# Chicagoland Workforce Funder Alliance

> We work so that others can work


## Posts

- [Turning Passion to Action and Results: CWFA’s Employment Social Enterprise Cohort Experience](https://chicagoworkforcefunders.org/turning-passion-to-action-and-results-cwfas-employment-social-enterprise-cohort-experience/): 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 has been our employment social ... Read More
- [Accelerating Change Through Cohort-Based Learning: A Model for Organizational Growth](https://chicagoworkforcefunders.org/accelerating-change-through-cohort-based-learning-a-model-for-organizational-growth/): 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 companies implement new systems and ... Read More
- [Reflections and New Beginnings](https://chicagoworkforcefunders.org/2023-goals-2/): 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 Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership. Other ... Read More
- [Employment Social Enterprises](https://chicagoworkforcefunders.org/employmentsocialenterprises/): An Employment Social Enterprise (ESE) is a mission-oriented business that helps people acquire the job skills and experience they need to pursue a path of upward mobility and break cycles of poverty. ESEs have training programs to support individuals who are eager to enter the workforce but are facing barriers to accessing job opportunities. They act as a bridge between ... Read More
- [Our Next Ten Years](https://chicagoworkforcefunders.org/2023-goals/): 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 we look ahead to 2023, ... Read More
- [ACKNOWLEDGING MY WHITE PRIVILEGE](https://chicagoworkforcefunders.org/whiteprivilege/): 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 our investments in construction workforce, and ... Read More
- [Early Childhood Workforce Partnership](https://chicagoworkforcefunders.org/earlychildhoodeducation_workforcepartnership/): A thriving early childhood workforce is needed for children and families to receive services, for educators to access rewarding careers, for organizations to achieve impact, and for Chicago industries to have strong childcare options for their workers. Chicago’s early childhood sector is focused on growing access to those services and to continuously improving their quality. In Summer 2019, CWFA was approached ... Read More
- [Chicagoland Equitable Recovery Corps](https://chicagoworkforcefunders.org/chicagoland-equitable-recovery-corps/): The COVID-19 crisis has catalyzed an urgent need for large-scale public health and economic re-opening and recovery initiatives, which will create thousands of new employment opportunities. At the same time, it has created unprecedented and rapid unemployment and loss of income in ways that amplify the inequities already defining our region’s labor market. It is imperative that Chicago meets these ... Read More
- [My Summer with Chicagoland Workforce Funder Alliance](https://chicagoworkforcefunders.org/my-summer-with-chicagoland-workforce-funder-alliance/): 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 of my internship with my ... Read More
- [WINTER REFLECTIONS](https://chicagoworkforcefunders.org/winter-reflections/): 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 milestone for me. It was almost ... Read More
- [Apprenticeship 2020](https://chicagoworkforcefunders.org/apprenticeship-2020/): Apprenticeship 2020 is a new $3.2M fund to accelerate efforts to scale high-quality work-based learning programs in Chicago. Local and national foundations including JPMorgan Chase, Salesforce.org, The Joyce Foundation, The Chicago Community Trust, Pritzker Traubert Foundation, MacArthur Foundation and others, have launched this collaborative effort, in partnership with employers and other stakeholders to test new solutions and develop infrastructure to ... Read More
- [COLLABORATION – BETTER TOGETHER](https://chicagoworkforcefunders.org/collaboration-better-together/): 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 workers, creating pathways for advancement in ... Read More
- [The Genesis Movement](https://chicagoworkforcefunders.org/the-genesis-movement/): The Genesis Movement developed from a collaboration between the Funder Alliance and the Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center (IMEC) that began in 2013 and continues today. The Funder Alliance first awarded IMEC a planning grant to help develop an Industry Workforce Partnership for manufacturing. But what developed in 2014 was a different kind of initiative. IMEC and the Funder Alliance began ... Read More
- [Calumet Manufacturing Industry Sector Partnership](https://chicagoworkforcefunders.org/calumet-manufacturing-industry-sector-partnership/): 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 ... Read More
- [Pro Path Fund](https://chicagoworkforcefunders.org/propath-fund/)
- [Obama Building Equity Fund](https://chicagoworkforcefunders.org/obama-building-equity-fund/):   In the spring of 2017, the Obama family made a $1 million gift to the Funder Alliance with instructions to use the funding to support a “generational shift” in Chicago’s building trades workforce. The Obama family knew that underrepresentation of communities of color and women in building trades careers is a persistent problem, especially for Chicago’s African-American community. They ... Read More
- [Financial Services Pipeline](https://chicagoworkforcefunders.org/financial-services-pipeline/): The Financial Services Pipeline (FSP) initiative is a partnership that financial services firms created in 2014 to increase the representation of African Americans and Latinos in their sector. The Chicago Community Trust and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago were also integral to its formation. The FSP brings together about 18 financial services companies, from big banks to small investment ... Read More
- [Reimagine Retail](https://chicagoworkforcefunders.org/reimagine-retail/)
- [Chicagoland Healthcare Workforce Collaborative](https://chicagoworkforcefunders.org/chicagoland-healthcare-workforce-collaborative/): The Chicagoland Healthcare Workforce Collaborative (CHWC) unites employers and industry partners to support an inclusive healthcare workforce, provide accessibility for Chicagoland’s unemployed and underemployed populations, and develop innovative responses to the evolving needs of the healthcare industry. The Chicagoland Workforce Funder Alliance has supported this work since its inception and funds CHWC’s projects, which are dynamic, employer-led, and constantly adapting ... Read More
- [Raise the Floor Alliance](https://chicagoworkforcefunders.org/raise-the-floor-alliance/)

## Pages

- [Home](https://chicagoworkforcefunders.org/)
- [Blog](https://chicagoworkforcefunders.org/blog/)
- [Contact Us](https://chicagoworkforcefunders.org/contact-us/)
- [What We Are Learning](https://chicagoworkforcefunders.org/what-we-are-learning/)
- [What We Do](https://chicagoworkforcefunders.org/what-we-do/)
- [Who We Are](https://chicagoworkforcefunders.org/who-we-are/)


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