corps and in President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty.