Working with four different firms, we helped the State Taxpayer Action Board identify as much as $4.5 billion in annual savings for Illinois, achievable within just a few years.  At the City level, 22 civic leaders, four partners, and a year-long effort produced the 21st Century Commission report: 100 improvements, many immediately implemented, including better minority- and women-owned business certification and departmental restructuring. 
 
The most ambitious public-private partnership to emerge from the President's stimulus program, the Recovery Partnership brings together the City, Sister Agencies, and 50 foundations. The Partnership has helped submit hundreds of millions in competitive grant proposals, halve the City's contracting time, and connect thousands of families to federal grants.
 
Another effort with the Chicago Police Department has helped run police stations more efficiently, enabling them to reassign 150 officers from desk duty to active operational roles.
 
Lead partners:  A.T. Kearney, Bain & Company, The Chicago Community Trust, Deloitte, Hewitt, Kellogg School of Management, KPMG, LEK Consulting, Lucas Group, Mayer Brown, O-H Community Partners, and University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

 

 

 

Customers riding CTA have simple expectations:  Leave on time and arrive on time.  Thanks to work by CCA partners and staff, bus bunching has now been cut in half, and delays have dropped significantly across the system, saving more than half a million hours of customer waiting time per month. 
 
This year, CCA agreed to help implement the Chicago Climate Action Plan, which also relies on improving transportation options.  CCA and partners helped the City identify millions of dollars in funding and hundreds of new climate initiatives, as well as a more efficient process to maintain 500,000 parkway trees. 
 
Outsiders are noticing Chicago's work.  The CTA won the Most Improved Metro Award at an international competition.  CTA ridership outpaced almost all other systems.  SustainLane ranks Chicago as the 4th greenest city, 1st in innovation, and the only large city in the top 10 of all major green rankings.
 
Lead partners: Alvarez & Marsal, A.T. Kearney, Bain & Company, Boston Consulting Group, Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Huron, IDEO, Institute of Design (IIT), Kellogg Graduate School of Management, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and University of Michigan.

 

 

 

In future issues, look for news of CCA's work with partners to improve CPS high schools; to move more sworn Chicago Police Department officers to active field duty; to implement the climate change action plan's transportation strategy; to harness the role of Chicago's cultural assets in economic development; and much more.