What’s New

 Summer healthcare interns from School Districts U-46, 300, 301 and 303 receive industry certifications in Teen Mental Health First Aid (tMHFA)

Elgin Township provided the first grant to Alignment in 2022 for $9,600 to help fund 75 high school students with paid summer internships as part of its summer enrichment grant program.  Five years later with funding received each year, Elgin Township has funded for 2026, a $21,600 grant to support the growth of paid summer internships for high school students.  Because of Elgin Township’s early commitment of support in 2022, more than 300 students today in 2026 are benefiting from paid summer internship opportunities in their career of choice.

Elgin Township also leads the way in supporting youth mental health. In 2025, Alignment benefiting from United Way Metro Chicago funding, named its second priority area in future workforce development working to ensure that students graduate with a sound foundation in mental health and wellness that prepares them to adequately address their own behavioral health while also being able to relate to mental health concerns faced each day in our schools and in our workplaces.

Elgin Township’s Mental Health Board has embraced this work in the schools helping U-46 and partner community behavioral health organizations pilot the implementation of youth mental health training.  This training is part of a pilot program with U-46’s Larkin High School feeder pattern beginning the work in the elementary and middle schools.

Alignment and the Elgin Neighborhood Network are committed to being sure that high school students have the skills and knowledge to support their own behavioral health. Examples of that commitment include U-46 healthcare students participating in international HOSA student competitions in Indiana next week showcasing the use of social media practices to positively promote youth mental health awareness. 

More than 20 summer healthcare interns from School Districts 300, 301, 303, and U-46 hosted by Advocate Sherman Hospital, Family Service Association of Greater Elgin, and VNA Health Care began their summer internships this week earning Teen Mental Health First Aid training certifications provided by the Kenneth Young Center. 

Alignment is also introducing paid summer internships in the behavioral health professions hosted by Ecker Center, Family Service Association of Greater Elgin, Luna Behavioral Health Center, and Streamwood Behavioral Healthcare System in partnership with Elgin Community College and the “Taking Back the Trades” Grant and Northern Kane County Region 110.

Six interns from Central High School, Elgin High School, Larkin High School, and St. Charles East High School begin manufacturing rotational internships at Hoffer Plastics

Since day one of Alignment’s conception, the Hoffer Family has been at the table encouraging local school districts and the business community to work more strongly together helping Alignment and the region’s school districts build partnerships across the greater Elgin area. As a result of these partnerships, Alignment has advanced the organization from serving less than 5,000 students in 2021 to over 15,000 students in 2026, growing business and community partnerships.

Hoffer Plastics was also at the table early in the building of the summer internship program. The company offered the first engineering and manufacturing rotational internship for students to experience firsthand, advanced manufacturing processes within the plastic injection molding industry. Having served for a decade on Alignment’s Governing Board, Hoffer has contributed its corporate leadership to benefit Alignment’s work in the schools shaping a future workforce that will allow the greater Elgin economy to thrive for the next decade.