Development of innovative initiatives that cut across the boundaries of specialized fields in order to improve the quality of life for all residents. Applied research and analysis for decision-makers and the public about important issues facing the region, the state and the nation.
Contact
Diana Robinson @ drobinson@niu.edu or 815.753.0955
An innovative group of agencies that serve homeless adults in Rockford, Illinois worked with information technology experts from NIU Outreach to develop an innovative software package, MPower, so they could collaborate better in helping homeless adults rebuild their lives. A group of Rockford leaders wanted to expand use of this collaborative case management software to other groups in the region such as chronically truant students, recently released county jail inmates, and others.
CGS worked with Rockford’s community leaders to produce a business plan that created an entrepreneurial not-for-profit social enterprise, Community Collaboration, Inc. (CCI), to develop new versions of the software and to market it nationally.
CCI’s MPower software package is now installed in 180 social service agencies and faith-based organizations in the Rockford region, Lake County, the St. Paul/Minneapolis metro region and Cincinnati, Ohio. More than 75,000 individuals allow their primary human service provider to use this software to provide them with more coordinated social assistance.
Web Address www.cciunites.org
Northern Illinois is experiencing an unprecedented level of international immigration. In DuPage County alone, over 25% of the population does not speak English at home, and over 10% speak English poorly or not at all.
A CGS affiliate, the DuPage Federation on Human Services Reform, developed the Language Access Resource Center (LARC) to provide training, technical assistance, and trained interpreters to health care and human service organizations, government agencies, and schools to better serve persons with limited English proficiency. LARC provides training for interpreters and the professionals who work with them.
Over 200 individuals have completed the interpreter training and another 150 professionals have completed orientation to work with limited English proficient persons. Over 500 interpretation sessions have been completed.
Web Address www.dupagefederation.org/larc.htm
Poverty is moving to the suburbs in northern Illinois. Almost 50% of the state’s low income residents live outside of Cook County with a growing percentage living in the collar counties. DuPage County alone is home to over 145,000 low-income persons. Communities often lack the organizations that help people cope with poverty and are unaware of the available public benefits that are a critical support for vulnerable people.
A CGS affiliate, the DuPage Federation on Human Services Reform, developed a nine-part training series, Making the Connection, which provides detailed information about an array of public benefits in an easily accessible format. A companion website developed in partnership with CGS, www.mtcil.org, provides advanced information and updates.
Over 1000 persons throughout the state have attended this training series. They report increased success in helping low income persons obtain public benefits.
Web Address www.mtcil.org
The fast pace of economic and social change in Illinois poses important challenges to policy makers and program managers in workforce development because different parts of Illinois are affected in different ways. Although several Federal agencies produce economic and social data that can be put together to assess these changes, most local and regional workforce development professionals lack the time to analyze the data themselves.
The Washington D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute already produced a well-respected bi-annual report on these changes for the nation. They also provided assistance to state-based partners throughout the U.S. to supplement the national data with specific analyses within state boundaries. Since Illinois was the largest state without a partner in this network, CGS organized an Illinois-based project to fill that void.
Today, CGS works with NIU’s Office of Social Policy Research and the Chicago-based Center for Tax and Budget Accountability to produce a bi-annual State of Working Illinois report and a series of short Policy Briefs on specific topics. These materials provide policy makers and workforce development professionals with the most current data on economic and social change and labor market outcomes in the regions they serve.
Funders
Joyce Foundation and the Woods Fund of Chicago
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The DeKalb County Community Foundation wanted to design and implement a soft skills initiative focused on middle school youth throughout the county as part of its Communityworks Initiative.
Over 16 months, CGS helped the Foundation develop an initial planning process, facilitated stakeholder meetings, collected survey and other data, and prepared reports.
By engaging educators, employers, youth service organizations, parents, and the youth themselves, a set of essential soft skills for all DeKalb County youth and an implementation process were identified.
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