Four to Know
National Louis University
What does your organization do?
National Louis University was founded on the principle that a quality education can transform lives, careers and communities. The university has 5 Illinois campuses offering bachelor, graduate and doctoral degrees.
How does the work you do impact children birth to 5 years old?
As a leader in early childhood education NLU continues to impact the lives of children birth to age 5 through best practice teacher programs in early childhood. The BA in Early Childhood Education (licensure) and the BA in Early Childhood Practice (Gateway credentials) are offered online with the support of one Saturday per month face to face classes at the Lisle or Chicago campus. For information regarding bachelor and/or graduate early childhood programs: https://www.nl.edu/educationdegreeinfo/earlychildhoodeducation/earlychildhoodeducationprograms/
What is something partners might not know about our organization?
National Louis’ rich history influenced the kindergarten movement when Elizabeth Harrison, the National College of Education founder in 1886 began preparing some of the first early childhood teachers employed in the Chicago area. Our educational pioneer and social reformer opened a kindergarten training school to promote early childhood education, then considered a radical idea. Harrison’s groundbreaking work helped launch the National Parent-Teacher Association and the Head Start program. The National College of Education (now National Louis or NLU) became the first university in Illinois to offer a four-year teaching degree. Today National Louis University continues to impact change in communities through improving the lives of individuals, families and children through quality education. We welcome partnership with organizations who share this mission of change.
What does your organization do?
Catholic Charities is a national non-profit organization, divided into specific Diocese depending on the region. The Diocese of Joliet provides services for individuals residing in DuPage, Will, Grundy, Kendall, Kankakee, Ford, and Iroquois counties in Illinois. Depending on your location, services may differ. In DuPage county, the following services are available:
- Emergency homeless prevention
- Transitional Housing including Hope House
- Immigrant Support Programs
- Counseling services which accept Medicaid, Medicaid HMO plans and private PPO plans
- Mobile food pantry
- Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF)
- Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation for Childcare Providers
How does the work you do impact children birth to 5 years old?
Services mainly support young children by supporting the entire family or supporting parents through our various community, food insecurity, and housing insecurity programs. We also employ an early childhood mental health consultant who supports early childcare environments (children ages 0-5) and helps to build positive relationships between children, teachers, and families.
What is something partners might not know about our organization?
The DuPage office moved from downtown Lombard to Downers Grove. We have an office location in downtown Joliet and have staff working out of the Blanchette Center in Crest Hill as well.
Website: https://catholiccharitiesjoliet.org/
Child's Voice
What does your organization do?
Child’s Voice is a listening and spoken language program. In 2018, we served 390 children and their families with their hearing loss. Our Audiology Program serves children from birth to age 18 and offers full pediatric audiology services, Cochlear Implant mappings & activations, diagnostic testing including newborn hearing tests, and Cochlear Implant/Hearing Aid device support. Our Early Intervention Program serves children from birth to 3 years and offers home-based/center-based and teletherapy speech sessions, foundational skill-building for children to learn to listen and to speak, as well as parental education, support, and advocacy. Our School Program serves children from 3 to 8 years of age and offers small group setting focused on speech, language and auditory skill development as well as large group classrooms focused on age-appropriate academic and social activities. In our School Program, graduates are mainstreamed into their local, home school districts. In 2018, we had 13 graduates!
How does the work you do impact children birth to 5 years old?
In addition to our Audiology, EI and School Programs, Child’s Voice empowers children with hearing loss to be successful in all educational and social settings by optimizing their listening, speaking, and academic skills.
Something partners might not know about Child’s Voice:
What is something partners might not know about our organization? We recently launched a podcast, “All Ears at Child’s Voice – A Hearing Loss Podcast”, that has over 4,000 listens in just 6 months. This is a great resource for people with hearing loss world-wide.
U of I Extension - SNAP-Ed
What does your organization do?
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) is nutrition education that is available to SNAP eligible recipients and other limited-resource individuals and families. We focus on nutrition education and obesity prevention in an interactive, evidence-based, and behavior-change focused format. Along with direct education, SNAP-Ed provides assistance to agencies and programs serving limited-resource individuals and families. We work with food pantries, K-12 schools, adult and youth community programs, and early childcare centers. Technical assistance can be provided for policy, systems and environmental level changes, collectively called “PSE”. PSE initiatives do not work directly with the target population, but rather, at an organization/community level and focus on nutrition promotion and physical activity.
How does the work you do impact children birth to 5 years old?
SNAP-Ed provides direct education at Early Childcare Centers, such as Head Start and Early Head Start. Our Community Workers use evidence based curriculum to teach children about healthy eating and being active using engaging lessons and activities. They also provide education to the parents so the lessons provided in the classroom can be carried out at home. Our Unit Educator and Program Coordinator work together to create organization changes in EC Centers. Using the NAPSACC Assessment, the policies, practices and environment of an EC Center is assessed for strengths and opportunities for improvement. Technical assistance is provided to make changes that encourage healthy behaviors. Together, direct education and organization level changes in Early Childcare help provide our youth with a healthier start in life.
Something partners might not know about University of Illinois Extension, SNAP-Ed:
U of I Extension SNAP-Ed is comprised of teams that cover every part of the state. These teams share the same focus areas to guide interventions, one of which is Early Childhood. Other focus areas include Community Adults and Youth, K-12 Schools, Emergency Food and Healthy Food Retail.