Jobs Project

Jobs Organizer Jim Picchetti

For more than a decade, CCH has pursued initiatives that improve access to job training and living wage employment for low-wage workers who are homeless or at-risk.

In 2010, the Jobs Project proposed and helped design Put Illinois to Work, a subsidized program that employed more than 27,300 people over nine months. Funded with federal stimulus and state grants, Put Illinois to Work was developed by CCH in partnership with several state and non-profit agencies, including the Illinois Department of Human Services.

CCH proposed Put Illinois to Work based on a national model it had advocated in partnership with the Center for Community Change in Washington, D.C. Put Illinois to Work employed low-income parents and youth in $10-an-hour jobs for 30 to 40 hours per week.

During 2011, community organizer Jim Picchetti is on a listening tour with suburban and and downstate providers, asking their input on how to better meet the employment and training needs of their homeless and at-risk clients. The Jobs Project is also a partner advocating with Raise Illinois, a campaign to raise the state’s minimum wage from the $8.25-an-hour rate set in July 2010.

For more information, contact Community Organizer Jim Picchetti at (312) 641-4140 or at jim1325@chicagohomeless.org.

Photo by Betsy Neely, Avalanche in B Photography