Resource Library
CJC’s Latest Tools & Resources
Career Readiness Curriculum
The Career Readiness Curriculum is a free curriculum that is built upon existing job readiness curricula and field expertise. The Curriculum aims to create a culture shift in workforce organizations that transforms how job seekers are served.
Supportive Services: Lessons Learned from the Field
This report offers recommendations for legislators, elected leaders, and program administrators for how to narrow supportive services gaps and advance policy to eliminate structural barriers that keep people out of work and in poverty.
Lessons Learned from Manifestations of Racism in the Workforce Development System and Housing System Workshops
This report provides a brief introduction to the legacy of race in Chicago public housing, the origins of the Workforce Development, Homeless Systems and Racism.
Workers' Rights Resources
Are you ever unsure of your job seekers’ rights in the workplace? Are there times you think your clients are being taken advantage of or discriminated against but are not sure what to do? Knowledge about basic worker protections is a crucial component of any job-readiness program. To answer these questions, CJC presents the Workers’ Rights Curriculum developed by Alison Dickson of the School of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois.
Building Pathways to Clean Energy Jobs in Illinois
This report, after summarizing what we know about the broader clean energy industry landscape in Illinois, focuses on two main industries where clean energy jobs are concentrated in Illinois: solar energy and energy efficiency building retrofits. We provide an overview of the landscape of each industry and offer examples of potential career pathways within each industry.
Workers' Rights Resources
University of Illinois’ Labor Education Program, in collaboration with Chicago Jobs Council and UIC’s Great Lakes Center for Occupational Health and Safety are excited to share with you findings from their survey of Chicagoland workforce providers who are actively educating their participants about their rights on the job and pursuing collaborations with high road employers.
External Resources
We’re always collecting resources from our partners to make workforce providers more effective. Here are a few.
Benchmarking
The Success Drivers framework of guidelines and strategies has been developed with input from practitioners who are part of the Workforce Benchmarking Network and who are “higher performers” among their peers participating in the national Benchmarking outcome survey. The framework is also informed by existing research in the workforce development field.
Pathways to Careers
Pathways to Careers Network (in collaboration with Women Employed)
As of 2020, 67 percent of Illinois jobs require a college degree or certificate, yet three million Illinois adults don’t have education beyond high school. To address this gap, Women Employed and the Chicago Jobs Council launched the Pathways to Careers Network, an initiative to increase college and career success for adult learners with low basic skills.
Driver's License Resources
How to Get a Valid Illinois Driver’s License Guide
Job seekers without a valid driver’s license may face extra hurdles in getting and keeping a job. The How to Get a Valid Illinois Driver’s License guide was prepared by Revolution Workshop to help internal program participants get their license for the first time, or have it reinstated after a suspension. You can also learn more from our Transit Table coalition about advocacy to reduce excessive driver’s license suspensions in Illinois.
Reimagining Retail Employer Engagement Toolkit
The Reimagining Employer Engagement toolkit was published by Reimagine Retail Chicagoland in 2019 and was designed to equip frontline staff with practical tools and information for approaching employers from a strengths-based perspective.
Family-Centered Coaching
Families are their own best experts in identifying their strengths, challenges, and future goals. This Family-Centered Coaching curriculum, developed by W.K. Kellogg Foundation, is a set of strategies and tools that can help frontline staff, organizations, and systems more holistically work with families to reach these goals.