Corporate Coalition of Chicago

"It's easy to jazz hands your way through an initiative. It's hard to build lasting community partnerships. We are committed to building those deep community partnerships" - Danny Wirtz, Chairman of the Chicago Blackhawks and Wirtz Corporation. Earlier this month, more than 80 members and partners of the Corporate Coalition gathered at the United Center for an engaging and thought-provoking conversation on community engagement and community investment. Danny along with Sara Guderyahn, Executive Vice President of Social Impact & Civic Affairs of the Chicago Blackhawks and Executive Director of the CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS FOUNDATION, shared powerful insights on values-based leadership and their #BusinessUNusual community engagement approach. They also discussed their vision for reinvesting in the West side neighborhoods around the United Center via their 1901 Project, a $7 billion, 55-acre development over the next decade, emphasizing patience, inclusive planning, and long-term investment. The energy in the room was electric, and the commitment to #Chicago was palpable. Thank you Danny, Sara, and the entire Blackhawks team for graciously hosting us at the United Center and for your leadership in this work. Onward!

American manufacturing won’t be rebuilt by robots - it will be rebuilt by people. Drew Crowe, founder of the The New American Manufacturing Renaissance says the real problem isn’t a skillsgap but a vision gap. Millions in overlooked communities never hear that quality jobs exist behind factory doors. Crowe has lived both sides—advanced machinist and returning citizen—and manufacturing rewired his life. Now he’s focused on the 70 million Americans who carry criminal records and are shut out before the interview starts. His playbook: - Hire for drive, not diplomas. Scrap outdated degree filters. - Remove life frictions. Offer childcare, transport stipends, mental-health support. - Show relatable role models. Students listen when the speaker looks like them. Companies can make the changes needed to bring in the talent and upskill them on the technologies. Close the vision gap, modernize hiring, and build wrap-around support. It’s not philanthropy; it’s the foundation of a resilient, home-grown manufacturing base. Check out the full article on Drew and the work he's doing at this link - https://xmrrwallet.com/cmx.plnkd.in/eajWREW9

How do you turn a single company’s “community promise” into a city-wide growth engine? Ask Matt Johanson and Juatise Gathings, co-founders of Just Act Partners. Their mission: help businesses show up, not just with press releases, but with measurable impact. Together with the Corporate Coalition, they launched the Invest Together initiative: a blueprint for corporate, place-based investment on Chicago’s South & West Sides. If done right, the model could mean: - Hundreds of new, community-based jobs - Replicable, scalable playbooks employers can follow - A stronger ecosystem linking companies, service providers, and local leaders Invest together embodies 3 main components: - Employers Investing Together: Place-based work is hard to do. Co-locating multiple companies in the same neighborhood can create shared infrastructure and staying power. - Backing Existing Community Projects : The goal is to amplify efforts already led by residents and local developers, not reinvent them. Serving as an anchor tenant goes beyond traditional community engagement efforts to support & strengthen these innovative efforts. - Building for the Future: Jobs alone aren’t enough, companies also should think about the whole person coming to work. From childcare to transit, housing to healthcare, working with other nonprofits and service providers as co-designers from day one is essential to ensure new opportunity lasts. When companies work with community, everyone wins. Ready to see how your organization can “invest together” instead of investing alone? Talk to Stefanie Hest. #PlaceBasedInvestment #CorporateCoalition #Chicago #CommunityDevelopment #InclusiveGrowth

What does it take to drive both business success and social impact? In many cities around the world, companies are rethinking their role, not just in the market but in their communities. Can purpose and profit truly coexist? In our seventh issue of RBV Quarterly, we sit down with Dr Brian Fabes, Managing Director of the Corporate Coalition of Chicago, USA, to explore what it means to lead with impact. In this thoughtful interview, Dr Fabes reflects on the Coalition’s mission to help businesses collaborate on solutions that build a more equitable economy while still delivering strong commercial outcomes. From redefining performance metrics to embedding equity into decision-making, Fabes shares his view on why leadership today must extend beyond shareholder value. He also outlines the challenges of systems change and how local initiatives can have national and even global resonance when backed by consistent, values-driven leadership. Can business be a force for good without losing its edge? Dr Fabes believes it not only can, but must. 🔗 Read the full interview in our seventh RBV Quarterly issue: https://xmrrwallet.com/cmx.plnkd.in/gkkvzHvr 🔗 Explore all RBV Quarterly issues: https://xmrrwallet.com/cmx.plnkd.in/g_tVdfhN #Leadership #SocialImpact #InclusiveGrowth #CorporateStrategy #CEOInsights

Unfortunately, we’ve seen the devastating effects that flooding can have on communities. Verizon’s Responsible Business team is partnering with a tech startup (Hyfi), innovative nonprofit (Center for Neighborhood Technology), and the City of Chicago to make our communities more resilient. Join us for lunch at our launch event Monday, August 11 at The Ovation. The event is free, we simply ask that you RSVP at https://xmrrwallet.com/cmx.plnkd.in/gic4YREz I hope to see you there as we discuss Innovative Tech for Communities!

