About Us

• Board of Directors
• Staff
• Chicago LEADS
• Partners and Funders
• CWICstats Dashboard Reports

Chicago LEADS

LEADS was launched out of the Mayor’s Office in 2007 in an effort to ensure that our workforce development system worked for both businesses and residents. It was driven by a three-part strategy: (1) convening leadership and aligning the entire workforce development system around common goals; (2) driving to results by launching pilots in key sectors; and (3) ensuring that system-wide changes were sustainable and enduring.

LEADS Accomplishments
LEADS achieved great successes in less than two years:

•Convened over 80 businesses through its Civic Advisory Council and four industry advisory groups.
•Partnered with foundations, policy experts, and public agencies on LEADS goals.
•Convened teams, designed, and secured CPS approval for three new career academies to create pipelines of skilled labor in target industries. One opened in 2009; two will open in 2010.
•Identified the need for 700 new nurses trained each year. We are on track for 600 new nursing school slots by summer 2010.
•Developed a strategy for serving Chicago’s growing hospitality sector; placing over 820 Chicagoans in hospitality jobs and training 400 incumbent workers in the sector.
•Developed a system with Transportation Distribution and Logistics businesses to recruit, pre-screen and help residents obtain credentials that will improve the quality of candidates for jobs in this important industry. To date, 128 individuals have been trained and 52 have been placed in jobs in this sector.
•Raised over $1.25M in new, private funding.
•Received over $3M in pro-bono support.
•With the University of Chicago’s Chapin Hall, launched the new data consortium CWICstats, to help the city understand the return on its workforce expenditures; help residents choose the most appropriate programs; and research new approaches to creating the workforce Chicago needs to compete in the global economy.

Powerful and efficient direction setting: CWIC raises the profile of workforce development efforts, monitors all workforce development and occupational education programs, and provides resources to fill critical gaps.

Performance data to drive decisions: CWIC and its data team, CWICstats at the University of Chicago’s Chapin Hall, use data to set significant city-wide goals for training and placing Chicagoans in jobs, drives aggressively toward those goals, and measures results. CWIC targets public schools, colleges and job training systems to meet up-to-the-minute demands of the local labor market.

Focus on key sectors: CWIC convenes stakeholders across public, private, and nonprofit sectors to break down barriers that stand in the way of our common goals, and sets bold, industry-specific targets to meet business needs.

Tackle the toughest questions facing Chicago: CWIC engages foundations, advocates, academia, businesses and other top thinkers to solve the most critical, complex workforce development issues. We work alongside City programs and services to provide creative solutions to bureaucratic challenges.