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They are: “Please; Thank you;
You’re welcome; Yes, ma’am; No,
ma’am; Yes, sir; No, sir; Excuse
me; I’m sorry; Help me; I have …;
I can …; I will be …; Hope.”
“We want saying those words
and phrases to be the new cool,”
he said.
The kids learn through Can-
non and a host of volunteers
— including police officers,
firefighters, retired teachers and
administrators and business lead-
ers — how to write a resume, in-
terviewing skills, and other ways
to land and keep a job. If they
graduate from the program and
become “ELITE Certified” they
are able to apply for part-time
work at an ELITE job fair.
In its first five years the pro-
gram has helped more than 500
youth find part-time jobs that
give them spending money, keep
them occupied and help build
self-confidence. Among the top
employers for ELITE Certified
teens are HyVee and the Park
District. “We love these employ-
ers but I have to say, they aren’t
really doing us any favors. That’s
because we are sending them
kids who are job-ready,” he said.
“I also don’t think it’s any
accident that crime among high
school-age youth is at an all-time
low,” he added.
Last fall, Cannon started ELITE
Re-Entry, aimed at helping
state prisoners in work release
programs ready to start a new
life. “I learned that most of these
people have regrets about what
they did to put them behind bars,
but regrets won’t get them a job.
There are some things you can’t
change and the past is one of
them. But we will help them if we
can and we tell them the reality
is they will probably have to start
in a job or shift that nobody else
wants and work their way back,”
he said.
Cannon said he is able to grow
the program because of “an
incredible group of volunteers”
and because of the “unbeliev-
able support” he gets from his
wife Melinda and from his boss,
Bonnie Noble, executive director
of the Peoria Park District and
another finalist for The Peorian of
the Year Award.
“Bonnie is tremendous. She has
been supportive all the way,” he
said.
Cannon frequently shares his
ELITE program concept with
audiences across the country,
including Washington, D.C. He
was awarded the 2004 National
Caring Award and inducted into
the National Caring Hall of Fame.
Among his other awards was the
2011 Peoria Martin Luther King
Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award.
With all that he remains hum-
ble. “I’m blessed, that’s all I can
say. I love Peoria and I’m so glad
I came back. I get to see its future
almost daily from my standpoint,
that future is bright. There is
nothing dim about what’s going
on here,” he said.
Carl Cannon bumps fists with one of the teen-agers in the ELITE Program
when they helped police the grounds at last summer’s Heart of Illinois Fair.