The Brown Sugar Bakery started working with the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership’s Hospitality and Tourism Sector Center in March 2018. Throughout this collaboration, the bakery employees have benefited from On-the-Job Training (OJT) and Brown Sugar has hired five candidates referred by The Partnership.

The Partnership’s sector centers facilitate employer engagement to support business growth and economic development in four priority, high-demand sectors in our region. They are listed below, along with The Partnership’s Business Relations Specialists responsible for each one and a link to more information about each of the centers.

The sector centers promote the workforce system’s business services by delivering recruitment and retention services. These services include but are not limited to:

• Coordinating recruitment events for large or small hiring needs
• Promoting work-based learning such as apprenticeship programs that provide new skills to entry-level employees to increase employee retention
• Providing applicant pre-screening services to ensure a business is presented with a qualified talent pool from which to choose potential employees
• Implementing train-to-hire initiatives to create a pipeline of pre-trained new hires who can “hit the ground running” ready to enhance employer services
• Working with employers to identify and create customized training plans and develop innovative programs for current employees and new hires
• Connecting employers to tax incentives and training reimbursement grants, creating cost savings that can be reinvested in a business