New project to support Rantoul young adults in building generational wealth and health
Pastor Jonathan Jackson is a big picture person. When news happens in his community, he doesn’t just look at the immediate impacts. He considers the ripple effects.
“If a business opens or closes, I think about how it will impact other businesses, and the people of our community. I try to anticipate what needs might arise,” Jackson said.
Jackson considers this type of analysis a significant part of his role. He and his wife, Dr. Mykah Jackson, lead Exceed Church in Rantoul, Il, where they are committed to elevating and supporting the Rantoul community.
Once a bustling community, the Village of Rantoul is still recovering from the closing of Chanute Air Force Base in 1993, which cost the community hundreds of skilled jobs, half of its population, and more than $100 million in commercial spending.
Jackson, who has been serving the community for more than 13 years, has a deep understanding of the economic reality and its myriad impacts, particularly on the young people of Rantoul.
Through his service, Jackson has worked with students at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Jackson mentors students at two elementary schools and Rise Academy, home to the district’s alternative education program.
The Jacksons have also organized large community outreach events to distribute toys, turkeys, and school supplies. S-Cool-A-Palooza is an annual back-to-school event and school supplies giveaway that the community looks forward to each year.
When Jackson looked at the big picture of his community a few years ago, he saw plenty of opportunities for service. One need stood out in particular: the disparities in after-school programming.
“It’s definitely a need because if you are unable to afford after-school care at a daycare, your child is often at home by themselves or they are wandering Rantoul, trying to find something to do,” Jackson said.
Jackson points to a lack of funding for after-school programming as the primary cause. The Rantoul City Schools District 137 could only offer after-school programming to around 150 students of the 1000+ they serve.
Jackson wanted to find a way to open the doors of Exceed Church to some of these families. He also wanted to offer enrichment to the children in the program.
Educational enrichment is a need that the Jackson family is especially equipped to help meet. Jonathan was raised to value a quality education. His mother, Dr. Elayne Jackson, holds a doctorate in theological education and has experience teaching in Chicago Public Schools. Mykah Jackson, Jonathan’s wife and co-pastor, has worked for 20 years in the Champaign Unit 4 School District while pursuing advanced degrees in education and educational policy studies from the College of Education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Jackson’s educational background is in organizational leadership. He is currently pursuing a Master of Public Administration.
Mykah, who is director of college and career readiness at Champaign Unit 4 Schools, also had a serendipitous connection that would help bring Jackson’s vision to life.
Mykah was introduced to Kevin Tan, a professor of social work at the University of Illinois. Tan is well-known for building capacity within local school systems and community organizations to better meet the needs of the students and families they serve. He has worked with schools and nonprofit organizations in Mahomet, Danville, Rantoul, Urbana, and Champaign.
Tan values these community partnerships. He started his career as a school social worker before earning his PhD. His research focuses on advancing social emotional learning, school mental health, and equitable school-community partnerships. As Associate Dean at the School of Social Work, he oversees community engagement and social justice initiatives.
Another key member of the project team is Kelsi Walters (MSW ‘23), a school social worker and former student of Tan’s who has worked closely with him for nearly five years. As a research assistant and project coordinator, Walters has supported Tan on numerous community-engaged projects focused on advancing the social and emotional needs of children and youth and strengthening school-community partnerships. Walters and Tan discuss their first meeting and their work together in an editorial titled The Butterfly Effect, published in the journal Children & Schools.
The after-school program launched in Fall 2025 with 15 students. Elayne Jackson wrote the math and reading enrichment curriculum for the after-school program while Tan and Walters supported the social-emotional learning curriculum. Walters and Jackson also organized a special visit to the University of Illinois for the children in the program. They took a tour, participated in a read-in, and got the chance to imagine themselves as future University of Illinois students.
“When they visited, we read the book, I believe I can,” Walters shared. “They had read the book earlier in the after-school program, and we wanted to share it again to show them, ‘You can do it! We are giving you confidence and skills!'”
The first year of the after-school program was a great success. All fifteen students saw improvement to their reading and math skills. They even received positive feedback from Illinois State Senator Paul Faraci. Building on this success, the team has submitted a proposal for additional funding to sustain and expand the program, with hopes of reaching more children and families in the Rantoul community.
One thing that impressed Tan was how the church adopted the after-school program, feeding the children and even giving them Christmas presents. The congregation cared for the children in the program as if they were their very own.
“Partnerships like this are important for the university. We are often talking about supporting grassroots efforts. The church is not just a way to connect with participants. It’s where community is happening,” Tan explained.
Health and wealth across the lifespan
One successful project behind them, the team started to consider what might be next. Jackson, stepping back and looking at the big picture once again, saw employment support for older youth and young adults as a place where his church could make an impact that would ripple throughout the community.
Most of the jobs available in Rantoul today are in low-wage employment sectors, such as meat processing, retail, and service work. As an active member of the community, Jackson is familiar with the growing local demand for skilled tradespeople and a shortage of qualified candidates.
Jackson wanted to find a way to provide Rantoul young adults both the opportunity and the skills to succeed. Tan saw alignment between Jackson’s goal to give young people a head start to their careers and his own interest in supporting social emotional health across the lifespan.
