There was a Community Intake Conference for Lathrop Homes on April 24. “This conference welcomes career seeking individuals who are in search of a position in the construction industry,” the announcement from Communities Empowered Through Construction (CEC) says.
The Chicago Housing Authority is redeveloping the 32-acre historic Julia C. Lathrop Homes into a massive mixed-use, mixed-income campus along the Chicago River’s north branch.
Revised plans scraped the original “signature gateway buildings” by bKL Architecture, to preserve Lathrop’s original administration building at Clybourn and Diversey as well as an existing apartment block at Damen and Diversey known as S-03. Lathrop’s overall unit count remains at 1,208.
CEC says on its website that its mission “is to build a bridge between public officials, community needs and economic growth via the construction industry.”
“CEC was established as a result of years of community development and the need for community participation in those developments,” the document says. “Our goal is to offer direction, training and personal development to community residents, to match potential employers/developers with qualified candidates from the community, and monitor minority participation and compliance on government and private construction projects.”
“The CEC understands the commitment that public servants make to their constituents. When there is economic growth in their communities, it is ideal for members of their communities to be involved in that economic growth. Our goal is to work within these communities to develop and prepare their residents to successfully participate in the community hiring efforts made on behalf of the construction projects. By managing the community hiring and outreach on projects, developers and public servants have assurance that there is adequate level of community participation. Fostering a wonderful partnership between community residents, public officials/servants and developers.
“The CEC has an ongoing database of residents all over the city of Chicago, that have been screened, interviewed and have gone through a behavior modification training, if necessary, that are prepared and eager to work in their communities. We also work with community organizations to provide training and assist with developing candidates.
“In addition, we host Minority Contractor Meet and Greets to insure that we have access to community businesses. We have found that the database and the Meet and Greets insure that we have a pool of qualified construction candidates and minority contractors available for referrals.”