Former Discover CEO Roger Hochschild was tired of “business as usual” - expanding into already developed areas while underinvested communities were left behind. So he broke the pattern, as recounted with Freakonomics. Discover opened a call center inside a formerly vacant Target store in Chatham—a historically Black neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. They selected Juatise Gathings, who grew up nearby, to run it. Here’s what’s happened. Discover: - Created over 1,000 jobs, with more than 80% of employees living within a five-mile radius of the center. - Spent over $40 million on the renovation. - Offered competitive wages, free meals from local restaurants, onsite health services, and a community center to support employees and their families. The results? - Retention is higher compared to other Discover call centers - The Chatham center performs as well as other Discover locations, with lower employee turnover - Local skepticism eased as the company proved it was hiring and contracting locally - Employees have much shorter commutes, more time with family, and a sense of pride in their work and neighborhood. The center is seen as vibrant and supportive Sometimes the best way to change outcomes is by doing business UNusual, like investing in neighborhoods, and proving businesses can win by working with communities. Check out the full story here - https://xmrrwallet.com/cmx.plnkd.in/gDZsdDKg #Freakonomics #BusinessUNusual #Chicago

Our peers at It Takes A Village Family of Schools, Metropolitan Family Services, and UChicago Medicine shared their bold plans to pilot new practice changes as part of the most recent Generation Work cohort with Cara Plus, Corporate Coalition of Chicago, and Chicagoland Workforce Funder Alliance. These pilots will explore everything from transforming hiring practices to testing retention strategies in roles with historically high turnover—all with the goal of better supporting, retaining, and advancing young, untapped talent, ages 18-29. We gathered in a powerful community of practice, where these employers could sharpen their strategies, ask questions, and gain insights from each other and from those with lived experience. Members of our Young Adult Advisory Board brought invaluable perspective to the table. There is nothing better than seeing employers and young people design the future of work—together! #GenerationWork #InclusiveEmployment #WorkforceDevelopment

Nearly 4 in 10 Americans can't cover a $400 emergency without borrowing, selling something, or going without. - 1 in 2 families earning under $50K live paycheck to paycheck - 1 in 3 earning $50K–$100K are in the same boat - Even 1 in 4 making $150K+ say the same That equates to ~800,000 Chicagoans — and ~530,000 of them wouldn’t turn to a credit card or a friend. They’d sell something or go without. But what if employers could fix that without breaking the bank? We’ve been exploring emergency cash assistance models to support employees facing unexpected financial crises — challenges that often lead to lower productivity, increased absenteeism, and higher turnover. We’ve identified several promising solutions and are preparing to pilot them to better understand whether cash assistance is a tool we would recommend more broadly to other organizations. If you’re interested in learning more about this, please reach out to Sara Wasserteil.

Last week, I had the incredible opportunity to join the final Generation Work™ Cross-Site Meeting in the amazing city of Birmingham! I've been a part of this project since my first day at the Corporate Coalition of Chicago, and it's been an incredible journey partnering with Cyndi Bergstein, Liana Bran, Molly Verghese and Antoine Watson. Together, we've worked with over 25 companies to help them break down barriers that young adults face in entering the workforce. The list of amazing leaders is too long, but I particularly want to shout out Sarah Klebo at Fitness Formula Clubs (FFC), Kirsten O'Neal and Cathy Tylutki PHR, SHRM-CP, CCP at Harris & Harris, Kristie Conklin at ComEd, Shawnda Morris, MBA, PHR at Loyola Medicine, and at Kate Podmore at Ace Hotel / Atelier Ace. And a special shoutout to the Young Adults Advisory Board members who are leading alongside us this year to help enhance everything we do: Ameerah Muhammad, Ariennda T., Denale Fowler, and @Demetrius Owens. In Birmingham, we had the opportunity to visit the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI) and see the prison bars where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was held when he penned his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." His words ring so poignantly true today: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly." I am so grateful to be in this network of mutuality with the many friends and connections that we have made through this project. I want to thank the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the National Fund for Workforce Solutions for building such an incredible collaborative community, especially: Ranita Jain, Laura Burgher, Carrie Felton, Ricardo Henriquez, Abby W., Michelle Wilson. And shout out to the many partner sites across the country doing the good work of expanding opportunities for young folks to thrive in the workforce: Kristen Holder, Jarrod Stisher, Anna Topping, Tatianna Turrentine-Long, @E.J. Bravo, Lora Steele (She/ Her/ Hers), Michael Karman, Aleece S., Nicole McGill, Renata Beata Kowalczyk, MBA, MS, Larry Barnhill, Anthony Stanziale, and the many other folks in Generation Work! #WorkforceDevelopment #BusinessUNUsusual #YoungAdult #Leadership #Birmingham #Chicago #GenerationWork

Hiring talent with records doesn’t require a radical overhaul. Sometimes it just takes showing up in the right places and saying the right things. Our Fair Chance Hiring Program Director, Stephanie Dolan & Jeffrey Korzenik hosted an Essential Guide to Hiring Fair Chance talent workshop in Athens, GA. Organic recruiting is one of the simplest ways to source fair chance talent — and it works. Here’s how: - Use platforms like Honest Jobs that specialize in justice-impacted candidates - Turn on the “Fair Chance” filter on LinkedIn - Signal your openness clearly in job posts and on your career site “We welcome applications from candidates with criminal records” - A single line like that can make a big difference. Want to go a step further? Here are 6 ways to make your job descriptions more inviting for everyone — but especially for fair chance candidates: 1/ Highlight your company culture and values 2/ Ditch the corporate jargon and acronyms 3/ Describe the actual work environment — no fluff 4/ Be transparent about pay, scheduling, and benefits 5/ Share advancement opportunities from the start 6/ Give clear steps for the interview process Fair chance hiring is not about charity. It’s about expanding your pipeline, growing loyalty, and building a more resilient workforce. Because the best people aren’t always the ones with the “perfect” resumes. Sometimes, they’re the ones who never even hit "Apply" — until you gave them a reason to. #Fairchancehiring