Kankakee County Community Services

Energy programs:weatherization: at Kankakee County Community Services, Inc., the Illinois home weatherization assistance program serviced 17 homes of low income families in 2021. 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 3,354 low income families in Kankakee County with at least one payment created and approved. The days of care provided were 246 business days.

Human Services: 210 households were provided rental assistance in the form of a one-time payment to the landlord to help with family stability. Payments provided covered up to 12 months in arrears.826 nights of shelter were given to 118 families who were homeless. 5 households received help with a mortgage. 139 families received a payment on their electric, sewer and/or water bill. The food pantry provided food to help 7,529 duplicated individuals to meet their nutritional needs to 628 households.information was provided to 373 individuals in the form of internal or external referrals to help them find the Services that are needed.3 csbg scholarships were provided to low-income students.school supplies were distributed to 348 low-income students in grades kindergarten to twelfth grade.

Senior programs: senior Community Services employment program: the senior Community service employment program 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 20-29 hours a week while earning an hourly wage equivalent to the il minimum wage rate. Each person is required to seek employment while training as well as engage in workshops, job fairs and job development or skill enhancing opportunities. While enrolled in the program, participants learn skills associated with positions that include, but are not limited to, clerical and administrative support, child care, maintenance and janitorial, case management, inventory and customer service. These opportunities are provided by agencies that include, but are not limited to, the city of Kankakee, center of hope food pantry, the salvation army, and will County center for Community concerns in joliet. The program has 10 partnering agencies in will County and 9 in Kankakee county.during the 2021 calendar year, 50 older adults received 34,851 hours of training of which 1,898 were covid relief hours under emergency paid sick leave; 1 participant transitioned onto real-world employment.