Features | Aug. 2025
50 YEARS, ONE MISSION
By Tricia Despres
PHOTOGRAPHY BY IAN MCLEOD
Eric Pitcher and Brad Schmidgall serve on the Candor Health Board of Directors
Candor Health Education Continues to Empower Students, Parents, and Schools—One Honest Conversation at a Time
As a lifelong Chicagoan, Barb Thayer will never forget the first time she walked through the doors of the former Robert Crown Health Center.
“I was ten years old, and I was probably part of one of the very first classes,” she recalls during an interview with Hinsdale Living. “Everybody remembers the carpeted stairs and that light-up human doll. (Laughs.) It was a rite of passage.”
Indeed, the Robert Crown Center – now known better as Candor Health Education – has served over 6 million young in the Chicagoland area since 1974.
“I think our 50th anniversary brought up a lot of emotions in people,” says Thayer, who now serves as Candor Health Education’s Chief Executive Officer. “I think people remember it so much because it was such a big topic that people didn’t talk about.”
Certainly, there was a time when the very idea of sex education was a bit of a taboo subject, especially when it came to teaching it to school-age children. “Coming to a place where you talked about that just became a huge memory for so many,” recalls Thayer. “It was a huge part of your transformation into adulthood.”
Granted, no matter how much time goes by, the idea of sitting down for ‘that talk’ can still instill fear in the bravest of hearts.
“One of our educators once heard these little boys talking in a puberty class, and one boy turned to the other and said, ‘I’d rather be in the Hunger Games than be here right now,’” laughs Thayer. “It really is torture to them. But then when they’re done, they always have said, ‘that was so much better than I thought it was going to be.’”
For Candor Health Education board member Eric Pitcher, the memories of that talk were far different – especially since he grew up during a far different time.
“There’s so many different influences that kids have to deal with now, especially with such an onslaught of media,” explains Pitcher. “It’s even more valuable now for there to be an organization such as this. It’s a real service, and I think it’s important that the state government and local governments have recognized that.”
Not surprisingly, Candor has, in fact, expanded their emphasis on social and emotional health in recent years – something that was especially interesting to Clarendon Hills resident Brad Schmigdall.
“We have two young daughters and we’re not even there yet in terms of some of the challenges that are going to be facing us with them,” says Schmigdall, who joined Candor Health Education’s Board of Directors earlier this year. “But I have friends with kids that are older than ours and I know what’s ahead of us.”
But there was something else that attracted Schmigdall to Candor, and that was the chance to help bring their vitally important programs to underprivileged communities.
“It’s these areas that might not have the parental influence that some of the communities around Hinsdale most certainly do,” explains Schmigdall. “These kids are not only learning from Candor’s educators, but they’re essentially finding mentors. They’re finding positive adult influences. And frankly, that seems to be something of a bit of lost art. Not everyone is getting that from home.”
“Not every school can afford our programs,” adds Thayer. “We do offer sliding scales, and we do some free programming based on grant funding, but that’s why fundraising is so important to us so that money can be offered in the form of scholarships for under-resourced schools.”
The ability to deliver their message virtually has not only helped reach more schools but has also allowed Candor to expand into states such as Wisconsin, New York, and Indiana. “It’s a process to get them to know what we have and why we have it,” says Thayer. “But we are continuing to expand and to participate in nationwide conferences, so we’re starting to get more relationships with people that have a profile on the national stage. Not every state has something like this and there are just some states in which people are not quite as open to it. So, it’s just a matter of informing people and letting people know we’re here.”
And while their plans are many, there is one thing Candor Health Education has no plans of changing. “I don’t anticipate us ever leaving Hinsdale,” concludes Thayer. “This is such a great location for us and for our educators to go anywhere they need to go. Plus, we have our roots here. It really is because of this amazing community that we’ve been able to be sustainable. We have a lovely endowment because of this community, and that keeps us going. It really does.”
