Lee County, Illinois
Workforce
Sauk Valley Community College
Sauk Valley Community College is a public community college established in 1965 to serve students across Lee, Whiteside, Henry, Bureau, Ogle, and Carroll Counties in northwest Illinois. Located along the Rock River between Dixon and Sterling, SVCC offers a variety of transfer degrees, career-technical degrees, and certificates, as well as adult education and community enrichment opportunities. The Impact Program is an endowed, earned tuition program that allows eligible students to attend with all tuition and fees covered for up to three years.
Whiteside Area Career Center
WACC is one of 26 area career centers in Illinois, serving 16 public high schools and 3 private high schools in the greater Sauk Valley area. WACC provides junior/senior level training in five cluster areas: Business and Related Technology, Consumer Services, Industrial Technology, Transportation Services, and Work Experience Coop. Education. These clusters represent 17 different occupational training areas. Some programs allow college credit to be earned, through an agreement with Sauk Valley Community College.
BEST (Business Employment Skills Team), Inc.
BEST, Inc. is a non-profit agency that administers federally-funded programs such as Workforce Innovation & Opportunity Act (WIOA) in Lee County and seven neighboring counties. With its Lee County office in Dixon, its focus is assisting adults and youth gain meaningful employment through training, job search assistance and work experience. BEST is also an affiliate of both NCI Works and Illinois workNet, among others.
Northern Illinois University
Northern Illinois University is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois, with additional campuses in Chicago, Rockford, Naperville, and Oregon, Illinois. The university is composed of seven degree-granting colleges, and has a student population of nearly 16,000. NIU is conveniently located 40 miles from Dixon, just two exits east of Dixon along Interstate 88.