As the front door to The Partnership’s network, AJCs connect people, businesses, and communities to possibilities.

Rooted in neighborhoods across Chicago and suburban Cook County and part of a powerful public workforce system, the Centers provide career seekers with personalized guidance, skill-building resources, and connections to real opportunities. For employers, AJCs are strategic allies offering access to local talent, hiring support, and workforce training incentives that strengthen entire industries.

CEJA Workforce Hubs provide clean energy and related workforce training to career seekers. The programs provide stipends, tuition coverage, and other services to qualified participants.

The Partnership’s network operates two Hubs in the 13-hub network in the State of Illinois, as part of the Illinois Clean Jobs Workforce Network Program, funded by the State’s Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA). The Program is designed to offer workforce development to historically underrepresented communities and residents. The Hubs focus on serving residents of Chicago’s south and west sides, but the program is open to all residents of Chicago and Cook County.

The Hubs engage with employers, community-based organizations, educational institutions, and labor-based training providers to ensure program-eligible individuals across Illinois have dedicated and sustained support to enter and build clean energy careers.

Funded by the Illinois Tollway and administered by The Partnership’s network, ConstructionWorks offers training, career coaching, and direct access to employers. With 13 centers across Northern Illinois and at no cost to participants, the program helps individuals launch strong careers, support vital infrastructure, and strengthen our region

ConstructionWorks opens the door to impactful careers in the heavy highway and construction industries. This program builds a diverse pipeline of talent prepared to succeed as equipment operators, carpenters, electricians, and more.

Our region is filled with growing industries and businesses ready to thrive, who seek talented, motivated individuals, many of which comprise our youth population. OpportunityWorks helped young adults ages 16 to 24 take their first steps toward that future. The program offered young adults paid internship experiences and provided employers with the opportunity to hire a young person, with the cost of wages covered.

Funded by Cook County with federal ARPA funds, The Partnership collaborated with employers and community organizations across the region to make these experiences possible and to introduce support for the next generation of career seekers to professional opportunities in the workforce.

The program had an enrollment of 1,037 young adults. Nearly 90% of the participants who started an internship completed it.

The Partnership’s Back to Work 50+ program, funded by AARP, was designed to help people age 50+ gain confidence and skills while exploring opportunities to compete and succeed in today’s workforce. Participants benefited from workshops that focused on the latest and best job-hunting techniques, training resources, individualized career counseling, job coaching and skills development, needs assessments, and referrals to supportive services.

Nearly 4,000 people enrolled in the Back to Work 50 + Initiative. Nearly 700 participants reported finding a job after participating in the program. Some engaged in its primary programming, called 7 Smart Strategies for 50+ Jobseekers, while others sought additional training. Others used the skills they gained to seek employment later or continued training in specific areas of interest.

In August 2022, The Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership was selected as one of 32 grantees nationwide through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) Good Jobs Challenge initiative. Known locally as Good Jobs Chicagoland, the program advanced employer-led workforce development strategies designed to strengthen economic resilience and create pathways to quality careers throughout Chicago and suburban Cook County.

The initiative focused on four high-growth industry sectors and was supported by backbone organizations that convened employers, training providers, and workforce partners to develop industry-driven talent pipelines.

Manufacturing – Cook County Bureau of Economic Development (BED) and OAI, Inc. served as backbone organizations, working with employers, training providers, and industry partners to address workforce needs within the manufacturing sector.

Healthcare – Health & Medicine Policy Research Group (HMPRG) convened a coalition of major healthcare systems and strategic partners to expand career opportunities and address workforce demands across the healthcare industry.

Information Technology – P33 staffed the Chicago Tech Talent Alliance, a collaborative of technology employers working together to strengthen talent pipelines and expand access to careers in the technology sector.

Transportation, Distribution & Logistics (TDL) – Olive-Harvey College, a member of the City Colleges of Chicago system, served as the backbone organization for the Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics sector in partnership with YWCA Metropolitan Chicago. Together, they worked with employers, training providers, and workforce stakeholders to expand career pathways and address workforce needs within the growing transportation and logistics industry.

