Early Success with City of Chicago and IMEC Partnership to Invest in Manufacturers in Select Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Districts.

A few manufacturers in seven TIF districts have already received fully-funded virtual training courses to upskill their workforce and improve productivity. There is still room for more manufacturers to apply.

News provided by

IMEC

May 19, 2021, 09:30 ET

CHICAGO, May 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Chicago Department of Planning and Development (DPD) TIFWorks program partnered with IMEC to fund expert-led virtual training courses for select manufacturers in seven of the TIF districts at the beginning of this year. A few manufacturers quickly took advantage of this opportunity, including 1840 Creative, a furniture manufacturer located in the 35^th/Halsted TIF district.

1840 Creative took advantage of the fully-funded Foundational Manufacturing Processes course, which is still available for others to enroll in on a first-come, first-serve basis. Here's what Yair Rodriguez, owner of 1840 Creative, had to say about the course:

IMEC: How will this training help your organization succeed?

Yair Rodriguez (YR): We learned about better, more efficient manufacturing processes and about impactful restructuring and organizing of physical spaces.

IMEC: What would you say to any companies who aren't sure whether they want to take advantage of this training opportunity?

YR: Do it. You have NOTHING to lose. If you walk away with ONE thing - that is ONE thing you are better at as organization.

IMEC: Any additional comments or insights you would like to share?

YR: The staff was incredible. They made the experience just as impactful as the course content. however, that video in kitchen should probably be updated.

This Tax Increment Financing (TIF) funded initiative will cover enrollment for 14 companies, up to 28 participants, in each of the selected TIF district. There is still room in each of the TIF districts for more small to medium-sized manufacturers to apply, but they must apply quickly before the program ends

Course topics are centered around safety, leadership, process improvements, maintenance fundamentals, and strategy in a post-COVID-19 world. These topics were selected based on a survey IMEC created last year to understand the needs of small and medium-sized manufacturers in Chicago.

Manufacturers with fewer than 40 employees that are located in one of the below Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts are eligible to apply to receive training from IMEC experts:

35th/Halsted
Greater Southwest Industrial (West)
Little Village Industrial
North Branch (South)
Pilsen Industrial Corridor
Sanitary and Ship Canal
Western/Ogden Industrial Corridor

To learn more about the program, click here.

About IMEC
IMEC is a team of improvement specialists who are dedicated to changing lives and creating a positive impact on Illinois' workforce and economy. With a mission to drive growth through enterprise excellence, they help organizations become more effective and efficient by identifying issues, developing and implementing solutions, and providing the necessary support that will allow them to excel in areas of leadership, strategy, customer engagement, operations, workforce, and measurement and results. In 2020, they assisted over 1,144 companies and helped create or retain over 6,100 jobs, resulting in over $645M aggregate impact to the Illinois economy. IMEC has seven offices statewide and 48 full-time industry improvement specialists. For more information, visit www.imec.org.

SOURCE IMEC