GWTP's mission is to develop model programs and policy initiatives linking the employment and training of the neighborhood workforce with local economic development efforts and the needs of small and mid-sized employers.

GWTP releases troubling new data on race, gender, and employment in Chicago >>

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Senator Durbin  "talks shop" with GWTP program trainees, who demonstrated their work products and discussed the need for technical workforce  training.

Chicago – With critical funding for job training threatened by steep Congressional budget cuts, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin visited Greater West Town Community Development Project’s (GWTP) Community Career Training and Economic Development Center, to call for continued public investment for effective programs.

Senator Durbin met and thanked two local employers, Dave Bochniak of Chicago Booth Manufacturing and James Marks of Bird-X, Inc. for their support and participation in GWTP's Community-Business Job Training Partnership. “These programs work.  By actively involving employers, who guide the curriculum to meet the needs of their marketplace, this is a true ‘job creation engine,’” noted Durbin.

Twenty-seventh ward alderman, Walter Burnett, echoed the Senator’s sentiments. “I have supported this organization for many years, going back their old [Fulton Street] location, because I know these programs are effective.  I’ve seen many graduates hired by good local companies, which of course is a win-win for our whole community.”

GWTP’s track record is impressive.  Throughout the deep recession, during which GWTP’s inner-city communities witnessed a 150% increase in unemployment, the agency kept hope alive, placing over 87% of vocational training graduates in local, living-wage earning jobs.  “The credit goes to the community-business partnership model,” stresses GWTP Executive Director Bill Leavy.  “We succeed by serving as the link between disadvantaged community residents who need jobs and local employers who require a skilled workforce.”

In addition to GWTP’s Woodworking and Solid Surface Manufacturing and Shipping and Receiving training programs, Senator Durbin and Alderman Burnett visited the West Town Academy (WTA), the agency’s alternative high school for Chicago Public School dropouts.  “The dropout crisis and the unemployment crisis are interrelated,” noted WTA principal, Keisha Davis-Johnson.  “Without earning at least a high school diploma, followed by post-secondary education or certified job training, one cannot hope to compete in today’s global economy.”

U.S. Department of Labor awards Greater West Town Project $1.5 Million for Young Adult Ex-Offender Services

June 25, 2012, Chicago - GWTP has received one of 21 federal grants awarded to community based organizations across the country to fund the GREAT (Gaining Re-integration through Education, Advocacy and Training) Opportunities program, which provides education, training and support services to youth and young adults returning from the juvenile justice system.

Secretary of Labor, Hilda L. Solis, noted that the awards will “help vulnerable youth receive the training and support they need to gain valuable job skills and improve their long-term employment prospects.” Program participants will earn high school diplomas and industry-recognized credentials.

“We appreciate the Department of Labor’s program support, which will allow us to expand and strengthen education and employment services for ex-offender youth of our community”, noted GWTP’s Executive Director, Bill Leavy.

Community service learning and work experience, integrated with GWTP’s West Town Academy’s comprehensive alternative high school curriculum, are integral aspects of the GREAT Opportunities program. Key community partners Blocks Together, Humboldt Park Social Services (Center for Changing Lives), Growing Power, North Lawndale Employment Network, and Global Network Development Center help provide service learning and internship opportunities. These agencies, along with over 40 other supporting community service partners and the office of Cook County Juvenile Probation and Court Services, will provide coordinated recruitment and referrals and wrap-around support services for program participants.

“We are grateful for the broad support of our community agency partners and local employers for this grant application, and for their help in our agency’s work to meet the needs of our community’s many struggling, at-risk and underserved young people,” said Keisha Davis-Johnson, West Town Academy Principal.

For more information on the GREAT Opportunities Program, click here.

West Town Academy: Creating Educational and Economic Opportunity in the Face of the High School Dropout Crisis

Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership CEO Karin Norington-Reaves addresses WTA's 2012 Graduating Class.

The Class of 2012 exemplifies the success of our community-based and community-driven strategy to expand educational and economic opportunity for at-risk youth and the communities in which they live. 

For decades, Chicago’s public schools have struggled to retain, educate and graduate young people of color, particularly African American and Latino males. The high school dropout crisis is complex, chronic and ongoing, and the consequences for individuals, families and communities are enormous. In GWTP’s focus service areas of the Near West Side, Humboldt Park, Garfield Park and Austin, less than half of our young people complete high school in 4 years. Less than half of our young people have the educational preparation needed to succeed in life. Chicago Public Schools’ high schools in these neighborhoods all suffer from four-year dropout rates of 50%-60%.   

AN EFFECTIVE COMMUNITY RESPONSE:  THE WEST TOWN ACADEMY 

WTA enrolls former Chicago Public Schools drop-outs ages 17-21 and helps our at-risk young people get a fresh start in life by providing them with a second chance to earn a high school diploma. Since Greater West Town moved into its state-of-the-art Community Career Training & Economic Development Center at 500 N. Sacramento Blvd in the Fall of 2010, our capacity to serve high school dropouts in these disadvantaged communities has greatly expanded. The West Town Academy Class of 2011 was 67; in 2012, the graduating class has grown by leaps and bounds to a historic high of 92.  WTA will eventually enroll 200 former high school dropouts per year.

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