CPS students make connections with skilled trades professionals at special McCormick Place event
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Approximately 1,000 students were able to make connections with skilled trades professionals on Tuesday.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the Chicago Public Schools announced a three-day in-person skilled trades career fair, which kicked off on Tuesday. The Skilled Trades Career Fair began at the McCormick Place Lakeside Center from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The event is co-hosted by the Department of Family and Support Services and the Community Safety Coordination Center. It is intended to connect students who are at risk of becoming disconnected from work and school after graduation with information on how to break into the skilled trades.
As CBS 2's Shardaa Gray reported, some students from Dunbar Vocational Career Academy, at 3000 S. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. in Bronzeville, were in attendance at the McCormick Place event on Tuesday.
Not only did the event give kids career options after graduating, but it is intended to keep them off the streets as well.
"Students that go to option schools typically have higher rates of coming from lo-income families, higher rates of violence victimization, higher rates of justice involvement - and they need more supports," said CPS chief coordination officer for community safety Tamara Mahal.
The initiative is part of Mayor Lori Lightfoot's whole-of-city approach to address violence and develop viable career pathways for young Chicagoans. Mayor Lightfoot toured the trades fair Tuesday.
"It's giving each and every one of you the opportunity to see the great jobs in the trades that are available right here in our city," the mayor said.
The goal is to expose about 3,000 students to the skilled trades throughout the three days.
"You can actually get paid while you learn on the job and that's just something that you can't find in a college," said chaperone Christopher Sutton. "I've been out of college almost 30 years and I'm still paying loans back."
Students from the city's South and West sides were prioritized to make sure students living in communities with higher poverty and unemployment rates to have access to learning a trade.
One student who is part of the Chicago Builds Construction program said he became interested just by stepping outside.
"When you go outside, you see construction everywher, so I always wanted to know - I always thought, what goes into that?" said the student, Tyshawn Leftridge of Kenwood Academy High School. "And I felt like this was a very good program to see."
"I guess going to college for four years and spending so much money on education was not ideal for me, so I wanted to see if I could be more successful in other pathways," said CPS high school junior Hadiyah Carlvin, also part of the Chicago Builds Construction program.
Companies that hire construction workers, painters, bricklayers, and roofers were just some of the businesses at the fair.
It goes until Thursday.
For further information on the events, see the announcement below.
