Skills Hits Milestone of 10,000 Chicagoans Placed into Jobs in its Mission to Address Unemployment Inequities in Chicago’s Disinvested Communities
CHICAGO – Skills for Chicagoland’s Future (Skills) today announced it has reached a significant milestone of 10,000 job placements for local residents as it works to address job market inequities in disinvested communities throughout the Chicagoland area.
Founded and developed in 2012, Skills is a leading nonprofit that has flipped the traditional workforce model to address unemployment and underemployment. Skills’ “jobs-first” approach starts by going directly to employers to understand their hiring needs, company culture, and long-term goals. Skills then connects those employers to unemployed individuals who Skills has helped recruit, coach, prepare, and advocate for to find quality employment.
“I am thrilled that Skills for Chicagoland’s Future has placed 10,000 Chicagoland residents into jobs and careers,” said Marie Trzupek Lynch, founding CEO of Skills. “It isn’t about the number, it is about the 10,000 people whose lives have been changed because they got a job, creating a path of economic mobility for their family. I’m very grateful to our businesses, community partners, and the Skills team that helped us get to this point and will continue to help us to change lives through employment in the years to come.”
Since Skills opened its doors, the organization has developed more than 100 corporate partners that seek out Skills’ help in hiring talented workers, including JPMorgan Chase, Hyatt, Ulta Beauty, Discover, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Walgreens, UChicago Medicine, and Jewel Osco, amongst others. Skills serves as a recruiter, coach, and resource to help job candidates obtain positions with these corporate partners. Skills focuses its recruitment efforts in disinvested communities of Chicago, where Black and Brown unemployment rates remain high and job seekers have been traditionally overlooked. Skills maintains a corporate-led Board of Directors, chaired by Mark Hoplamazian, President and CEO of Hyatt Hotels Corporation.
As Skills works to address unemployment in Chicago as well as its affiliate site in Rhode Island, the organization is working to scale nationally to bring its innovative model to 25 new cities across the country over ten years, and expand its expertise to the national workforce landscape.
For more information, visit Skills’ website.
