Title of Effective Practice: - California Postsecondary Education ...

Direct Connection to Policy Area 4 of The Illinois Commitment
Stepping Up Chicago -- Curriculum Leading to Targeted Occupational Pathways for Supportive
Housing: Working Collaboratively With Local, State, and National Agencies to Provide Education and
Training for Underserved Citizens
CCC - Wilbur Wright College
What issue or need is addressed by the effective practice?
Poverty, joblessness, lack of education, and underemployment combined with an increasingly challenging
business environment—unskilled workers and low income people are finding it harder than ever to find jobs—
are the most frequently cited causes of homelessness. Developing a curriculum that integrates social services
into the management of assisted and supportive housing and leads to sustained employment with advancement
opportunities for people with histories of homelessness is a unique and worthwhile venture. That Wright College
was asked to develop the program speaks one more time to the college’s ability to work with community, state,
and national entities to best serve the needs of Illinois citizens.
Description of the effective practice:
Stepping Up is a collaborative project between the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH), the Illinois
Department of Human Services Division of Rehabilitation Services (DRS), the Employment Project, the
Chicago Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development, several supportive housing and homeless assistance
providers throughout the City of Chicago, and Wright College. Project goals are to develop career ladders via
education and training for individuals with disabilities and histories of homelessness and to increase service
integration between homeless assistance providers, the supportive housing industry, and workforce development
systems in Chicago. Wright first began to work with Stepping Up in fall 2005, when a cohort of agencysponsored
students with histories of homelessness were selected to enroll in the college’s Psychiatric
Rehabilitation certificate program. Eight students began the program and six completed it. All six are currently
employed and three of those six are concurrently pursuing additional education. The success of this venture led
to Stepping Up asking Wright to develop a certificate program to be offered as college credit in property
management for supportive and assisted housing. The curriculum is the first of its kind in the United States. It
integrates social services concepts and skill areas into the day-to-day functions of managing housing that serves
a very vulnerable and emotionally fragile clientele. The eight course sequence has been developed and is in
progress in the institutional approval process. The college expects to be able to forward this curriculum to ICCB
in late fall.
How does this practice achieve sustainability?
The curriculum itself is, of course, not the practice, but is an example of the college’s ability to build strong,
productive alliances with community, state, and national agencies in order to provide education and training that
leads to sustained employment for frequently underserved citizens. The practice needs no special allocations of
resources to achieve sustainability, only the continued willingness and flexibility of the college in working with
a variety of community partners
What are the results/measurable outcomes?
Outcomes for this project will be measured by the actual number of students who are recruited for participation
in the program. Program success will be measured by the number of successful completers who are
subsequently placed into jobs in the supportive housing industry.
Contact Information
Name: Cynthia Cordes
Email: ccordes@ccc.edu
Phone: (773) 481-8260
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