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Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership's eNewsletter, In the Works, offers workforce news, community partner and board member profiles, success stories, labor market information and details about the impact we are making on bringing together job seekers and employers from throughout our region.  For more information, visit our website.
Greetings,

It's been a pleasant and productive year for the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership (The Partnership). In 2019, The Partnership reached critical milestones allowing us to expand our resources, programming efforts, and staff capacity.  I am proud of the work The Partnership and its network of providers are doing to help job seekers get the resources they need and how we are engaging employers to use the public workforce system as a viable resource to provide them with access to a pipeline of skilled workers.

Some highlights from 2019 include: 
Workforce Innovation & Opportunity Act Results
WIOA outcomes for the 2018 - 2019 program.
The Partnership exceeded all Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) performance outcomes for its Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth programs during the program year 2018 and 2019.  We issued more than $50 million in federal funding to provide services to more than 12,000 registered participants within the Cook County and Chicago areas.
2020 Census Outreach
Cook County's "Be Counted" marketing campaign for the 2020 Census.
The Partnership’s CEO, Karin M. Norington-Reaves serves on the Chicago Complete Count Steering Committee and its working group. The Partnership is also participating in the strategic planning efforts for the following sub-committees: Business/Private Sector, Faith-based communities, Hiring, Disability & Accessibility, Returning Citizens, Media, and Latinx. Working in coordination with the City of Chicago, Cook County, and State of Illinois, The Partnership is assisting with streamlining outreach and community engagement efforts using our network of 53 delegate agencies, 10 American Job Centers, sector centers, and business intermediary.  Additionally, The Partnership is assisting with the hiring for more than 1,400 job opportunities created by Chicago Complete Count, with a focus on connecting people who often face barriers to employment opportunities.
Chicago Codes
Chicago Codes cohort receiving their certifications of completion.
The Partnership launched Chicago Codes to address the lack of diversity in Chicago’s tech sector while simultaneously developing a pool of untapped talent in some of our city’s underserved communities. Chicago Codes is a full time, 11-week coding boot camp located in the Woodlawn neighborhood on Chicago’s south side. The program is tuition-free, provides laptops to students in need, and offers a weekly training stipend to participants. 
  
Chicago Codes was made possible by generous donations from The Rockefeller Foundation, the City of Chicago, Facebook, and Microsoft. In 2019, 39 students completed the program and are currently employed in full-time positions or internships, interviewing, or evaluating offers for full-time positions. All graduates are people of color and from distressed communities on the southside; half are women. A third cohort will launch in early 2020.
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Taskforce On Employment & Economic Opportunity For People With Disabilities
The Partnership led one of the four priority areas within the Task Force and participated in all four—the resulting report and recommendations were published in 2019. The Partnership is overseeing the implementation of key recommendations, e.g. the creation of a centralized multi-platform clearinghouse of all City resources for job training, hiring events, employment opportunities, and supportive services. This platform will be able to first assess then direct or guide those seeking employment to the proper organization to meet their needs. This user-friendly site will be accessible to both employers and people with disabilities and will contain a host of resources, regulations, ordinances, and policies pertaining to the needs and employment of people with disabilities. 
Back to Work 50+ 
Back to Work 50+ symposium.
 
The Partnership in collaboration with the AARP Foundation administers Back to Work 50+. BTW50+ provides the training and tools for older adults (people over 50) who need to compete with confidence for today’s in-demand jobs. Through this program, older workers receive job search training and coaching, learn about new job-seeking tools, build their computer skills and match up with local employer needs. The Program is offered at the Burbank Illinois Department of Employment Services and four of our American Job Centers which include: Mid-South, Northside at Truman College, West Suburban Cook County, and North Suburban Cook County.  
 Chicago Housing Authority and Jobs Plus 
In 2019, we continued working with the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA). The Partnership served CHA public family housing residents and Housing Choice Voucher (“HCV”) recipients, ages 18-54.  Our services helped more than 650 CHA residents find employment, access vocational training opportunities, and improve computer skills and academic performance at the Chicago American Job Centers.
Construction Industry Barrier Reduction Fund 
Lendlease is partnering with The Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership to promote workforce development in the construction industry in the City of Chicago with the creation of a Construction Barrier Reduction Fund. The goal of the Fund is to mitigate certain costs that potential job seekers face as part of unpaid, pre-employment requirements leading candidates to first apprenticeship programs, then employment in the construction building sector. The Fund aims to reduce barriers associated with childcare, transportation, and supplies that may keep people from entering the construction industry within the City of Chicago.

The Fund is a $100K investment from Lendlease to create an opportunity and open doors for people who want to work in construction jobs by assisting with initial financial expenses associated with entering the industry and continuing to support them on their journey. 
 
