The Walmart Foundation is giving a Chicago and Cook County workforce agency $10.9 million to provide education and employment services for retail workers.
The grant will fund retail-oriented programs in Chicago and 10 other locations, Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership CEO Karin Norington-Reaves said after the grant was announced at a National Association of Workforce Boards conference on Monday.
The organization, formed in 2012, provides free services to job seekers and businesses and is among the largest workforce agencies in the country, with a roughly $60 million budget, and administers federal, public and private funding to 53 institutions, Norington-Reaves said.
About a third of the grant money will fund local programs, including a new center where the Chicago Cook organization will provide retail-focused training for new employees preparing for a first job and current workers looking to advance their careers, Norington-Reaves said. Courses range from interpersonal skills that help employees succeed in the workplace to more technical customer service and retail programs that might help an employee qualify for certification through the National Retail Federation.
“Despite the fact that there’s this stigma around low-wage jobs, the reality is that one in four American jobs are in the retail industry,” Norington-Reaves said. “Our job is to ensure people are going into the retail sector space with a rich understanding of the opportunities that await them, and that there are quicker opportunities to advance within retail than any other sector.”
The National Retail Federation says the retail industry directly accounted for about 28 million jobs in 2009 and indirectly supported an additional 13 million jobs. That’s about one in four U.S. jobs, including full-time, part-time and self-employed positions, according to the retail industry group.
The Chicago Cook organization also works with companies looking to provide training for current workers or hire new employees in the Chicago area. Norington-Reaves estimated her agency helped Wal-Mart hire about 350 people.
The agency currently has a small retail and hospitality sector center in Chicago and offers programs at satellite locations, but the new facility will help it provide more services to more people, Norington-Reaves said.
The organization hasn’t yet chosen a site for the new center but is looking at locations on the South and West sides, Norington-Reaves said.
The remaining funding will be distributed as grants to 10 workforce development boards across the country, she said.
The Walmart Foundation selected the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership because it’s known as a leader in developing sector-specific programs to help people find jobs and advance their careers, said Kathleen McLaughlin, the foundation’s president and chief sustainability officer for Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart has been trying to improve advancement opportunities for its own employees, but the foundation also has been trying to spread those ideas across the retail industry, she said.
“Engaged, thriving associates provide much better service to customers,” McLaughlin said. “We are trying to improve the way the sector as a whole works so the talent pool in retail is enriched. It’s good for us in the long term as well.”
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