Align4edu

Alignment Collaborative for Education - ACE

What’s New

Happy Holidays to our business, community and school partners!

Happy Holidays 2024

Happy Holidays to our business, community and school partners! 
We wish you a prosperous 2025.

Your time and talents are critical to the success of Alignment’s work as we launch programs throughout school districts U-46, 300, and 301. Upcoming events include:

  • January 15 – Streamwood HS Career and Technical Panel
  • January 16 – U-46 Resume, Interview, and Internship Preparation Workshop
  • January 22 – ECC Education Day
  • January 23 – D301 Resume, Interview, and Internship Preparation Workshop
  • January 29 – Internship Host Breakfast
  • February 6 – U-46 Resume, Interview, and Internship Preparation Workshop
  • February 25 – D300 Resume, Interview, and Internship Preparation Workshop
  • March 4 – U-46 Sophomore/Junior Postsecondary Day
  • March 13 – U-46 Resume, Interview, and Internship Preparation Workshop
  • April 15 – Judson University Education Visit
  • April 24 – Career & Technical Education (CTE) Job Fair
  • June/July – Summer Internships

Our goal is simple:
Give students the opportunity to graduate academic and career ready by exposing them to quality, work-based learning opportunities aligned with their interest and talents.

Thank you for all you do to help us achieve that goal.

Robert (Bob) Malm recognized by the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce

Non-Profit Volunteer of the Year, 2024

Bob Malm, far left, is Alignment’s Volunteer of the Year

The Alignment Collaborative for Education (Alignment) nominated Bob Malm as one of the Elgin Area Chamber’s Volunteer of the Year at the annual Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce Thanksgiving recognition held on November 26, 2024 at Elgin Community College. Bob and his wife Carolyn have been role models of the community for over a decade.  Passionate about workforce development and community, Bob has worked tirelessly to ensure students and families have the resources needed to prepare for future economic and social success.

Bob began his service mindset in the military followed by years of service with the City of Elgin and later retiring to help the business community with workforce development.  During that time, Bob became a chief advocate of Alignment encouraging the community to invest in middle and high school students preparing them to graduate academic and career ready.  Bob continues in this leadership role and has for over five years served on Alignment’s Operating Board and currently chairs Alignment’s Educational Pathways A-Team.  Under his leadership, Alignment reached a milestone of serving over 10,000 students in 2024.  

Bob believes in the power of education to change lives and to shape the future prosperity of a community, the region, and the state.  It is befitting to be able to recognize Bob for the many contributions he has made to Alignment and the Elgin community.

Giving Thanks for Our Partners

As we celebrate this season of gratitude, we want to extend our heartfelt thanks for your generous support and partnership. Your continued commitment has made a significant impact, and we are truly grateful for all that you do.

Wishing you a joyous and peaceful Thanksgiving filled with warmth and happiness!

To learn more about the impact of your support, please review our interactive Annual Report highlighting our 2024 results.

As you generously give on Giving Tuesday, we kindly ask to be remembered, as your support continues to make a meaningful difference in our shared mission to prepare students to be academically and career ready.

The future of our workforce depends on it!

Zurich Hosts Second Annual Tour for U-46 Students

Thank you to Junior Achievement (JA) and Zurich Insurance for hosting the second annual Zurich Insurance tour for students from Bartlett, Larkin, and Streamwood high schools.  Approximately 80 students spent the day at Zurich touring the company’s headquarters and learning about its apprenticeship programs. Previous U-46 graduates currently working for Zurich served as tour guides for the event along with JA and Zurich employees leading workshops in “It’s My Future”. 

Alignment and School District U-46 continue to have strong partnerships with both JA and Zurich.  Nancy Coleman, Alignment’s executive director, described the partnership as ” a shared mission between Alignment, JA, and Zurich to expose students to the corporate world and the steps necessary to be successful in that workplace. This partnership is long standing as evidenced by Zurich providing employment opportunities for U-46 graduates as a result of the three partners working together to help prepare students for the future workforce.”

Senior Postsecondary Virtual Day

More than 25 universities, colleges, and organizations joined Alignment and School District U-46 for the third annual Senior Postsecondary Virtual Day on October 16. A record number of students attended with 794 individual seniors participating. Seniors who attended the event were able to get information from university and college admissions staff, current college students, FAFSA, military service, and NCAA eligibility, etc.

For students who are undecided about their interest in postsecondary colleges and universities, a session was included about future employment and apprenticeship opportunities with information about Elgin Community College’s apprenticeship programs and the outlook for future employment in the region and state.

Thank you to the following colleges, universities, and organizations for partnering with Alignment and U-46 to offer the Senior Postsecondary Day:

Aurora University
Bradley University
DePaul University
Elgin Community College
Elmhurst University
Harper College
Honest Game – NCAA Academic Eligibility
Illinois Department of Employment Security
Illinois State University
Judson University
Lincoln College of Technology
Loyola University
Marquette University
North Central College
Northern Illinois University
Nova Southeastern University
Purdue University
Southern Illinois University
Universal Technical Institute
University of Dayton
University of Illinois Chicago
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
U.S. Armed Forces
Western Illinois University
Xavier University

Large Equipment Career Day Attracts the Region’s Automotive Students

Johnsburg High School was the site for the first, Large Equipment Career Day attended by automotive students from high schools in school districts U-46, 300, and 301.  Students had the opportunity to apply their knowledge and skills gained in the high schools’ Automotive CTE programs to diesel applications within the Large Equipment industry.  Sponsored by the AED Foundation, SkillsUSA, and the Youth Workforce Development Foundation, more than 400 students from Illinois and Wisconsin benefited from this “hands on”  career experience operating large equipment on the Johnsburg High School campus. 

Thank you to Johnsburg High School and West Side Tractor for hosting the experience for our region’s students.