A Program Built So Nobody Gets Left Out

Nine out of ten jobs in Illinois now ask for some kind of digital skill. Not just the tech jobs. The nurse charting on a tablet, the warehouse lead running inventory on an app, the barber taking bookings online. If you can’t work the screen, you can’t get in the door. And on the South Side, where UChicago researchers found some communities with up to 40% of households offline, that door has been shut on a lot of folks for a long time.

C.L.I.C.K. Services, NFP is working that door open. Their Comprehensive Digital Media Initiative, CDMI, is a cohort-based program that teaches lifelong digital skills, plus the resources to actually keep working once you’ve got them.

This isn’t a certificate mill. It’s a whole-person program that starts with healing and ends with a career.

The Name Isn’t Just Letters

C.L.I.C.K. stands for Counseling, Linkages, Interventions, and Community Kare. It’s a 501(c)(3) founded and led by Dr. Fred L. Nance Jr. who holds a Ph.D. in Health and Human Services from Walden University and degrees from Roosevelt University, right here in Chicago.

His résumé reads like a map of the work this city actually needs. He’s President of C.L.I.C.K. Housing, which provides transitional and supportive housing. He directed adult reentry work through the MA’AT Project at EMAGES, Inc. coordinated a Second Chance Act mentoring program, and served as an advisor to Congressman Danny K. Davis.

That’s not somebody parachuting in with a grant and a press release. That’s decades of staying in the room.

What They Teach

The curriculum is real, and it’s built for careers, not just a piece of paper to frame. Participants work through:

• Coding
• Video and film editing
• Online cybersecurity and the law
• IT fundamentals
• Digital marketing
• Content creation
• Trauma-informed mentoring

Photo Credit: C.L.I.C.K Services NFP

CDMI focuses on digital equity and literacy across Illinois’ 1st, 2nd, and 7th Congressional Districts, with hands-on training aimed at sustainable work in tech. The creator side of it hits different around here. Young folks on the South Side have been editing, posting, and building audiences on their phones for years. This program turns that into a skill set somebody will pay for.

Before the Laptops Even Open

What makes C.L.I.C.K. different is what happens first. The Trauma Informed Digital Lab helps participants recognize how mental health, domestic violence, and trauma show up in their work and their lives, not just their job skills.

Their approach is anchored in SAMHSA’s (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services)  six principles of trauma-informed care: safety; trustworthiness and transparency; peer support; collaboration and mutuality; empowerment, voice, and choice; and cultural, historical, and gender issues.

Anybody who grew up around here knows why that matters. You can’t teach somebody Python while ignoring what they walked through to get to class. Most programs pretend that part doesn’t exist. C.L.I.C.K. starts there.

More Than a Class

There’s also a Violence Prevention side. Same tech skills, same life skills, aimed at reducing crime and recidivism with a focus on healing. C.L.I.C.K.’s trauma and mentoring curricula are copyrighted and certified, built to address how trauma shapes the choices that can lead to violence. The goal isn’t just a job. It’s changing how a person thinks about what’s possible for their own life.

And nobody gets turned away for their age, their record, or their experience. Youth in court proceedings, people with disabilities, people facing language barriers, all included. C.L.I.C.K. has worked with justice-involved folks, veterans, survivors of violence and crime, and people with autism and ADD/ADHD.

A lot of programs say “open to all” and then check your background at the door. Here, the people other programs screen out are exactly who this was built for.

Straight From the People

“This program is about more than gaming. I’ve learned how to edit videos, create content, and host livestreams. It’s also helped me build confidence and connect with others. I’d encourage anyone interested to join.”

Building What Comes Next

C.L.I.C.K. isn’t waiting for anybody to close the digital divide for us. They’re doing it one cohort at a time, with the healing and the hard skills in the same room.

Know someone who needs this? Refer them. Enrollment is open through their website.

Visit C.L.I.C.K. Services

Address: 222 Vollmer Rd., LL Suite F, Chicago Heights, IL 60411
Phone: 708-921-1395 or 773-466-4234
Email address: register@clickservicesnfp.org
Website: clickservices.org

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