By now you've likely heard that I accepted an appointment by Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel to lead the city's Department of Family and Support Services (DFSS). As Commissioner of DFSS, I'll oversee an agency that provides human services to tens of thousands of Chicagoans each year. I am excited about the opportunity to impact the lives of individuals who look to the City for assistance, and to ensure the highest quality and most efficient delivery of services.  

 

I see this new opportunity as a continuation and expansion  of my work as CEO of the Chicago Workforce Investment Council (CWIC). When I worked with Mayor Daley to launch CWIC in 2009, we envisioned an organization that would monitor the more than $300 million in public workforce funding that Chicago invests each year, and would set an overarching workforce development agenda for the city. Thanks to your support, CWIC has grown into an organization that has exceeded my expectations. In just over a year and a half, CWIC has: 

• Assisted Chicago Public Schools get on track to increase the number of internships for Career and Technical Education (CTE) students from 1,000 to 7,000 over the next 10 years. This included helping to build capacity in CTE's business engagement team, and rolling out CWIC's new "employability" assessment to all students within CTE, and to other partners.


• Created a citywide "Back to College" initiative to help adults with "some college" re-enroll in school and complete an associate's or bachelor's degree.


• Created a Literacy-to-Work initiative to help low-skilled job seekers increase their educational attainment and connect to job training programs with career pathways.


• Developed improved labor market information to inform public agencies' investment decisions, and communicated that plan to organizations that provide direct job training and placement services, to help them better serve Chicago jobseekers.


• Instituted regular monitoring of performance outcomes for Chicago Public Schools, the Department of Family and Support Services, and other state and local workforce agencies through the CWICstats data initiative.    


• Assisted the Department of Family and Support Services in evaluating the current Workforce Investment Act delivery system and partnering with them to develop and release a new, improved request for proposals.    

Neither the launch of CWIC, nor any of its good work would have been possible without your support. I look forward to continuing to engage you as thought partners in my new role. 

 

Although my last day as CWIC's CEO will be May 13, my staff will remain intact, and the organization will continue its good work under the leadership of an interim CEO. We expect this individual to be named in the next couple of weeks.  

 

I ask you for your continued support of CWIC, so that the staff, the Board, and the new leader will be able to realize as much success and satisfaction as I have.  

 

I look forward to the challenges ahead, and I am truly grateful that I can continue to count on your support, both in my new role, and in the next phase of CWIC's work. 

 

Thank you for all that you do to make Chicago the greatest city in the world. 

 

Sincerely,

Evelyn Diaz
Chief Executive Officer