Sheaff honored as Community Champion for Jacksonville Promise work

Barbara A. Farley said Jacksonville Promise has helped dozens of Illinois College students pursue their educational goals with hometown support, and that kind of local payoff is why Charles Sheaff was named the Journal-Courier’s Community Champion for May. As a co-founder of the scholarship program, Sheaff has spent years pushing an idea that now reaches far beyond one campus: keep Morgan County students connected to Jacksonville institutions and give them a reason to build their futures close to home.

Jacksonville Promise expanded in 2021 to include all students in Morgan County, including homeschooled students and students from Franklin, Meredosia-Chambersburg, Triopia and Waverly schools, as long as they plan to attend Illinois College or Lincoln Land Community College in Jacksonville. At the time, scholarships could be worth up to $3,750. The broader reach made the program less of a Jacksonville-only benefit and more of a countywide investment in young people who might otherwise leave for college and never return.

That strategy has produced steady numbers. By 2021, more than 100 local students had received Jacksonville Promise awards for tuition and expenses. For the 2025-2026 academic year, the program said it was supporting 65 new students and had 124 total active recipients. Those awards were listed at $1,400 per semester, with the potential to total up to $14,000 over four years for students attending Illinois College or Lincoln Land Community College at the Jacksonville campus.

Sheaff has described Jacksonville Promise as an economic engine for the regional basin that includes Morgan County. A 2018 study cited by Illinois College found that a $30,000 endowment through the program could multiply into $120,000 in profits for the city and local businesses. That is the kind of return supporters point to when they argue the scholarships do more than ease tuition bills: they help keep future workers, customers and civic leaders in the county.

The program’s backers have also tied it to broader community goals. Illinois College said Jacksonville Promise aims to improve academic performance in the early grades, increase college enrollment and retention, and decrease truancy and juvenile crime. In 2023, the estate of Howard and Vera Million added $850,000 each to Illinois College and Jacksonville Promise, bringing the Million family’s total support for scholarships at Illinois College to $2.3 million. For Sheaff, the recognition marks the kind of behind-the-scenes work that changes whether Morgan County students can afford to stay, study and build a life in the place that raised them.