Greater Peoria is investing in its future by creating the strategies and framework to connect our region’s employers with a skilled workforce. These efforts are driven by a driven partnership of economic development organizations, regional K-12 public education districts, Illinois Central College, industry partners, and community-based organizations.
This effort originally began with funding and technical support from the American Federation of Teacher’s Innovation Fund focused explicitly on Peoria Public Schools in 2015. After establishing critical partnerships, refining strategies, and the passing of the Post-secondary and Workforce Readiness Act in 2016, the work has now scaled to impact the entire Greater Peoria region. This work is focused on meeting new College and Career Readiness Expectations, through establishing a more coherent, shared framework to help improve student outcomes and narrow our workforce gaps.
Career Pathways
Leverage local, state, and national resources within the community to develop career pathways endorsements and for the students in all partner school districts in the areas of Health Sciences, Information Technologies, and Manufacturing by the AY 2020 school year. Learn more.
Early Career Exploration
Coordinate and align career exploration strategies for regional middle schoolers with intentional focus on living wage careers in our region’s most critical industries such as skilled trades, healthcare, manufacturing, information technology, and agriculture. Learn about CareerSpark, an annual career expo event for 8th graders.
Essential Skills
Support schools in implementing shared, regional Essential Skill framework at local participating K-12 districts.
PaCE Standards
Support schools in meeting Postsecondary and Career Expectations (PaCE) standards. Each student should have an individualized learning plan to help make decisions about career and post-secondary (PS) education or training, to plan a course of study, and to make financial aid assessments with family members. Learn more.
Connect
Connect underemployed individuals with opportunities and programming to earn credentials in high-demand fields. Learn more about ICC’s Workforce Equity Initiative.
Communicate
Communicate and coordinate local work with the region, the state, and other regions in the state.
Experiences
Identify and coordinate workplace based experiences for high schoolers, such as internships and job shadowing.
From traditional 2 and 4 year degrees to technical certifications and advanced degrees, Greater Peoria is committed to providing opportunities for a diverse and skilled workforce to develop right in our own region.
Want to learn more? Contact us.
Lenora Fisher
Greater Peoria Economic Development Council
Director of Business Attraction
C: 309-253-6010
E: lfisher@greaterpeoriaedc.org
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