The Joffrey Ballet has several outreach and education programs that began in 1995 with a focus on exposing children to ballet. In 2004, the programs were revamped and expanded under the Education and Community Engagement program. It now offers over 20 programs to schools and organizations. One successful program is the Strobel Step-Up program, which is an audition-based performing group for Chicago public high school students. The program helps prepare students for college and has a positive effect on the community by providing access to the arts. While successful, the program is still developing to provide students more ballet training classes.