Illinois Center for Rehabilitation and Education-Wood (ICRE-Wood) 2024

Illinois Center for Rehabilitation and Education-Wood (ICRE-Wood)

The Illinois Center for Rehabilitation and Education-Wood (ICRE-Wood) is a facility which provides a concentrated short-term residential and day training commuter program for adults 18 years or older, who are blind, visually impaired, or DeafBlind. It is located in Chicago and offers a 15-week vocational and independent skills training program. All services are coordinated to provide an individual with an enhanced opportunity to prepare for employment, school and/or living independently.

Vocational Training Services Support Services
provided by the Social Worker
  • Braille,
  • computer technology,
  • health and wellness,
  • orientation and mobility, and
  • independent living skills.
  • counseling,
  • housing help, and
  • employment assistance.

ICRE-Wood Program Highlight

  • A total of 94 individuals who are blind or visually impaired were provided Rehabilitation Instruction Services and 24 graduates from ICRE-Wood's program.

ICRE-Wood Priorities for FY25

  • ICRE-Wood will continue to host monthly meetings with speakers from various agencies and companies to educate customers about job opportunities, services, and resources that are available for blind, low vision and DeafBlind individuals.
  • Encourage faculty to continuously stay abreast of new technology and devices to enrich customers knowledge that will boost their confidence to seek competitive employment and/or live a life of independence.
  • ICRE-Wood will continue developing a working relationship with community partners to provide additional training to customers to enhance their knowledge and skills for job readiness.
  • The recruitment of additional staff would allow ICRE-Wood to provide services and training to more individuals and would lessen the wait time for those anxiously awaiting their opportunity to enter the program.
  • The established methods of communication utilized by ICRE-Wood to communicate with agencies and customers are accessible for all and will remain. Those methods are email, telephone calls, video calls via WebEx and Zoom, interpreters for deafblind, interpreters for language barriers, and in-person meetings.