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ConstructionWorks powered by the Illinois Tollway 
ConstructionWorks exceeded placement goals this year!  The Partnership’s consortium of 18 service providers administered training for more than 50 job seekers helping them enter building trade apprenticeships and other skilled construction employment opportunities. To date we have served more than 500 participants who are traditionally underrepresented in the construction trade, customers receiving service are represented at locations throughout Cook County, DuPage County, Chicago, Rockford, Aurora, and Waukegan. 
Hospitality Hires Chicago 
Learn about the Hospitality Hires Chicago initiative. 
Leading the Hospitality Hires Chicago (HHC) collaboration, The Partnership, along with Choose Chicago, the Illinois Restaurant Association, the Magnificent Mile, the Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association, Chicago Loop Alliance, and the Near South Planning Board continue to grow our HHC initiative.  To date, HHC has hosted six large scale hiring events for more than 200 employers and 2000 job seekers to meet and interview. Working with Chicago’s premier workforce agencies, our HHC program has provided more than 200 businesses in the retail, hospitality, and tourism industries the ability to interview with eager job seekers and 60% of participants interviewed received conditional offers. On to 2020 for more HHC Collaborations!
Hospitality Hires Chicago - Southland 
Job seekers being interviewed at Hospitality Hires Chicago Southland.
We are proud to have expanded our Hospitality Hires Chicago efforts to the Southland where we have connected job seekers with real employment opportunities. This July 2019 initiative brought employers from Southland’s hospitality, retail, food services, healthcare, transportation and related sectors together with the community of job seekers who want to jumpstart their career.  Some 30 employers and several hundred job-seekers attended the hiring fair. As with other hiring events, job-seekers were pre-screened to ensure that they would meet the requirements of employers who would be attending; employers were to be interviewing for actual jobs and, in some cases, able to make conditional offers on-the-spot. As a result of the Hospitality Hires Chicago-Southland, 178 individuals received job offers!
 
The event was a success and also brought many of the regions elected officials together with various business organizations. Partners included the office of Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, the Southland Small Business Development Council, Illinois Small Business Development Center, Chicago Southland Convention and Visitors Bureau, Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association, Chicago Southland Economic Development Corporation and Prairie State College, which hosted the event.

Facilitating contact and opportunity between job-seekers and employers is a key charge for the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership as the primary agency operating the public workforce system for our region.  Hiring events have become an important component of meeting that charge. Such events are not mere job fairs; they require effort and commitment from both American Job Center and agency partner clients who are seriously seeking jobs and the public and private sector partners who are in the market for new workers. 
 
Hospitality Hires Chicago-Southland drew on the model of other Hospitality Hires Chicago events we have established since 2017 in the Chicago region. Those events were centered exclusively on employers and jobs in the hospitality industry, such as tourism, hotels and restaurants. In this case, the concept was expanded to include other sectors of the economy, from office work and retail to transportation, as well as hospitality. The theme of Hospitality Hires Chicago is that hospitality is a customer-friendly state-of-mind that covers any job in any business or industry.

 
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OpportunityWorks
OpportunityWorks Highlight of the Metra Internship
OpportunityWorks, our youth-focused initiative, is currently in its third year of programming. The initiative focuses on Young Adults aged 18 to 24 who reside in the south and west suburbs of Chicago. Participants receive skills training, career pathway exploration, paid work experiences, and ultimately placement in high-growth high-demand industries. In the first 2 years of the program, we trained over 700 young adults, and over 80% of them connected with the next step of their career pathway! Our efforts resulted in 150 businesses across the county hosting interns, and we have 50 employers that were hiring OpportunityWorks graduates.
ReImagine Retail 
ReImagine Retail Innovation Lab video.
The Partnership received a $10.9 million grant from the Walmart Foundation in March 2016. The grant known as ReImagine Retail is the largest investment to date as part of Walmart and the Walmart Foundation’s Opportunity initiative. The grant aimed to increase the economic mobility of workers in retail and adjacent sectors by working with nonprofits, educational institutions, and government agencies to make it easier for frontline workers to move faster into middle-skills roles. The Partnership selected 10 Workforce Development Boards (WDBs) to collectively form and implement new models of career services specific to retail—models that serve as best practices for the approximately 550 WDBs, in the U.S., that already provide services, such as career coaching, soft skills training, specialized skills training and referrals to other resources.

During the grant period, more than 50,000 people were served and received a combination of retail training, credentials, or assistance with developing a career pathway. This was a national grant engagement that included the addition of the first-of-its-kind Chicagoland Retail Sector Center, which remains operational and open to all people who are interested in working in retail.  The grant finalized with an evaluation that provides outcomes about the successes, challenges, and best practices in the retail industry. 
 
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Uber Freight and Uber Technologies 
From Left to Right: Robin Kelly - U.S. Representative, Andrea Zopp - World Business Chicago CEO, Dara Khorowshahi - Uber Technologies CEO, Lori Lightfoot - Chicago Mayor, Karin M. Norington-Reaves - The Partnership CEO, Juliana Stratton - Lt. Governor, before the Uber Freight's press event.
Uber Freight announced The Partnership as the talent pipeline partner for its anticipated 2,000 new jobs in the Chicago market. These roles are primarily in Information Technology and Transportation, Distribution and Logistics, with additional opportunities in traditional corporate (Business to Business) services such as accounting and account management, to name a few. 

Uber will start onboarding new employees in 2020 and will work with The Partnership to develop a process for identifying potential candidates through using the public workforce system.  Additionally, The Partnership is the first recipient of the Uber Technologies' Community Impact Initiative grant. The grant funds will be used to decrease transportation barriers for people seeking work.
 
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This is just a slice of the work we've accomplished this year! As we enter into the new year once again, our team would like to extend warm wishes to you and yours. With all The Partnership is achieving, I can only imagine what we will achieve in 2020!

Some events to look forward to include: 
Lagunitas Fundraiser - February 11, 2020
Dr. Betty Howard Chatham Workforce & Education Center Ribbon Cutting - February 18, 2020
Hospitality Hires Chicago - April 8, 2020
Season’s Greetings and Happy New Year from The Partnership,

Karin M. Norington-Reaves
Chief Executive Officer
Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership
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