The River Bend Tech Prep project was undertaken to develop a tech prep curriculum in high schools in the Lewis and Clark Community College (LCCC) district in Illinois to improve students' academic skills and eventual employment opportunities and contribute to the region's economic growth and stability. The following activities were completed during year 1 of the project: (1) three high schools implemented applied academic curricula, developed student recruitment materials and procedures, met regularly with interdisciplinary tech prep teams, and held staff development activities to address students' needs; (2) planning for tech prep implementation in five additional high schools was completed; (3) a plan was developed to extend tech prep to seven additional high schools in the LCCC district; (4) instruction in postsecondary mathematics, science, and communications courses offered at LCCC as part of its advanced technology degrees was modified; (5) support for the tech prep program was elicited from local businesses and industries; (6) activities to increase parents' understanding of midlevel technology career opportunities and educational requirements were conducted; and (7) an active counselor committee to help promote understanding of the tech prep curricula was created. (Listings of project-developed resource materials and project participants are appended along with project publicity materials.) (MN)