More than 30 training providers delivered industry-aligned training, supportive services, and employer-connected career pathways to over 1,100 residents throughout Chicago and Cook County. Over 943 of these were placed in employment and 927 completed training.

Good Jobs Chicagoland was strengthened through the collaboration of strategic partners that supported sector development, employer engagement, participant success, and regional workforce coordination. Key partners included:

• Women Employed
• Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC Chicago)
• World Business Chicago
• Employer partners across the manufacturing, healthcare, information technology, and transportation, distribution, and logistics sectors
• Community-based organizations, educational institutions, and workforce stakeholders throughout Chicago and Cook County
• Through strong employer engagement, sector partnerships, and community collaboration, Good Jobs Chicagoland connected residents to in-demand careers while helping employers build the skilled workforce needed to support regional economic growth.

Good Jobs Chicagoland was implemented from 2022–2026, with grant reporting and closeout activities continuing through 2027.

In 2022, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced the launch of The Cook County Career Connector Program, funded by Cook County’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. The program consisted of hiring events at Suburban Cook County sites within The Partnership’s network, promoting a more inclusive and equitable economy as Cook County emerged from the pandemic, by connecting residents to quality jobs and connecting employers to a skilled and diverse talent pool.

Through the program, The Partnership’s network hosted 15 Career Connector Hiring events, which were attended by 3,617 career seekers and over 400 employers. The events fostered 910 conditional offers.

Created in early 2022, in partnership with Cook County’s Justice Advisory Council, The Partnership launched the Reentry Navigation Initiative: The Road Home, a 34-month project that supported individuals returning to Cook County from Illinois’ correctional facilities. Through Cook County’s ARPA funds, the program expanded to assist more returning citizens facing employment challenges. In April 2023, during Second Chance Month, County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced the program’s growth, with federal funding increasing from $450,000 to $1 million in 2024. This expansion helped participants in suburban Cook County by offering navigation, career coaching, training, support services, and paid work experience, with a focus on workforce development and permanent job placement. 398 people registered for The Road Home program.

In 2023, The Partnership and Cook County launched the Cook County Career Pathways Navigator program to support individuals with disabilities and connect them with organizations to help them with their career paths, funded by Cook County’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. The Partnership also produced an episode of its podcast Hire Frequency about the program, interviewing a professional with a disability and his employer.

Throughout the program, the navigators attended more than 500 events and engaged with more than 2,100 customers, many of whom were referred for further services.

In June 2020, The Partnership received a $56 million grant from the City of Chicago and Chicago Department of Public Health to serve as the lead coordinating organization of the City’s COVID-19 Contact Tracing Corps. Through a competitive process, The Partnership identified 31 CBOs to serve as the local employers, ensuring the contact tracers lived in or near the City’s hardest-hit communities.

In July 2021, the work of The Corps expanded beyond contact tracing to strive towards  COVID-19 recovery and prevention by supporting community health needs related to the pandemic.

Under The Partnership’s leadership, in collaboration with its partners, 600+ Chicagoans were hired, trained in an Earn-and-Learn program through City Colleges of Chicago, and successfully served as the community-based, on-the-ground backbone of Chicago’s COVID-19 response. As contact tracers and outreach workers, they handled more than 500,000 calls, knocked on more than 19,000 doors, and provided resource coordination to over 3,000 Chicagoans. More than 96% of these Corps members were Black or Latinx, and almost 90% lived in the hardest-hit communities.

The Partnership’s core partners in this endeavor were the University of Illinois at Chicago’s School of Public Health (UIC); NORC* at the University of Chicago (NORC); The City Colleges of Chicago Malcolm X College, and Sinai Urban Health Institute (SUHI). NORC ended its work on this project in November 2021.

In July 2022, The Partnership received a $24 million grant from the City of Chicago to aid in mobilizing and sustaining a Chicago Community Health Response Corps Team, to reflect the expanded nature of the Corps’ initiatives and impact. The CHRC expanded its work to help residents access reliable information, recovery support (e.g., economic, and social programs and services), and specific health resources.

