“Olive Harvey has more to offer people, more of what people are looking for. … Our degree and certificate programs have increased over 30 percent,” El-Amin says, pointing to the expansion of their menu of disciplines — such as criminal justice, manufacturing process technology, emergency management technology and the entrepreneurship program.
El-Amin and his staff are offering new and unique opportunities for demographics inordinately impacted by a volatile marketplace and 21st century dependence on technology. Olive Harvey and El-Amin hope to help people attain higher levels of expertise and income during the blistering economic times that have been as brutal as the famous Chicago winters.
The 40-year-old institution is also geographically well situated to serve the South Side of Chicago, an old industrial community that’s gone through a host of changes — steel mills dominated that side of the city years ago. Its nursing program has been adapted to meet the needs in the workforce and those coming out of high school.
“We have a one-year program where people can become a practical nurse and start on that. We’re trying to find more ways for people with different educational and working backgrounds to journey to the same ultimate destination,” El-Amin says.
More people become entrepreneurs during a recession, El-Amin noted, and Olive Harvey has a program that helps people capitalize on their aspirations to become business owners.
“When things are tight like the recession, the community that creates the fewest jobs is the community that loses the most jobs. We have to help entrepreneurs become more sophisticated in how their handle their affairs. We have to raise our level of sophistication and … treat the business as an institution. It starts by catching students when they are young, when they are aspiring, when they are willing to take chances. We have to nourish their vision,” he says. –terry shropshire
