The Workforce Board of Northern Cook County is committed to developing a skilled workforce that supports regional business. The workforce system is driven by a focus on industry sector strategies - targeting the growth sectors and the core sectors. Services are delivered as a means to build the supply of skilled workers that are in demand to meet current and future needs of our employers. Key industry sectors identified by the Workforce Board through a compilation of State of the Workforce Reports, Occupational Analysis and the Critical Skill Shortages Analysis are initially identified as: Health Care, Manufacturing, Transportation, Warehousing and Logistics/Distribution, Hospitality/Tourism, Finance and Insurance, and Technology.
With five percentage (5%) of the jobs in Northern Cook County are in retail; the Workforce Board has partnered with Westfield Old Orchard, the National Retail Federation Foundation,and Oakton Community College to open the Center for Professional Development in Skokie in 2005. The Center is dedicated specifically to addressing growth within the service sectors and is a place for businesses to find unsurpassed service training and certified candidates. The Center delivers National Professional Certification assessments dove-tailed with industry standards and curriculum set by the NRF Foundation in retail and customer service, sales and retail management.
The Workforce Boards of Metropolitan Chicago in partnership with innovative, regional partners are building an inventory of program that focus on the development of STEM skills. The inventory will serve as a regional resource for identifying STEM programs that are available in the metropolitan Chicago region. In addition to marketing the availability of programs to target audiences, the inventory will foster communication and collaboration between STEM program administrators. If you administer a program that focuses on the development of STEM skills, please complete the program profile.
The Workforce Boards of Metropolitan Chicago is a regional consortium of Workforce Boards that have collaborated for the past eight years on initiatives that address workforce and economic development issues. The region is significant both in terms of its geographic area, its constituency, and contribution to Illinois' and the nation's economy. The region includes the City of Chicago and following eleven counties: Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, Livingston, McHenry, and Will.