As the nonprofit umbrella organization overseeing one of the largest public workforce systems in the country, The Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership (The Partnership) serves as the designated administrator of federal workforce development funding for the City of Chicago and Cook County, which together comprise Local Workforce Innovation Area 7 (LWIA 7), the largest of Illinois’s 22 workforce areas. The Partnership manages a network of approximately 70 community-based organizations, including American Job Centers and Career Centers, serving youth and adults across the region. In addition to federal funding, the Partnership oversees a diverse portfolio of workforce initiatives supported by corporate and philanthropic partners, allowing it to leverage non-federal resources to expand access, strengthen career pathways, and respond to regional workforce needs.
Organized around clear career pathways, The Partnership and its network focus on sector strategies shaped by employer demand and regional labor market needs. By working directly with employers to understand the skills they are looking for, The Partnership aligns training and preparation, so job seekers are better positioned to meet real hiring requirements. This approach strengthens the connection between training and employment, supports employers in finding qualified candidates, and helps individuals enter the workforce with direction and room to advance over time.
Hiring events are one place where system coordination is most visible. The Partnership works intentionally with employers to design these events around real hiring needs, bringing together employers, community partners, and workforce staff in settings built for direct connection. Pre-screened, ready-to-work career seekers meet employers face-to-face to learn about available roles and often move quickly into interviews or next steps.
While The Partnership meets and exceeds every WIOA performance measure, success is defined as much by impact as by outcomes.
In Program Year 2024, individuals working with The Partnership’s network earned $153.5 million in wages, reflecting how integrated systems translate into real economic opportunity for both workers and employers.
When there are large economic shifts and employers are forced to lay off workers or scale back operations, The Partnership plays a critical coordinating role. Working with employers and local partners, the Partnership helps activate Rapid Response services that provide immediate support to affected workers, including guidance on next steps, access to retraining, and connections to reemployment services. By aligning resources quickly during these transitions, the system helps reduce disruption for both workers and employers and maintains continuity across programs and partners at a moment when clarity matters most.
As a founding member of Midwest Urban Strategies, The Partnership joined MUS to engage in a Midwest-centered workforce network that brings policy, practice, and advocacy together. As a large regional workforce intermediary, the Partnership values MUS as a platform to share best practices, coordinate across states, and collectively elevate workforce priorities, particularly around employer engagement, federal funding, and system alignment.
That engagement has provided meaningful benefits for staff across the organization. Site visits with peer workforce organizations in other large metropolitan areas have offered hands-on insight into how programs are managed and services delivered at scale.
The Partnership has also contributed to the network’s shared learning. Through an MUS member-only Learning Lab, its Director of Finance shared strategies for navigating budgetary change, including how to “stress test” organizational budgets during uncertain times.
At the center of this work is a staff that reflects the communities it serves and brings experience across workforce development, public policy, and employer engagement. Women represent 65 percent of the Partnership’s staff, shaping how the organization leads and delivers its work.
