Kankakee County Community Services Inc

Programs: Energy programs:weatherization: at kankakee county community services, inc. , the illinois home weatherization assistance program serviced 32 homes of low income families in 2016. Weatherization services consist of cost-effective energy efficiency measures for existing residential and multifamily housing with low-income residents. There are three components to the weatherization program: mechanical, architectural and health and safety. The mechanical component addresses the heating and cooling operational system, hot water heater and the ventilation of the home. The architectural component addresses the whole house, which includes the outer shell, the insulation, the electrical system and air sealing. The health and safety component protects the health and safety of the client and their family as well as the ihwap workers. Low income home energy assistance program (liheap):the liheap is a program that provides an offset to the high cost of heat related utilities for low-income families. For households that are disconnected from a heating source, the re-connect assistance program provides guidelines to help get the household services restored upon completion of application. The emergency furnace program provides assistance to low-income homeowners with a non-operational furnace. Comed care energy assistance programs offer the residential special hardship fund for households in need. This grant provides assistance beyond other programs to address special hardship cases. Our liheap program serviced an estimated total of 2,930 low income families in kankakee county. The days of care provided were 194 business days.

senior programs:senior community services employment program: the senior community service employment program (scep) provides training opportunities to older adults of age 55+ who are at or below 125% poverty. These individuals are given access to training sites via non-profit or governmental agencies throughout the counties of will and kankakee. Each individual can train for 20 hours a week while earning an hourly wage of $8. 25. Each person is required to seek employment while training as well as engage in workshops, job fairs and job development trainings offered or scheduled by the program director. While enrolled in the program, participants learn tasks associated with positions such as, but not limited to, clerical and administrative support, child care, maintenance and janitorial, case management, inventory and customer service. These positions were provided by agencies such as, but not limited to, center of hope in kankakee, city of kankakee in kankakee, pembroke lorenzo smith school in pembroke township, will county center for community concerns in joliet, new hope church in monee, and the harvey brooks foundation in joliet. During the 2016 calendar year, 77 older adults received 41,706. 25 hours of training. Of which, 15 transitioned onto real-world employment from scsep. Kccsi operates the senior nutrition program in kankakee and will county. This program provides nutritionally balanced meals to individuals 60 years of age and older through two categories; the home delivered meals program and the congregate dining program. The home delivered meal program otherwise referred to as meals on wheels delivers meals to seniors who are homebound due to physical or mental impairment, isolation, and/or are unable to adequately provide their own meals, enabling them to remain in their homes rather than be institutionalized. The congregate dining program serves meals to seniors in a center strategically located to maximize access within the community. Kankakee county has four congregate dining locations and delivers meals from the central office location. Kankakee county utilized 16 volunteers in the nutrition program which served 38,246 in 2016. Will county utilizes volunteers to help deliver meals to the home bound seniors and help serve seniors at our congregate dining locations. During 2016, 435 volunteers volunteered 10,048. 50 hours to help deliver 90,213 meals to 636 unduplicated seniors who are homebound and serve 1,268 unduplicated seniors in our congregate dining centers 103,425 meals. Will county has 8 home deliver meal distribution locations and 9 congregate dining locations. In 2016, will county began to offer health prevention classes; chronic disease self-management and diabetes self-management. These evidence based programs guide seniors to self-manage their disease and improve their health. 32 unduplicated individuals participated in a health prevention class.

human services: the employment counseling program provided assistance to 15 underemployed or unemployed youth with summer jobs. 131 families were provided rental assistance in the form of a one-time payment to the landlord to help with family stability. 182 nights of shelter were given to 26 families who due to their present situation became homeless. The food pantry provided food to help 2,886 unduplicated individuals meet their nutritional needs by providing a wide variety of food choices. Information was provided to 4,341 individuals in the form of internal or external referrals to help them find the services that are needed. Financial literacy program: 274 individuals participated. This program is designed to provide training on financial management using the your money your life curriculum. Kccsi has an instructor certified by the university of illinois in financial literacy. This curriculum offers training in managing finances, savings, credit, debt management and predetory lending. Students will participate in activities that promote positive spending choices, values awareness and debt reduction. Students are encouraged to continue their financial education after the group setting with the fdic money smart interactive program along with one on one counseling.