Youth Development Services

Education Programs

College Opportunity Program (COP)

This program at Outreach Carol Stream removes the barriers that prevent promising young students who come from a struggling family or difficult financial circumstances from seeking higher education. COP is a holistic college assistance program with two components–college prep and college scholarships and support.

• Student Achievement Leadership Program (SALT)–Provides weekly tutoring, ACT prep classes, life skills classes, and leadership classes for highly motivated high school students. Field trips, retreats, career nights, and college visits are offered. Each summer, SALT students learn job development skills by being placed in real work experiences in the community.
• College Scholarships and Support – After completing the SALT program, students are eligible to apply for scholarships for a four-year college degree, or a vocational certification program. Many SALT students are the first in their families to attend college, and couldn’t pursue higher education without this program.

Youth Mentoring Programs

Research shows that youth mental health, emotional wellness, and social well-being all improve when they’re in a mentorship. We partner with Immanuel Presbyterian Church at Outreach Warrenville to pair adult volunteers and students. 

Mentor pairs meet regularly for a wide variety of activities based on shared interests. They form a strong, supportive relationship that encourages healthy life choices, improves interpersonal skills, and raises self-esteem.

Counseling

Each of our community centers has a counseling center, where therapists can address a variety of concerns. They can help youth with:

• Problems related to school, home, identity, or community
• Anxiety, depression, anger, grief, loss, and trauma
• Psychological testing to assess intellectual, academic and/or personality functioning, identifying learning disabilities or attention difficulties, or clarifying diagnoses.

Counseling services are provided on a sliding fee scale.

Case Management

Outreach Wheaton serves youth at risk of involvement in the child welfare and/or juvenile justice system.

• We work with youth who have run away from home, or have been locked out of their home by parents. The program’s goal is to stabilize the family structure so that the young person can return home.
• We help youth ages 13–18 from entering the Illinois Department of Corrections, and help them become productive members of society.
• We also help improve the school attendance of chronically truant youth, and add stability to their family life. We partner with schools in Wheaton, Carol Stream, Warrenville, West Chicago, and Glen Ellyn, counseling students to prevent additional crises.