For twenty-five years, i.c.stars has been jump-starting technology careers for Chicago-area low-income adults. While industry-guided tech training is a big part of the success, it’s not the whole story. The results we see-- 80-90% full employment in high-quality jobs-- are built on continued support even after the tech curriculum is completed. Our secret sauce in this work [...]
In today's fast-paced and ever-evolving business landscape, the ability to adapt to change is a critical determinant of an organization's success. Developing the capacity for organizational change can occur in many ways, including cohort programs, where firms across industries – or, in some cases within the same industries – learn from one another as member [...]
Over the past year or so we have experienced a number of significant transitions and changes in the world of Chicagoland workforce development. For CWFA, some of those changes have been very close to home, like new Senior Leadership at our home organization, The Chicago Community Trust, and at one of our closest partners, The [...]
For the past year CWFA has been celebrating our first decade by lifting up the partners behind some of the most impactful projects and initiatives we have supported. I have been so proud to see the work of these amazing organizations and leaders featured in our Learning Communities, in videos, and in this newsletter. As [...]
George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others; I cannot start this post without saying their names and centering them in my thoughts. Structural racism affects our work at the Funder Alliance in so many ways. We see it in the occupational segregation influencing our work in the service sector, it has dictated [...]
As the spring semester at the University of Michigan was winding down, I found myself still in search of a Marketing internship for the summer. With the guidance of my acquaintance Kimberley Rudd, I found myself eagerly applying for an internship within philanthropy—an industry I never explored before. Soon after, I was scheduling the extent [...]
This has been an exciting month for the Funder Alliance. We saw our partners launch the first Chicagoland Workforce Leadership Academy , we announced a new $3.2 million initiative to scale high-quality apprenticeship - Apprenticeship 2020, and we are (finally) unveiling our new website. This all comes at somewhat of a professional and personal [...]
What does collaboration mean to you? Merriam-Webster’s definition of collaboration is “to work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavor”. In this instance, the endeavor is Reimagine Retail – a workforce initiative focusing on turnover reduction and currently consisting of 10 Chicago organizations helping to improve the quality of jobs for entry-level retail [...]