Align4edu

Alignment Collaborative for Education - ACE

What’s New

City of Elgin Summer Interns Enhance Employability Skills

Throughout this summer, 15 students from the City of Elgin are participating in an internship with the City. The students will be working on municipal assignments and other projects related to STEM. In addition to their summer internships with the City, the Gail Borden Public Library (GBPL) and Alignment offered a workshop for resume development and review and mock interviews with local HR professionals. 

On behalf of Alignment, we’d like to offer our gratitude to the City of Elgin and the GBPL for their support and providing work-based learning opportunities for the students of the community. 

“Learning on the Go” Summer 2021

Alignment Collaborative for Education "Learning on the Go" Summer 2021

Alignment and EPEL, in partnership with School District U-46, kicked off the Summer Learning on the Go program the week of June 7th.  The program has grown to five locations and takes place from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm with weekly early educational activities in all locations, along with food distribution to families.  The weekly schedule includes:

Monday – Buena Vista Neighborhood & Cornerstone Park
Tuesday – Parkwood Elementary School
Wednesday – River’s Landing Neighborhood
Thursday – Century Oaks Elementary School

Nancy Coleman, Alignment’s Executive Director is excited about the growth in the programs this summer. “Through our partnership with EPEL, their early education experts are serving roughly 120 kids per week, across all five locations. Our goal is to provide engaging educational opportunities that will prepare and get the children excited about learning and the upcoming school year.” School District U-46’s Food Services has also been highly supportive, distributing family food boxes each week at Buena Vista, Parkwood, River’s Landing and Century Oaks.  Cornerstone is benefiting from the City of Elgin Parks Program and food services from the Northern Illinois Food Bank.

The program in all five parks will continue through the end of July.  Both Alignment and EPEL greatly appreciate the grant received from Elgin Township to help fund this program for the children of our community.  

Alignment’s Goals in Support of U-46 Equity Plan

Alignment - Equity Plan word cloud

For the 2021-22 school year, Alignment has three specific organizational goals that shape its program priorities and resource implementation in support of School District U-46’s Equity Plan to include:

Goal 1: Provide a central role in facilitating community leaders and organizations coming together to address common community challenges at the local, state, and national levels.

Goal 2: Encourage community organizations to convene together as collaborations where the strengths of the various organizations are maximized to address current and future challenges facing communities.

Goal 3: Retain and grow Alignment’s leadership capacity and volunteer expertise in the community utilizing team structures to identify and deploy leaders that represent the community and school’s composition specifically related to race, culture, career preparation, and geographical location.

These three goal statements direct how Alignment supports the students and families of U-46 to enhance learning experiences for all children and youth of the greater Elgin community.  Central to being able to provide that support is the ability of Alignment to bring together organizations and individuals that are diverse and understand the community’s challenges, which impact the ability of the community currently and in the future to achieve greater equity. 

Examples include how we address the preparation of our community’s early education and elementary age children best utilizing resources at the local to national levels.  It also directs Alignment’s work with these organizations and the community’s mental health professionals to ensure that children and youth benefit from a safe and supportive environment during school and while in after school programs.  These programs must model a trauma informed care culture that works with children, youth and their families to foster resiliency especially in the areas of our community that have the largest equity gaps and underserved populations. 

As the community works to ensure a future workforce prepared to successfully live and work in the community, that preparation must begin as early as the elementary grades escalating that work with middle and high school students.  The work must prepare them for academic and career success leading to financial security, but it also must develop within them the necessary social and emotional competencies to be contributing members of the community embracing diversity, inclusion, and shared progress.

Streamwood Park District Once Again Partners with Alignment Collaborative for Education

Learning on the Go partnership With Streamwood Park District

On Tuesday, June 8, members of the Streamwood Park District joined forces with Alignment Collaborative for Education to kick off “Learning on the Go”, a summer reading program.

After the success of the inaugural program in 2020, which was held at Kiddie Corner Park, 2021’s edition was moved to a larger, more drive-up friendly location at Parkwood Elementary in Hanover Park.

Children between the ages of 0-8 and their parents are invited to join the weekly event for story time and a parent/child activity. A free grab-n-go lunch, sponsored by School District U-46, will be provided for the children. Learning on the Go takes place every Tuesday from June 8 through July 27 between 10:30 am, and 12:30 pm. Parkwood Elementary is located at 2150 Laurel Avenue in Hanover Park.

On June 8, 98 boxes of food, equivalent to feeding 490 children, were distributed. Over 30 children participated this first week in the summer reading program.

