Our Work

In partnership with the Calumet Collaborative, the Center worked to develop a Geographic Information System (GIS) tool to help prioritize previously-identified brownfield sites for redevelopment to improve health and economic outcomes in the region.

Clean energy holds great potential for the Chicago region. Supported by shifting market forces and partially assisted by public policy, significant portions of the American economy are shifting away from carbon-intensive, fossil fuel driven activities toward cleaner, more efficient, and higher-output ones, especially through greater energy efficiency and more use of renewable energy sources. As a result, there are challenges and opportunities for policy makers and training institutions that aim to prepare the future clean energy workforce. A new report by the Center examines major findings related to the size of the green economy, occupational distribution and concentration, and inclusion in the green economy. Results are presented for the nation, the 14-county Chicago Region, and Cook County.

The Center will strengthen the linkage between communities and the food manufacturing sector, a particularly important segment of the local economy due to the high concentration of businesses in the sector. For this work, the Center has partnered with the Industrial Council of Nearwest Chicago (ICNC) to support their workforce development programming in the sector with the hopes of reaching historically excluded populations and improving retention for local firms.

In its capacity as the EDA Center, supporting green economic development, the Voorhees Center has targeted 9 emerging segments of the local green economy that have the potential to benefit the Calumet Region.