Gary Storm for Urbana City Council

Initiatives:

• Use existing TIF funds to develop facilities/programs (e.g., store front schools) providing practical education and job training skills that can be employed by graduates to pursue private and public sector jobs in the community; ideally, students would be given opportunities to work as interns for pay while learning new skills and later be employed by cooperating employers—public, private or nonprofit.
• Encourage development of cooperative day care programs where parents, under the supervision of professionals, provide some care directly while learning child development skills; in most cases these parents would be combining child care with school and/or employment responsibilities.
• Locate health and social services personnel in schools and/or public housing facilities where they are readily available to both children and parents; with careful planning, schools and public housing facilities can become more comprehensive neighborhood or community centers offering a variety of developmental opportunities.