When the Funder Alliance started in 2012 it inherited an industry workforce partnership focused on manufacturing in Chicago’s Calumet region called the Calumet Green Manufacturing Partnership or CGMP. Initially it was a collaboration of community colleges, CBOs and local governments focused on improving career pathways for local residents into good jobs in manufacturing. The Funder Alliance has continuously sought to support this manufacturing collaboration and coax it towards greater employer leadership. In 2014 and 2015, CWFA was able to pass through Social Innovation Fund (SIF) resources, through a partnership with the National Fund for Workforce Solutions. In 2017, the Funder Alliance was able to co-invest with the Cook County Bureau of Economic Development, and support the Calumet partners to work with a consultant to plan and launch a “Next Generation Sector Partnership.” The result was a new entity: The Calumet Manufacturing Industry Sector Partnership or CMISP.
CMISP can be described as an evolution and combination of CGMP and other manufacturing efforts in the Calumet into a company-led sector-based partnership for the region (the Calumet is defined broadly as the south side of Chicago, southern Cook County, eastern Will County and northwest Indiana). The convening group of CMISP is bound by a Memorandum of Understanding that outlines an agreement to lead the implementation of programs and activities that engage manufacturing business leaders. It brings together the following organizations: Chicago Southland Economic Development Corporation (CSEDC), the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership, the Calumet Area Industrial Commission (CAIC), the Chicago Federation of Labor (CFL), OAI, Inc., the Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center (IMEC), and the Chicago Metro Metal Consortium of the Cook County Bureau of Economic Development (CMMC). CMISP gets all these partners to work together on their shared interests by putting employers in the driver’s seat and allowing for aligning complementary resources towards shared goals.
In 2018, the Funder Alliance secured $125,000 in funding through the National Fund for Workforce Solutions and Boeing, to invest with CMISP in On-the-Job Training for Calumet residents seeking employment in manufacturing.
For more information about CGMP and CMISP:
- Visit the CGMP web site
Additional Funders
