The College Connection Project

The College Connection to Career Development Opportunities Project Summary

The College Connection project will be conducted by the Advocacy and Empowerment for Minorities Program of the Department of Disability and Human Development and the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. This project is a collaboration of the City Colleges of Chicago (CCC), the Chicago Public Schools System (CPS) and the Illinois Department of Human Services, Office of Rehabilitation Services (ORS).

The overall goal of the project is to develop, implement and evaluate a comprehensive model for
increasing the number of individuals with disabilities from the CPS successfully attending and
completing programs of higher education in the CCC. Pursuing venues of higher education will
increase the likelihood that individuals with disabilities will seek out and obtain employment
opportunities that develop into long lasting careers.

Fabricio Balcazar	Cory Cook	George Ortiz

The primary target population to be served by this project are the ethnic minority individuals with
disabilities (African American and/or Latinos) graduating from special education programs from CPS.
Participants should express an interest in pursuing post-secondary education opportunities within
the certification programs of the CCC campuses.

Katherine McDonald	Maryanne Bellisario	Teresa Garate

The project will consist of four phases that include evaluation of current practices, staff development,
recruitment and direct services and follow-up monitoring.

Contact:
Tere Garate-Sarafini, M.Ed.
tere@uic.edu