2000— GWTP
puts its community-business training model on display with
its groundbreaking manufacturing initiative. Combining the
strengths of the Woodworkers Training and Shipping & Receiving
programs, the initiative establishes a fully operational
woodworking business run out of GWTP's training sites. The
program gives students extra training and job experience
at a real wage, maximizes city investments in GWTP by increasing
neighborhood improvement, brings in revenues to fund future
training projects, and demonstrates the business viability
of our unique neighborhood training model.
The
Advanced Woodworkers Training program, established in 1999,
comes to fruition as the first wave of students graduates
and finds employment in jobs paying wages 25-30% higher than
the base woodworking pay rate.
Following
a highly competitive selection process, GWTP was selected
as the sole recipient of a substantial, one-time endowment
from the Options For People organization. This endowment
helps fund long-term organizational development including
capital building and equipment needs. The prudent, measured
expenditure of this endowment will enable GWTP to provide
cutting-edge, practical vocational training for economically
disadvantaged area residents who otherwise would not have
the opportunity to participate in advanced, hands-on adult
education and skill set development.
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2001— GWTP
kicks off its Youth Employment Services (YES) program, a
Workforce Investment Act-sponsored training program offering
schoolwork assistance, job readiness training, skills training,
and other support services to youth aged 16 to 21.
Elsewhere,
a transition counselor joins West Town Academy to help seniors
and graduates with college and vocational-school applications,
employment, financial aid, and to coordinate alumni contacts
and networking. In a similar vein, a new coordinator joins
the staff to improve job retention and readiness for vocational
program graduates.
Meanwhile,
GWTP's established programs continue to take steps forward.
The Advanced Woodworkers Training Program achieves 150% of
its Department of Labor program goal, graduating its 15th
student; the Welfare-to-Careers program enters its third
year and celebrates its 100th client placement; West Town
Academy graduates 52 former drop-outs, marking it as one
of the most effective and productive drop-out return efforts
in the state.
Former
GWTP Welfare-to-Work clients are honored as 50 join together
to celebrate their success on the job at a "Ladies Night
Out" with Mayor's Office of Workforce Development Commissioner
Jackie Edens.
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2002— While
the end of 2001 and beginning of 2002 marked the successful
establishment and expansion of several programs, it also
presented a unique set of challenges and obstacles. The manufacturing
sector, including the wood products and shipping and receiving
industries we serve, felt the profound negative economic
impacts both of the recession and the events of September
11th early on. The results included an influx of unemployed
workers, a sharp decrease in employment opportunities and
an increased need for supportive services. GWTP was able
to meet these challenges by fortifying and expanding its
already substantial referral network and in-house supportive
services. Additionally, through extensive participant outreach,
GWTP maintained its recruitment levels for the vocational
training programs while simultaneously raising job placement
success rate to its historic 90% level.
In
order to expand the service capacity for the multiple-barriered
populations placed at risk by the recession and rising unemployment,
GWTP sought and received additional WIA funding. A particular
emphasis was placed on transitioning 40 GWTP welfare-to-work
clients into the Welfare Investment Act (WIA) service stream.
Leveraging our exceptional previous welfare-to-work (WTW)
program successes, GWTP requested and received funding to
implement a pilot WTW transition project. GWTP will also
be focusing on the needs of the ex-offender population that
has been greatly impacted by the more competitive and selective
labor market resulting from the recession. Our efforts will
include tailored counseling, re-placement, employment, training,
and referral services.
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2003
- The quality and impact of GWTP’s youth
services, including the West Town Academy Alternative High
School, was highlighted locally and nationally in 2003-2004
as GWTP helped raise public awareness of the seriousness
of the dropout problem and its negative impact on the future
economic health of Chicago’s inner-city minority
communities. GWTP released two groundbreaking reports on
the severe Chicago dropout crisis, and called for dramatic
changes in both local and State policies to address critical
systemic flaws that were pushing students out of high school
by the thousands.
Two
front-page articles in the Chicago Tribune covered GWTP’s
research and brought attention to the value and effectiveness
of our dropout retrieval efforts through the example of the
West Town Academy.
Following
through on the issue, GWTP convened the Community Coalition
on the Dropout Crisis (CCDC), a diverse, influential, local
education advocacy network of over 20 community-based organizations
committed to serving at-risk and dropout youth through progressive
policymaking and public accountability.
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2004 - Job
training advocacy took the national spotlight when in early
2004 GWTP hosted a “town hall” meeting with,
then-candidate, Senator Barack Obama, Presidential candidate,
Senator John Kerry, and Senator Dick Durbin. The Senators
toured the GWTP training facilities, received overviews of
the Woodworker’s Training and Shipping and Receiving
Training programs, as well as an outline of GWTP’s
Community-Business Partnership model, through which GWTP
links the employment and training needs of local residents
with the hiring needs of local employers.
On
the dropout front, in August of 2004 Governor Blagojevich
signed off on Senator del Valle’s complete “Dropout
Package” of legislation, including SB2115 (the At-risk
and Dropout Youth Accountability and Recovery Act), SB3109
(accountability for dropout reporting of transfers) and SB2918
(changing the compulsory attendance age from 16 to 17). The
passage of these pieces of legislation represented major
victories in policymaking for dropout and at-risk youth.
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2005 -With
the start of 2005, many of our hard-won policies went into
effect in the City and Statewide. These changes include:
