Dive Brief:

• Chicago is poised for growth in the technology-driven manufacturing sector, so the city has plans to build a 105,00 square foot $75 million training center at the site of Richard J. Daley College with the sole purpose of preparing graduates for careers. The new facility will help address a lack of STEM talent in the region. 

• The new manufacturing learning facility will be named "Daley Center for Excellence" and should be ready to serve it's first wave of learners by April of 2017.

• This bold move into creating better, more workforce-centered education is part of the City Colleges' College to Careers $500 million initiative that began in 2011, at the end of the recession that nearly destroyed Chicago.s former manufacturing base. 

Dive Insight:

The effort to build a brand new learning center based on real workforce needs in the manufacturing industry is a smart one. Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a recent press release the center will open thousands of opportunities for jobs in manufacturing.                                                                                                                    

An estimated 14,000 new jobs in the manufacturing sector are expected to become available in Chicago and surrounding areas in the next 10 years. Along with being a state-of-the-art training facility, the Daley College Center will serve community manufacturing plants as a quality assurance center, to further connect students with jobs.