
Chicago Workforce Investment Council Launched
Last week Mayor Daley announced the creation of the Chicago Workforce Investment Council (CWIC) a 12-person, Mayor-led board of CEOs and civic leaders. The Council, as Mayor Daley stated, "will help oversee distribution of over $300 million of public funds spent annually in Chicago on workforce development, in addition to the federal stimulus dollars."
Patterned after Chicago LEADS, our city-wide effort to reshape the workforce system, the Council gives one entity, for the first time, responsibility for setting significant goals for all of Chicago's workforce efforts, aligning resources around these goals, and working aggressively toward achieving them. CWIC will work in collaboration with Chicago's Workforce Investment Board, which oversees the federal Workforce Investment Act (WIA) funds, and other entities that oversee different funding streams. The Council aims to cut through organizational barriers between these different entities, so that workforce programs are more valuable to Chicago's businesses and residents.
Eventually, CWIC will become the permanent home for the work initiated through Chicago LEADS, and will feature many of the elements critical to the success of LEADS. (See "In the News" to the right for a link to articles on CPS career education, one of the LEADS priority areas.)
Many CCA partners have played important roles in Chicago LEADS and in the formation of CWIC:
Over 70 business, civic, and public sector leaders joined us in designing and launching CWIC, the new Data Consortium, and the Chicago LEADS pilot projects that laid the groundwork for this transformation.
Congratulations, and thank you to all!