Community Education for Adults & Youth

Early College Outreach Program

University of Illinois Extension in Cook County has implemented a program geared toward preparing youth from Pre-K through high school for academic success in college. There are multiple steps to the program in order to address the needs of young people appropriate to their developmental stages.

The program targets youth in underrepresented groups, i.e. first-generation college students, ethnic minority groups, and others.Planned program components include math and science academies taught by university students as well as workshops on study skills, academic preparation, ACT test preparation, career exploration and other resources to succeed in college.

In addition, parent programs will provide information such as helping their child access honors academic learning tracts early in elementary school, parenting skills essential for student achievement, applying for college financial aid, and learning the various departments in the university system.

Furthermore, partnerships have been developed with local colleges and universities to schedule campus visits and provide speakers from various academic and support units.

College-Bound Scholarship Support Program: The College-Bound Scholarship Program will be targeted to "at-risk" communities and under-representative audiences in higher education. It is designed to provide parents and students information, education, and counseling on scholarship opportunities for college. In addition, it works with foundations, corporations, and individuals to match donors with students.

University-wide Urban Internship Program

A University-based outreach system needs to be connected to the learning process of campus-based students. This program will provide opportunities for students from the various colleges and campuses to work in urban neighborhoods and communities with faculty and staff. Students will work side-by-side with professionals and will have opportunities to develop community programs, coordinate educational programs, give presentations, and conduct training for both youth and adult audiences. These experiences can be arranged throughout the year in various community and school settings.

Competitive Schools

Many public schools are identified with poor performance; everything should be done to improve their performance. Extension is beginning work with teachers and administrators in these schools to assess their needs and develop programs that will serve as a continuous training tool and support for addressing the inadequacies, thus helping to improve performance.

Immigrant Education Program

Recent immigrants (in the United States for less than 5 years) may not know their rights and responsibilities as community residents. University of Illinois Extension is sharing information about how the community system works. For example:

• what to do in an emergency
• what is needed to registerchildren for school
• how to find a family doctor
• how to use banking services such as checking and saving accounts
• what kinds of documents are "official" and what documents are "legal" (ie: a social security card is an official document, but a passport is a legal one)

New immigrants will be introduced to all the community service providers and the different services available. Most service providers differ in terms of regulations and requirements to qualify for their services. For instance WIC services, English as a Second Language, and vocational training programs require different types of documentation.

For immigrants who have been here less than 10 years, immigrant education programs focus on issues of employment, housing, health care, education and cultural assimilation. For instance, this group of immigrants may want to know:

• how to establish a credit record
• how to buy a house
• differences between fixed and variable interest rates
• how to get health insurance and compare various plans
• and differences between community colleges and universities.

Consumer Education

How families manage their financial resources determines their ability to obtain health care, own their own home, send their children to school, put food on the table, keep a roof over their heads, obtain credit, and pay off debts. More direct programs and training can help families avoid financial pitfalls of the pay-day loans and inappropriate use of the limited income received within each household.

Equal access to the following educational programs will be conducted in high-risk neighborhoods:

• Understanding credit
• Managing limited resources
• Determining needs vs. wants

A system available with sustainable resources will build stronger, resourceful families.

4-H/Youth Development

Through 4-H and other youth development programs, Cook County youth develop life skills in leadership, citizenship, public speaking and other life skill projects of their choice. Traditional 4-H includes a club with youth who typically meet at least six times per year with adult leaders who are trained volunteers that provide learning activities and guidance to club members. Some of our Cook County 4-H adult volunteers are faced with numerous obstacles, which in many instances prohibit successful traditional club activities. To that end, alternative non-traditional group activities have proven successful to those adults and youth seeking to participate in some type of youth activity. Such activities include, but are not limited to:

• Science and Math Academy
• Adventure Summer Camp
• Youth Employment & Readiness Now
• Youth Career Readiness Program
• Biotechnology Camp
• Junior Chef Cooking School Camp
• Youth Ambassadors and Diplomatic Corps groups
• Global Connections

Recent focus groups indicated that youth want to learn more about and/or would like to try for the first time sports related activities like sky diving, snow boarding, deep sea-fishing, scuba diving, horseback riding; take trips to learn more about Europe, Africa, Jamaica; camp in the mountains or go on a safari; learn how to play musical instruments like a guitar or drums; and so on. Given all of these responses by youth, Cook County Extension youth program offerings should reflect not only the interest of the youth, but also offer other relevant programs that will enhance their interpersonal skills.

Parenting Education

Many parents feel the need to develop their parenting competence. The need for parent education has been influenced by the erosion of the traditional extended family and the lack of guidance from experienced parents.

Today's children are very often children of divorce, of single parent families, with both parents working outside the home, and children whose care outside the home lacks sustained personal attention by caring and responsible adults.

This program will: augment parents knowledge of and skill in child-rearing; enhance parents skills in coping with other family matters; help families gain access to services and community resources; facilitate the development of informal support networks among parents; and assist communities in fostering safe communities for the children to be raised.

Audiences will include new parents, single parents, foster parents, pregnant and parenting teens, and grandparents raising grandchildren. An additional focus will be on helping families secure quality childcare for their children. Special educational opportunities will be developed for childcare providers and in helping people who want to establish childcare businesses.

Older Adult Education

It is well known that our society is rapidly aging, with Cook County as no exception. According to census data from the Illinois Department on Aging, there are over 828,000 residents 60 years and older in Chicago and suburban Cook County. Just as with other age groups, this number represents people with varied backgrounds, interests and abilities. A commonality found in older consumers, and all consumers for that matter, is to be able to seek knowledge and information and to trust the source. Older adults in particular are often warned about confidence scams and fraudulent acts by others and to check out the sources before "buying" into anything.

Older adults can continue to count on University of Illinois Extension to provide research-based, unbiased information in a variety of ways. For instance, Cook County's Senior Scholars program offers monthly educational opportunities to older residents at Extension complexes in Matteson and Chicago. Program offerings are based on issues identified or requests made from older adults themselves. Just a few of many issues to be addressed include:

• Personal Privacy and Identity Theft
• Memory Improvement
• Senior Safety
• Retirement Realities
• Herb and Container Gardening in Small Spaces
• Resiliency
• Reading Food Labels
• Genealogy for the Beginner
• Computer Training
• Care for the Caregiver
• Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

University of Illinois Extension also reaches out to older adults in the community by providing education where they are located. Programs can be taught virtually anywhere (i.e. church basements, corporate conference rooms, senior centers, residents' homes, etc.). Service providers and other professionals, whose jobs are to help older adults in some capacity, also benefit from Extension programming. In-service training for older adult service providers is a constant need and request in Cook County and these networking partnerships only strengthen the support provided to older adults in this area.