Get Involved 

You can play a part to help our students gain the skills they need for the 21st century.

• Join our statewide partners and collaborators on the Family, Youth, and Community Engagement Committee. Stakeholders include students, families, organizations, community groups, and business partners. Participation may be as simple as receiving e-communications or helping to plan meetings and presentations.
• Volunteer to join one of our other committees or working groups, by sending us an email at amber.kirchhoff@illinois.gov.
• If you own or work for a business, consider providing internships for local community college or high school students. In Elgin, a small printing company is providing invaluable work experiences for local students in partnership with the school system.
• Sponsor school events for the whole family.  In Putnam County, local businesses pay for supper and child care for parent workshops on topics like helping with homework and bullying prevention. Teachers and families meet and make connections in an informal setting, and students benefit from greater family involvement.
• Form a regional organization to encourage support for education, to spur investment in your local economy and provide jobs. The North Central Regional Betterment Coalition invited the P-20 Family, Youth, and Community Engagement Committee to join their discussion about community engagement, and received great press coverage.
• Add support for education to the agenda for your local civic and community organizations. The DeKalb County Community Foundation did.
• Encourage parents of very young children to read to them every day.
• Ask your local pediatricians and family doctors to do developmental screening for all children.
• Check to see whether your community offers high quality early childhood programs. Create a collaboration to leverage and integrate community resources to better meet the needs of young children and their families.
• Volunteer to tutor students.
• Ensure that critical wrap-around services are in place in your community for students and families, including medical, dental, and mental health care, housing, social services, and after school programs.
• Provide a summer or after-school job for a student to gain work experiences.

Tell us what you're doing, and we will spread the word to inspire others to get involved in strengthening Illinois education.