In November 2022, The Partnership announced 11 community based organizations, to serve as local employers of the Corps members. In June 2023, The Partnership held a hiring event to connect Corps members with healthcare career opportunities. About a quarter of the Corps members who attended reported finding their next job at the event! Many transitioned to positions in the Healthcare sector, including supervisory and lead roles, patient experience representatives, and community health workers.

The Partnership collaborated with The University of Illinois in Chicago (UIC) School of Public Health, Sinai Urban Health Institute, Malcolm X College, and the Illinois Community Health Workers Association.  They created an Earn-and-Learn program where Corps members used 7.5 hours per week of paid work time towards a pre-approved Earn-and-Learn pathway of a public health, healthcare, or in-demand industry career. Corps members received regular professional development from their CBO employer and The Partnership’s network. ​ The curriculum included trauma-informed service delivery and self-care, customer service skills, epidemiology, chronic disease, public health literacy, and other COVID-19 and public health-related topics, including soft and hard-skill training. ​

In collaboration with CHA, The Partnership offered a comprehensive job training program to CHA residents and Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) recipients. The program offered dedicated career coaching, job training, and employment services. The goal was to help CHA residents find fulfilling jobs in their fields of interest and put them on a path to long-term employment. The Partnership worked closely with employers to create opportunities for participants and help them build the skills needed to land jobs that pay a living wage. The program focused on helping participants attain opportunities in high-growth industries such as Healthcare, Information Technology, Manufacturing, and Construction. Services included:

• Placement into family-sustaining employment
• Computer skills training
• Technical skills training
• Interviewing skills training
• Resume building

Funding for these initiatives came from two U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grants: a $2.8 million grant CHA received in 2020 to provide training and employment services to CHA residents and a $20 million JobsPlus grant to help families who reside in public housing increase their earned income and become self-sufficient. This funding resulted in a JobsPlus program specifically serving residents of Altgeld Gardens and Dearborn Homes, to connect them with employment, education, and financial empowerment services. More than 2,500 CHA residents enrolled in Partnership programs.

In 2021, The Partnership graduated the final cohort of the Chicago Codes pilot initiative, a unique “boot camp” that trained dozens of residents of Chicago’s African American and Hispanic communities for rewarding careers in Information Technology. Chicago Codes was launched in 2019 with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, Facebook, Microsoft, Motorola, and the City of Chicago, and despite COVID-related challenges, successfully engaged nearly 60 participants in preparation for careers in the fast-growing field of computer programming. Instruction included building skills in JavaScript, HTML coding, Python, and a variety of commonly used coding applications. The course included an intensive 10-week session with the goal of enrolling up to 20 participants in each cohort.

87% of program participants graduated from Chicago Codes, with all but a handful gainfully employed.

Chicago Codes graduates were hired by such leading companies as Mason Dixie, CDW, Capgemini, Accenture and Tinkbox. Working with a variety of corporate and philanthropic partners and supporters, Chicago Codes met its goal of identifying an untapped tech talent pool in high-need Chicago communities and building a diverse pipeline for Chicagoland’s tech companies.

The Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership strengthened workforce pathways in the retail and hospitality sectors through a national initiative designed to expand training opportunities and deepen employer engagement. Working with workforce boards across the country, the initiative supported more than 50,000 job seekers and incumbent workers by providing industry-recognized credentials, job readiness training, career navigation, and supportive services. These efforts helped participants build in-demand skills, increase confidence, and access new employment and advancement opportunities in a sector that employs millions of workers nationwide.

Locally, The Partnership established the Chicagoland Retail Sector Center, which delivered credential training, paid work experiences, and direct employer connections for individuals seeking careers in retail and hospitality. Signature hiring events such as Hospitality Hires Chicago connected over 1,000 job seekers with 127 employers, generating more than 2,100 interviews and 650 job offers. Employers reported improved hiring outcomes and employee retention, while participants gained valuable workplace skills and greater economic mobility through training and employment opportunities. Reimagine Retail was supported by the Walmart Foundation.