May 2009

Civic Consulting Alliance

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:
  • Mayer Brown advised on the structure of CWIC and drafted the legal documents necessary to bring the new organization into existence 
  • Edelman helped us create the major messaging themes for CWIC: convening leadership, driving to results, and enduring
  • Leo Burnett created a new logo, look and feel for the CWIC brand
  • A.T. Kearney helped define the Chicago Academy for Advanced Technology (CAAT - one of the LEADS career academies) and analyzed the outcomes of private occupational colleges
  • Bain and Company conducted the initial data analyses that helped define the LEADS priority area
  • A number of foundations furthered our efforts with financial support for Chicago LEADS and the new Data Consortium that will be housed at the University of Chicago's Chapin Hall Center. These include The Searle Funds at The Chicago Community Trust, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, The Boeing Company, The Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, The Joyce Foundation, and The Chicago Community Trust.

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!
GET LINKED-IN 
Join the Civic Consulting Alliance Linked-In Group here
IN THE NEWS 
WORKFORCE PARTNERS 
A.T. Kearney
Bain and Company
Booz & Company
Boston Consulting Group
Leo Burnett
Deloitte
Edelman
Mayer Brown
Mercer
CCA FUNDERS
So far this year, the following funders have supported our work:
Annie E. Casey Foundation
The Boeing Company
The Chicago Community Trust 
Lloyd A. Fry Foundation
The Joyce Foundation 
The Searle Funds at the  
    Chicago Community Trust
Steans Family Foundation