Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Who are the Workforce Boards of Metropolitan Chicago?

A. The Workforce Boards of Metropolitan Chicago are a consortium of nine Workforce Boards covering the City of Chicago, Northern Cook County, South and West Suburban Cook County, DuPage County, Grundy/Livingston/Kankakee Counties, Kane/Kendall/DeKalb Counties, LakeCounty, McHenry County and Will County.

Q. What is the purpose of the Workforce Boards of Metropolitan Chicago?

A. The Workforce Board's mission and purpose is to drive strategic alliances that advance the region's economic vitality. The Workforce Boards play a key role in the economic development of their local workforce areas and the entire region. They connect the business sector with a myriad of employment, training and educational services that are being developed to support a world-class workforce for the region.

The Workforce Boards of Metropolitan Chicago strive to help build a demand-driven workforce system ­ a system that can provide quality employees for employers and develops real career opportunities for job seekers. By building a progressive system of change strategies and initiatives, the Workforce Boards support an education and workforce system that can be more closely aligned with what businesses need in a quality workforce and ensures continued economic growth of the region and the state.

Q. Explain the "sector-based" focus that shaped many of the group's strategies.

A. As part of the Workforce Boards Regional Agenda, they have adopted a sector-based approach to workforce development. They began with a region-wide community audit and determined which sectors to target for the purpose of creating systemic change within the region's labor market. Those sectors are: healthcare; manufacturing; warehousing, transportation and logistics; finance and insurance; technology; and hospitality and tourism.

Q. How do the workforce boards define workforce regionalization?

A. The Workforce Boards of Metropolitan Chicago recognize that the economic vitality of each individual area is impacted by cross-geographic issues, and that geographic boundaries are often meaningless to businesses, residents and economic development entities. Thus, they also realize the importance of collaboration to produce greater impact across the region.

Q. How will the Workforce Boards of Metropolitan Chicago affect the workforce climate in the region?

A. This consortium is focusing on a number of regional initiatives aimed at supporting business and sustaining the region's economic vitality. Under its sector-based strategic initiatives, the consortium is targeting healthcare, manufacturing, technology, transportation, logistics & warehousing, finance and insurance and hospitality industries. Through six separate "industry summits" targeted to each of those business sectors, the Workforce Boards are bringing together business associations, chambers of commerce and educational institutions to provide a forum for understanding and solving the workforce challenges that affect these industries.

It is expected these industry summits will build greater awareness of the industry workforce needs and make connections between business and education. It is also anticipated these forums will result in an action agenda for skill development programs focused on the current workforce as well as youth ­ the future workforce.