Casten secures $11M for district; invites Bridge Teen founder to State of Union

Congressman Sean Casten and Bridge Teen Center co-founder Priscilla Steinmetz talk March 4 at the center in Orland Park. (Photo by Jeff Vorva)

By Jeff Vorva

Congressman Sean Casten is bringing some big bucks home.

Casten (D-6^th) announced that he helped secure more than $11 million in federal funding for local community projects.

Included in that bounty is:

• $1.28 million to Evergreen Park for water main replacement.
• $500,000 to La Grange for storm and sanitary sewer rehabilitation.
• $947,775 to Indian Head Park for water main repairs.
• $500,000 to Hodgkins for water system rehabilitation.
• $700,000 to the Bridge Teen Center for building acquisition.
• $1 million to Western Springs for the Ridgewood Drive flood project.
• $500,000 to Bedford Park for charging stations.
• $963,000 to Oak Lawn for a regional 9-1-1 project.

Aside from securing the big bundle, he invited Bridge Teen Center co-founder Priscilla Steinmetz as a guest at the State of the Union Address on March 7 in Washington.

Steinmetz was able to hobnob with state and national leaders before the State of the Union and tell them about her facility and the issues that teenagers face.

She said all 12,000 of her students were with her in spirit.

“It’s been a long journey and one of our goals is to be a sustainable organization and I’m grateful for representative Casten and his will allow us to move further,” she said. “COVID was a rough ride for all non-profits and we’re still climbing out of that.”

Casten, who revisited the center on March 4, is happy with the center’s importance in its 13 years of existence.

“At the end of COVID, we had a surge of teen mental health issues and here was this place that makes me wish I was a teenager again,” Casten said. “We can elevate what this is doing for the community, but also nation-wide.

“For folks who are thinking about this issue, this is a proven way to solve it. Priscilla is just a natural for this.”

Casten has had an interesting array of guests during his tenure.

The included DuPage Pads CEO and President April Redzic and Dieter Gruen a former German-American scientist who was 97 years old at the time. Casten said that Gruen postponed a skiing trip to attend the State of the Union.

Steinmetz got a kick out of being treated like royalty in Washington.

“He was really proud of the Bridge,” she said of Casten. “I’m used to serving people but, in this case, he was telling me ‘this is for you, this is your day.’ This day was all about the Bridge and that was very overwhelming for me.”

She also had a chance to sit behind Casten’s desk and had access to some areas the public does not normally have access to.

“We were underneath in the tunnels and took a train in the tunnel,” she said. “We walked back and forth from the Capitol to his office to the Library of Congress…we did a ton of walking.”

She also felt like the right ears heard what she had to say about being pro-active with teenagers.

“I felt we were heard, and we were seen,” she said. “We’re not just this small community, we’re a part of something bigger than makes the United States work.

“I’m definitely feeling overall proud of the United States.”