The Chamber's Education Workforce Quality Committee works to make sure companies in the region have access to entry-level workers with the right skills, and that workforce development problems are discussed and solutions offered from experts and "best practice" models.

• The Chamber continues to participate in ongoing discussions about inadequate funding of education and the need for real reform of the property tax/school funding system. The Chamber's position is that structural academic change (i.e. improved quality of education) must come first in order to attract support for a second phase of re-arranging financial support in a manner that is business-friendly.

The Chamber participates as a member of the Business Coalition for Student Achievement, which believes that improving the performance of the K-12 education system in the U.S. is necessary to provide a strong foundation to succeed in our rapidly changing world. As a member, the Chamber receives weekly updates on endorsements of the reauthorization and strengthening of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).

The Chamber also works with the Illinois Business Roundtable to monitor state legislative activity that will affect education quality. One joint event held on March 7 included an important education briefing, "How you can help low income students achieve college and career success," featuring Indiana's successful 21st Century Scholars Program and Illinois proposed legislation HB5109 that would amend the state's Higher Education Student Assistance Act and establish the Monetary Award Program (MAP) Challenge Pilot Program.

• The Illinois College Access Network (IllinoisCAN) continued its efforts to build the capacity and effectiveness of college access organizations, including providing professional development and technical assistance for college access practitioners. Key among their activities was the 4th Annual College Awareness Day on March 25 in which 100 community members volunteered to read the book I Know I Can to 3,100 third graders in classrooms at 43 Chicago Public Schools and discuss post-secondary education and career interests.

College Awareness Day was expanded to include Chicago South Suburbs on April 22 by the University of Illinois Extension.

IllinoisCAN also continued as one of three lead partners in the 2007-2009 National KnowHow2Go campaign in Illinois, an initiative of the American Council on Education, Lumina Foundation for Education and the Ad Council to inspire students in grades 8 – 10 to pursue college.

• Members of the Chamber's Education Workforce Quality Committee and Chamber staff members participated in a variety of activities to promote quality education, including:
• With Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) high technology School-to-Work (STW) funds, the Chamber works with TEC Services to lead five active STW projects at different high schools, along with the Eliminate the Digital Divide (EDD) projects;
• Back-to-School Day on August 27 during which area businesses and employers encourage employees to send their children back to school;
• Chicago Science in the City 2007 (CSITC) kicked off on October 2 with events throughout the city to interest students in science;
• Career-planning Workshop for college students and recent graduates on August 9;
• Scholarship Chicago's Student Focus Group (high schools seniors) on improving the image of manufacturing on October 10.
• Members of the Chamber's Education Workforce Quality Committee and Chamber staff members participated in a variety of activities to promote workforce quality, including:
  • With Chicago Technology Park, developed an online Bioinformatics Training Program (BiTmaP) at University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) to provide bioinformatics skills and employment opportunities for IT professionals;
  • Employer Training Investment Program (ETIP) in partnership with TEC Services to upgrade the IT certifications of IT professionals. In 2008, this program continues as IT Launch through a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor.
  • Seminar/exploration by manufacturers, education, government and labor on Mobilizing to Attract Skilled Workers to High Tech Manufacturing on October 2;
  • Chicago Supports Workers initiative to bring health insurance screening and enrollment, tax assistance, financial education and savings and credit education to hundreds of Chicago workers, in partnership with the Center for Economic Progress and the Mayor's Office for Tax Assistance;
  • Flexible Work and Career Practices forums on January 10 and April 2, part of the Chamber's 2008 When Work Works initiative, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor Women's Bureau Flex-Options Project;
  • Aging is an Asset for the Workplace, a discussion group conducted by a coalition of sponsors on the benefits and challenges of involving older workers, on November 13 at NIU's Naperville Campus;
  • The Chamber was selected by the Families and Work Institute and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to inform businesses in the region about trends in personnel management and to recognize effective and flexible workplaces (i.e. the Alfred P. Sloan Awards.) Thirty three organizations applied for the 2008 Alfred P. Sloan Awards for Business Excellence in Workplace Excellence;
  • The Chamber received a UIC grant to implement the Illinois Science and Technology Coalition (ISTC) and compete for federal funding that will help generate a continuous flow of research-based innovations and new technologies;
  • The Chamber hosted four Job Quality Roundtables to ask companies what incentives the City could provide to support improvement of job quality (e.g. benefits, etc.), in partnership with the Mayor's Office, Women Employed and Aon Human Capital Consulting.
• disabilityworks, a collaborative effort among the Chamber, DCEO and the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities to implement solutions to the issues that confront people with disabilities, continued its vital mission on behalf of employers and the large pool of capable people eager to work. The enterprise, which includes the Chicagoland Business Leadership Network (CBLN) – the employers – and the Chicagoland Provider Leadership Network (CPLN) – the service providers, helps facilitate the employment of people with disabilities. CPLN now has a membership of over 400 service providers that have registered online at www.disabilityworks.org.

The disabilityworks Business Leadership Advisory Board of Directors now includes CEOs or their top executives from some of the region's most prominent corporations. The Board develops strategies on how to communicate with businesses that disability is part of diversity.

In 2007, disabilityworks undertook a statewide expansion project, funded by the U.S. Department of Labor and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, to serve employers and people with disabilities throughout Illinois. Eight disabilityworks Resource Coordinators (dRCs) were hired and are currently located in Quincy, Peoria, Rockford, Mt. Vernon, East St. Louis and Mattoon, Illinois, the City of Chicago and in the Chicago Metro area. The dRC offices are primarily located in the state's Comprehensive One Stop Centers where both people with disabilities and non-disabled persons can look for job opportunities.

Examples of programs undertaken by disabilityworks to fulfill its mission include:

• The www.disabilityworks.org website received 236,768 visitors in the last year and continues to provide valuable information regarding disability employment practices and job opportunities.
• CPLN now has 1,235 service providers, employers and individuals with disabilities enrolled in its network and registered online to receive disability employment information and job leads;
• CBLN now has 62 separate businesses enrolled in its network and is working with them to increase the diversity represented in their workforces by hiring people with disabilities. Education is also provided to the businesses on why it is good for the bottom line to hire people with disabilities;
• The Critical Skills Shortages Initiative (CSSI) in Healthcare provided education to 798 students with disabilities, their teachers, counselors and parents in the Chicago Public Schools and Northeast Region of Illinois in 2007 about healthcare career options;
• The Executive Director of disabilityworks received a federal appointment to the National Job Corps Advisory Committee, and following, as that Committee's Chair of the Sub-committee on Disability. The Sub-committee made recommendations regarding employment of people with disabilities that were presented to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor.