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Educational

Educational Programs

Chicago Public Schools offers high school classes to individuals in custody ages 17-21 through their onsite facility, Consuela B. York Alternative High School.

The Safer Foundation’s PACE Institute is an onsite organization that offers Adult Basic Education to detained individuals interested in earning their High School Equivalency Diploma (HSED).

Literary Services and Programs

  • Reading Between the Lines: Reading between the lines creates a unique space for justice impacted people to exercise critical thinking skills via literature and other arts.
  • Harvard Club of Chicago (Harvard Alumni) – Financial Literacy and Adult Education Tutoring
  • ConTextos: ConTextos is an intensive writing program that incorporates peaceful conflict resolution and trauma-informed practices to develop pro-social behaviors and therapeutic interventions.
  • Various book clubs offered by volunteers.

Sheriff’s Higher Education Collaborative

The Higher Education Collaborative is a collective of college and university representatives that seek to improve the lives of returning citizens prior to release from the Cook County Jail, through engaging post-secondary educational opportunities.  The collaborative seeks to ensure that education provided is done in a thoughtful and cohesive manner, which allows those enrolled to effortlessly transition into the university system upon release.

Below are a few of our college and university partners that offer courses:

  • DePaul University – credit offering
  • Dominican University – credit offering
  • Northwestern University – mini courses
  • Morton College – noncredit offering
  • McCormick Theological Seminary – noncredit offering Master Level Education / workshops
  • RUSH University – noncredit offering general health education
  • University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) – noncredit offering
  • The University of Chicago, Institute of Politics
    • Noncredit offering writing workshops
    • Noncredit offering Civic Education

Inside-Out Programs:

DePaul University offers for-credit college courses to individuals in custody by providing classroom instruction onsite at CCDOC. The Inside-Out Model utilized by DePaul University’s Irwin W. Steans Center for Community-Based Service Learning & Community Service Studies allows individuals in custody to study in a classroom alongside non-incarcerated students, which creates enriching learning experiences that emphasizes collaboration and dialogue.

For more information, or volunteer opportunities, please email DOC.Education@ccsheriff.org.