Building Economically Integrated, Sustainable Communities Ted Wysocki, CEO, Local Economic & Employment Development Council, North Branch Works,

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1 Building Economically Integrated, Sustainable Communities Ted Wysocki, CEO, Local Economic & Employment Development Council, North Branch Works, Chicago, IL March 22, 2013

2 The Local Economic & Employment Development (LEED) Council, now doing business as North Branch Works, has a 30-year history of integrating economic and employment development to further connect industry and community in Chicago s North River and Addison Industrial Corridors. Leveraging Business Growth for Local Jobs assists businesses with pre-development services to expand and locate in our industrial corridors. We then encourage firms to hire locally by posting on our job matching website -- WorkLocal.org.

3 Community Jobs Initiative supports public investment in businesses willing to commit to local hiring. Fosters partnerships between the private, public & non-profit sectors that nourish career path skills training for local residents; and Encourages sustainable development by identifying local job opportunities for local residents that lessen commuting, thereby improving both the environment and family life.

4 Evolved from a community struggle to replace hundreds of lost jobs which resulted from the closing of the Cooper Lamp Factory in Identified a jobs-focused adaptive reuse by Baum Development instead of conversion to luxury condos. Secured federal Office of Community Services grant of $500,000 to establish loan fund for tenants who agree to hire low-income individuals.

5 Green Exchange Former Cooper Lamp factory (a 270,000 sq ft landmark building) transformed into the Green Exchange instead of condos Jason Nowak & Jessica Beauchemin, owners of Rainforest Learning Center, our 1 st OCS borrower

6 Planned Manufacturing Districts (PMDs) Innovative zoning tool to preserve manufacturing land use by prohibiting incompatible residential uses. Land use stability has resulted in millions of dollars in public and private investment in area infrastructure and business development. Organized for the first one to be designated in Today 15 Chicago PMDs, of which we manage four. Numerous cities have explored the PMD model for their urban industrial corridors.

7 #7 is Green Exchange North River & Addison Industrial Corridors

8 Leveraging Business Growth for Jobs Our pre-development work creates relationships with key decision makers at firms to solve problems related to expanding or locating to a site. This positions us to determine the feasibility of job creation and potential for local job placements. Our workforce unit then establishes commitments from firms to work directly on a hiring process, helping to market jobs they create to local residents using our Worklocal.org website.

9 Business Services & Infrastructure Improvements One-on-one intervention with City departments and elected officials to resolve operational concerns; Advocacy to address functional transportation & infrastructure improvements to mitigate traffic congestion such as new bridges and street repairs; assuring safe routes for pedestrians and bicyclists; promoting public transit via bus shuttles; and Facilitating real estate development & financing for business expansion.

10 Workforce Services & Job Training Many unemployed / underemployed individuals lack the functional computer skills required in today s market. We redesigned our computer skills training to offer Microsoft Office Suite certifications. Many job seekers need assistance in updating their resume and preparing for job interviews. Our employment staff work not only with our training graduates but also with our worklocal candidates before they are referred to prospective employers.

11 Targeted Communities for Local Jobs A & B are the industrial corridors along the river

12 Building Community Prosperity from the Ground Up Critical Issue: Affordable Land & Space for Business Growth to Sustain Communities Connector Role: Necessary to assure Economic Growth Benefits the Community Lessons Learned: Partnering key but challenging to herd multiple agendas Take Home : Businesses are Community Stakeholders too & they have the JOBS

13 To follow up with the speaker: Ted Wysocki, CEO Local Economic & Employment Development Council North Branch Works, Chicago, IL (773) x223 or Presentations will be available at by March 29, 2013