Nancy Coleman of Alignment Collaborative for Education said, “So glad to kick off Learning on the Go at Parkwood Elementary School in Hanover Park. With the partnership of the Streamwood Park District, School District U-46, Elgin Partnership for Early Learning, Streamwood Police Department, and Poplar Creek Library, the community has come together to serve a purpose that aligns with each of their missions.”

“What a fantastic day to start off the Summer Reading Program. The Alignment Collaborative for Education, School District U-46, Poplar Creek Library, and the Streamwood Police Department help prepare our children to succeed. The number of families and children who participated in the educational activities at Parkwood Elementary School today exceed my first week’s expectations. It is great to see people out and kids learning through play.”- Streamwood Park District Executive Director Jeff Janda.

Lisa Fabris, Children Services Assistant Manager at Poplar Creek Library said, “It is great to see so many community agencies come together during the summer to encourage families to learn together, read together, and have fun together.”

“Today was special because you got to interact with the kids instead of just dropping off a box of food and a few books like we did last year. I hope we can do even more after we enter into Phase 5.” – Streamwood Park District Park Board Commissioner Bill Wright.

Recreation Manager Cindy Babicz said, “The term “It takes a Village” is what today is all about. Working with and seeing so many organizations come together for the betterment of our community and our children is what makes me love what I do.”

For more information on the “Learning On the Go” program, please contact Alignment Collaborative for Education Executive Director Nancy Coleman at 224.227.7534 or colemannace@align4edu.org.

ABOUT STREAMWOOD PARK DISTRICT

The Streamwood Park District serves over 40,000 Streamwood residents, offering hundreds of seasonal programs. Ranging from fitness, aquatics, youth, and adult athletics, the Streamwood Park District strives to accommodate the diverse Streamwood community on a daily basis with a multitude of programs, events, and classes.

The Streamwood Park District has been serving the Streamwood community since 1966.

This article was published in the Daily Herald on June 9, 2021. 
https://www.dailyherald.com/submitted/20210609/streamwood-park-district-once-again-partners-with-alignment-collaborative-for-education

Alignment Hosts First Senior Job Fair for CTE Programs

Thank you to our business and community partners for launching the first U-46 Senior Job Fair for students enrolled in career and technical education programs.  The event provided job preparation and employment opportunities to students in automotive, business, child education, culinary, engineering, health care, manufacturing, and welding.

Featuring almost 40 employers, U-46 students learned about current and future job availability, interview skills, resume preparation, and the application process.

Thank You to Participating Companies and Organizations

Advocate Sherman Hospital
Alden Network
Amita Health
Bear Family Restaurants
Biggers Chevrolet
College of DuPage
Downtown Neighborhood Association
Elgin Community College
Elgin Sweeper
Explore Elgin Area
First Midwest Bank
Forest View Rehabilitation & Nursing Center
Gail Borden Public Library
Gerald Automotive
Greater Elgin Area Chamber
Greystone Health
Hoffer Plastics
ITW Shakeproof
Junior Achievement

KCT Credit Union
Kindercare
Learning Tree
Lincoln Tech
Manpower
Nicor
Northern Kane County Region 110
NTN Bearing
Sanfilippo & Son
Streamwood Parks Department
Suncast
Taylor YMCA
The Oaks at Bartlett
The Overture Group
True Value
UTI
Village of Bartlett
West Suburban Bank
YWCA

Thank you to Our Sponsors

Over 2,200 8th Grade Students Preview 85 Careers at Explore 2021

Alignment again partnered with School District U-46 to organize and facilitate Explore 2021 on May 3, 2021. While current circumstances did not allow for all of us to be together in live, exhibit settings, we were able to hold a successful virtual career expo for over 2,200 students. Students worked with counselors and teachers to identify their career interests, and then met with panelists to discuss their educational journeys and real-world experiences. Explore was able to demonstrate the important connection between education and future careers, as evidenced by the engaging and thorough questions received from students.

In addition to offering the students a way to explore careers earlier in their education, the Explore event is also a way for our partners and panelists to show their investment in the community and the future workforce. As stated by one of our 2021 panelists, “Being able to engage and connect with one of the upcoming generations was revitalizing and refreshing. I found it enjoyable to speak to them about various career options and to also talk about my journey to where I am now professionally.”

From all of us at Alignment, we want to thank School District U-46, our community partners, volunteers, and students for making Explore 2021 a tremendous success.