I hear one question more than almost any other from parents: “What if a four-year college isn’t the right first step for my kid?” My answer is that Kane County already has strong options, and more families need to know about them.
You may have heard that our county lacks career pathways, pre-apprenticeships, or a connection between schools and employers. That isn’t true. These programs exist and they are growing. I work alongside the people who run them.
South and central Kane: VALEES. The Valley Education for Employment System is the state-established regional career and technical education system serving a five-county area, including Batavia, Geneva, Kaneland, East Aurora and West Aurora. More than half of the high school students in the VALEES region take at least one career and technical education course. Last year’s Illuminate career expo in Aurora put 1,262 ninth graders from four Kane County high schools in front of 174 industry professionals from 67 businesses and organizations. VALEES also connects students directly to the apprenticeship programs of the local building trades, from electricians and pipefitters to operating engineers and painters.
Northern Kane: EFE Region 110. No single district can offer every program. So U-46, District 300, Central 301 and St. Charles 303 partnered so that students can enroll in select career programs in each other’s districts. The regional pathways include veterinary assistant, precision manufacturing, welding, automotive technology and education, with industry certifications and externships built in. Students are pointed to next steps such as the ICATT apprenticeship program, the Local 701 automotive mechanics, and machining apprenticeships at OTTO Engineering.
Fox Valley Career Center. Housed at Kaneland, FVCC serves seven districts with programs in auto, computers, cosmetology, education, electrical, EMT, fire science, health, law enforcement and welding. In one recent year its students earned 174 industry certifications and 687 dual-credit hours. Those are credentials a student has in hand on the way to a job, an apprenticeship, or a head start at Waubonsee.
The workforce side. I serve on the Workforce Development Board for Kane, Kendall and DeKalb counties. The board oversees the federally funded job training system here, including four one-stop job centers across the three counties. I sit on the board’s Youth Committee, and my fellow board members recently elected me chair of the One Stop Committee. Through the board’s youth partners, any resident age 16 to 24 can get paid work experience, an internship, job shadowing or an apprenticeship, along with GED help, industry credentials, and even help with transportation and child care while they train. The board now offers incentives of up to $4,000 to companies and providers that create new apprenticeships here. This spring, a free, nine-week Illinois Works pre-apprenticeship program opened in Aurora with Painters District Council 30, offering a stipend, OSHA-10 and other credentials, and a path into registered union apprenticeships.
I did not build these programs. They belong to the districts, the EFE systems, the career centers, the unions and the employers who have worked on them for years. I am looking to enhance them and the Regional Office of Education connects them. We make sure a counselor in Elgin knows what is available in Aurora, that employers on the workforce board hear from the educators training their future hires, and that a student at our Juvenile Justice Center or in an alternative program gets the same chance as everyone else.
Here is one example of what that connecting looks like. While coordinating with EFE Region 110, I learned about Transfr, a virtual reality platform that lets students try out careers and practice real job skills. The students who most needed that kind of exposure were the ones least likely to get it: the young people in our education program at the Kane County Juvenile Justice Center. So we brought the headsets there. Those students now use them for career exploration, skill building and financial literacy, so that when they leave they have a direction to go in. I have also been spending time with the employers themselves, at chamber of commerce events in Elgin, Batavia and Geneva, building the relationships that turn a classroom program into an internship, an apprenticeship or a job.
Yes, we can do better. Too many families learn about these options late or never learn about them. My goal is for every eighth grader in Kane County to know the pathways open to them, and for every graduate to leave with a plan, a credential, or both. That work is already underway, and I plan to keep at it.
Where to start:
South and central Kane County: valees.org
Northern Kane County: northernkanepathways.com
Fox Valley Career Center: foxvalleycc.org
Ages 16 to 24, job training and paid work experience: Kane County Workforce Development youth services
John K. Jonak
Every student. Every community. Every day.