The Job Training and Economic Development (JTED) program under the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity issued a notice of funding opportunity that offered the team a path forward. The notice included a dedicated category to offer wraparound job training and barrier reduction programs for eligible young adults ages 16–24.
Tan was on sabbatical when the funding opportunity was announced, but that did not stop the team from moving forward. Walters and Jackson spent hours on the phone discussing ideas and working through the details of the proposal, gathering the information Tan needed in his role as principal investigator. Together, they developed a proposal that drew on their collective expertise and community connections to address Rantoul’s unique economic history and current workforce development needs.
In the proposed program, Exceed Church serves as the workforce development hub that Rantoul currently lacks, offering training, professional development, career mentorship, barrier reduction services, and pathways to stable, well-paying careers.
Jackson has also partnered with local businesses to extend the trainees’ support network out into the community. Local businesses working in various aspects of construction will offer mentorship and work experience. The local credit union will support another important goal.
Jackson aims to help the participants develop financial capability and even generational wealth. He partnered with the local credit union to create bank accounts for the trainees. The program has an incentive structure based on meeting program milestones. Participants can earn up to $1000 and will have access to the money upon completion of the program.
The congregation at Exceed Church also plays a vital role in this partnership. As in the case of the after-school program, the congregation is eager to support these young adults. A central component of the award is recognition that participants may need additional supports as they face barriers to successful completion.
“Our program is designed to provide comprehensive wraparound support services that promote persistence and success. The Exceed congregation is committed to addressing transportation and childcare challenges, financial constraints, and other needs that may arise,” Jackson said.
Walters will coordinate award administration between Exceed and University of Illinois, documenting program progress, submitting reports, and working with the project team to identify and mitigate barriers.
Recognizing the importance of bringing an interdisciplinary health perspective to the project, Tan reached out to Dr. Celina Trujillo, IHSI development manager for community-academic partnerships, to bring her expertise to the team. Having worked on both sides of university-community partnerships, Trujillo brings a deep understanding of how to build equitable and sustainable collaborations. Her expertise also spans research development, strategic program support, and initiatives that promote the well-being and success of minoritized youth and youth adults.
Trujillo will coordinate interdisciplinary expertise across Illinois to ensure the program is grounded in evidence-based practices. She will connect the program with university faculty, staff, and resources to further support trainee development in financial capability and building wealth, social-emotional wellness, personal health and wellness, digital readiness, and life-skills development.
Trujillo has worked with Tan on a project examining how fostering learning, dialogue, and shared reflection on a community’s racial history can promote healing. While these projects have no obvious link to health, Trujillo also sees the bigger picture:
IHSI is a great partner here because we interpret “health” broadly, both in our partnerships and the problems we address. Health is more than just disease intervention. We focus on community health, and generational health too, especially when we are talking about educational attainment, career development and leveraging resources, we’re empowering folks to create better and more sustainable lives for themselves, their families, and their communities,” Trujillo said.
In September 2026, Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) announced funding for 23 organizations across Illinois to expand workforce training, career pathways, and support services for Illinoisans facing barriers to employment. Exceed Church and the University of Illinois were among the grantees.
Investing in hope
Under the project, Exceed Church and the University of Illinois project team will recruit 15 Rantoul residents to participate in a comprehensive workforce development program who will receive fully funded training in construction trades, along with career mentorship and individualized support to help them succeed.
Beyond technical training, participants will attend weekly Saturday sessions designed to strengthen their social-emotional, financial capability, career development, and life skills. The program will also provide wraparound services to help participants overcome barriers to completing their training and connect them with pathways to apprenticeships and employment. Through this community-academic partnership, the team aims to equip young adults not only with the skills needed to enter the workforce but also with the support and resources to build sustainable careers and long-term financial well-being.
“The Saturday sessions will keep them engaged in the wraparound services they may need to be successful. We aren’t going to just train these young people and shove them out the door. The goal here is to make sure they are fully engaged and committed to their career. That they have the tools to be successful both inside and outside of work,” Jackson explained.
The team has recently started recruitment efforts. Jackson has structured the program around a cohort experience, explaining that the cohort experience is crucial to the trainees’ success, offering encouragement and accountability.
“I hope they will remind each other that, ‘Hey, there is money in an account for us and a good paying job at the end of this,’” Jackson shared
Walters is happy to see this collaboration grow and expand.
“What makes this initiative especially meaningful is that we’re not just focusing on workforce development, but also on building relationships, providing mentorship, and connecting young people with the resources and opportunities they need to succeed,” Walters explained.
For Tan, this work is more than just cultivating relationships with the community and advancing scholarship. It’s about building local capacity and sustainability.
“Pastor Jackson and Exceed Church bring deep, trusted experience in supporting the Rantoul community. The church offers a grassroots infrastructure for support, assistance, and trustworthy community engagement,” Tan said.
Jackson sees this program as having a ripple effect across Rantoul.
“The substratum of this work is to show hope and that people actually care. The School of Social Work and IHSI are great representations of the university in that way. They are moving in areas where they see the need and they want to meet the need,” Jackson said. “When the students and the community find out that people from the University of Illinois actually care – I think that is going to do leaps and bounds. It gives them hope. It makes things feel more achievable.”