Warrenville, Ill. — Several justice-involved youths in secured care at IYC Warrenville are headed to college this fall. Through a longstanding partnership with College of DuPage, the youths are enrolling in five credit hours of dual enrollment courses this semester. The courses were piloted last year with a hybrid schedule of IYCWarrenville youth attending classes at the facility and on College of DuPage’s campus. Given the success of the pilot, this fall, students will take all courses—How to Be Successful at College, Career Readiness, and Speech—on campus.
“The partnership between IYC Warrenville and College of DuPage means a great deal to us. Together, we can increase our youth’s participation in post-secondary education. These classes motivate our youth and provide them with an additional sense of purpose and drive, as evidenced by, the students who continue their coursework even after they are released from our care,” said Tajudeen Ibrahim, Superintendent of IYC Warrenville. Heidi Mueller, Director of the Department of Juvenile Justice notes that, “Education is one of the best ways to prevent youth from returning to our care—when we help youth build skills and achieve better life outcomes through education, we strengthen families and communities for generations to come.”
The partnership between College of DuPage and IYC Warrenville is one of many efforts implemented by the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) to effectively reverse the school to prison pipeline. DJJ youth who participate in post-secondary education options have a statistically low chance of re-offending and re-entering the system, and the department is actively seeking new post-secondary partners to provide youth with more educational options. To learn more about the Department of Juvenile Justice, please visit https://www2.illinois.gov/idjj/Pages/default.aspx.
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