CREO Dupage

What CREO Dupage does

CREO DuPage is a nonprofit pre-college program founded in 2019 and headquartered at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, serving Hispanic/Latino/Latinx first-generation college students and their families in DuPage County. The organization was established by community members who identified a need for college-readiness resources, with programming guidance drawn from the established college-readiness organization Waukegan to College (W2C). Since inception, CREO has helped over 35 DuPage County high school students graduate and enroll in colleges including University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, DePaul, Elmhurst, Columbia (NY), Iowa State, and several other in-state institutions.

The organization delivers a comprehensive suite of free services through six core program components: weekly virtual one-hour academic coaching sessions; monthly hybrid Saturday Morning Live (SML) social-emotional workshops; monthly in-person bilingual Caminando Juntos family workshops; group college, university, and business campus visits; summer program placement assistance; and college and scholarship application support. Delivery combines virtual coaching (weekly), hybrid workshops (monthly), and in-person campus visits (periodic weekends/holidays). The addressable market exceeds 10,000 Hispanic/Latino/Latinx high school students in DuPage County, the majority of whom are first-generation college students.

CREO operates as a donation-funded 501(c)-style nonprofit with a four-person staff (Executive Director James Johnson, Program Coordinator Monserrat López, Parent Engagement Specialist Ana Romero, and Volunteer Recruitment and Communications Coordinator Krista Suzuki), supported by a Board of Directors, an Advisory Council, and community volunteers. All services are provided at no cost to students and families. Funding derives from individual donations, community partner contributions, and grants, with one disclosed $15,000 grant from DuPage County in June 2025. The organization uses Network for Good for donation processing and interest-form collection, and maintains a bilingual website (creodupage.org) for marketing, registration, and annual report dissemination. There are no patents, proprietary technology products, or AI-driven components; competitive differentiation rests on community trust, bilingual family-centered delivery, and volunteer mentorship.

Name

CREO Dupage

Legal name

CREO DuPage

Website

https://creodupage.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

CREO DuPage is a Glen Ellyn, Illinois-based nonprofit founded in 2019 that provides free bilingual college-readiness coaching, mentoring, workshops, and campus visits to Hispanic/Latino/Latinx first-generation high school students and their families in DuPage County.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

College Readiness Services

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), Educational Services (611), Educational Support Services (6117)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Pre-Arrival Orientation & Onboarding Services (EDAIAKAA)

Keywords

• College readiness programs
• First-generation student support
• Bilingual education services
• Nonprofit mentorship programs
• Hispanic student outreach

Headquarters

HQ city

Glen Ellyn

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Contributions: As a nonprofit organization, CREO DuPage relies on donations from individuals, community partners, and supporters to fund operations and provide free services to students and families.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

CREO DuPage is a nonprofit pre-college program that delivers free, bilingual, family-centered college readiness services to Hispanic/Latino/Latinx first-generation high school students and their families in DuPage County, Illinois. Its core offerings include weekly academic coaching and mentoring, monthly student and parent workshops, college/university campus visits, summer program guidance, and college and scholarship application assistance. All services are provided at no cost to participants, supported by community donations and a volunteer mentor network.

Product overview

CREO DuPage is a nonprofit pre-college program offering a comprehensive suite of free services for first-generation Hispanic/Latino/Latinx high school students and their families in DuPage County. The program architecture consists of multiple integrated service components: Weekly Academic Coaching/Mentoring provides virtual weekly sessions for academic skill development; Social-Emotional Workshops (Saturday Morning Live) offer monthly hybrid sessions for goal clarification and identity exploration; Caminando Juntos Family Workshops deliver monthly in-person bilingual sessions empowering parents to support college navigation; College and University Campus Visits provide experiential learning through in-person trips; and Summer Programs connect students with campus-based enrichment opportunities. All services work together to guide students from high school through college completion, with the family engagement component (Caminando Juntos) being integral to the support ecosystem.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Weekly Academic Coaching/Mentoring

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 35 students graduated from the program and enrolled in colleges including University of Illinois, DePaul, Elmhurst, and Columbia

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Waukegan to College (W2C)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Waukegan to College is a successful college-readiness organization that provided guidance and encouragement to CREO founders. W2C helped establish the foundation for CREO's programming approach based on their proven model.
• St. Mark's Episcopal ChurchcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019CREO is based at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Glen Ellyn, which provides the physical space for program activities and workshops.
• Board of Directors and Advisory CouncilcoreOthers · 1 January 2019CREO's community is made up of Board of Directors, Advisory Council, volunteers, and partner organizations who support the mission.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• iMentor: Nonprofit pairing students with volunteer mentors for college success, with strong school-partnership GTM. Closely comparable to CREO in mentoring architecture and focus on first-generation college-bound students.
• Bottom Line: Nonprofit focused on college access and degree completion for first-generation students from low-income backgrounds, with intensive 1-on-1 advising. Comparable to CREO in mission and mentoring-driven service model, though operating at a larger, multi-city scale.
• Waukegan to College: Established college-readiness nonprofit serving first-generation students in Lake County, Illinois. CREO's programming was directly modeled on Waukegan to College, making it the closest functional peer in mission, geography, and operational design.
• College Possible: National college-access nonprofit deploying near-peer coaching to support low-income and first-generation students through college. Comparable to CREO in coaching-driven model and target population, but at significantly larger national scale.
• Chicago Scholars: Chicago-based nonprofit providing college access, scholarships, and mentoring to first-generation and underrepresented students. Highly comparable to CREO in target population and college-readiness focus, with broader scale in the same Illinois ecosystem.
• Minds Matter: Nonprofit pairing low-income high school students with volunteer mentors for college-prep support including SAT prep, application help, and writing coaching. Directly comparable to CREO in volunteer-mentor-led college-readiness service delivery.

Broad incumbents

• Hispanic Scholarship Fund: Largest Hispanic-focused education nonprofit providing scholarships, mentoring, and career support. Comparable in serving Hispanic/Latino students pursuing higher education, but at a national scale and with a scholarship-centric rather than local-cohort model.
• QuestBridge: National nonprofit connecting high-achieving low-income students to selective colleges via a matched-scholarship process. Comparable in targeting first-generation and low-income students toward selective institutions, but operates as a platform/marketplace rather than a local cohort program.
• Posse Foundation: National leadership and college-access program that recruits diverse student cohorts and supports them through college. Comparable in serving underrepresented and first-generation students but operates a broader leadership-development model at much larger scale.

Others

• UNCF (United Negro College Fund): Major education nonprofit providing scholarships and programmatic support for underrepresented minority students. Adjacent to CREO in mission-driven college access for underrepresented groups, but with a different target demographic and national scope.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/creo-dupage

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about CREO Dupage