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Chicago Tribune
17-04-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Clean energy job program offers career options in Lake County; ‘The program was a blessing for me'
Richard Martinez-Messner of Waukegan concedes he has made some regrettable decisions in the past, but late last year — jobless with little more than some clothes to his name — he decided he was going to make the necessary changes to live a productive life. Walking into the offices of the Job Center of Lake County two weeks after his release from the Lake County jail, his life changed quickly. Martinez-Messner learned of the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) Waukegan Hub clean energy jobs training program. Completing the initial training as part of the first CEJA cohort of future clean energy workers in January, Martinez-Messner undertook advanced training as a building inspector. As he looked for a permanent job, Lake County Workforce Development offered him one within the CEJA plan. 'I jumped on it,' Martinez-Messner, 37, said. 'The program was a blessing for me. It was a paid training program that really helped. I walked out of jail on Christmas Eve with little more than the clothes on my back.' He was one of 13 members of the first CEJA Waukegan Hub cohort, which started its monthlong training on Jan. 6 in Waukegan, in pursuit of clean energy jobs and who are currently taking advanced courses or are part of the workforce helping the environment. Conceived in 2021 when Gov. JB Pritzker signed CEJA into law, Waukegan was designated one of 13 hubs in the state less than two years ago. Lake County Workforce Development, the College of Lake County and Community Works joined forces in August, receiving $4 million in grants. 'Each of us has our own strengths,' Richard Ammon, the college's executive director of workforce initiatives, said. Ammon said the school's $3.5 million portion of the grant will hopefully be replicated in the next two years. Yvette Ewing, the founder of Community Works, said she uses the resources of her facility for training, but she also recruits people for the program in a variety of ways. Workforce Development trains participants in basic skills of job-hunting and thriving in the workplace. Though some participants have tools to enter the workforce with a green job — some members of the first three cohorts are already in their new careers — Ammon said advanced training comes from the college teaching skills in electric vehicle maintenance, HVAC and home inspection. Designed to last four weeks, Ammon said all participants learn basic employment skills like being part of a team, communicating in the workplace, safety, CPR, basic first aid and a lot of emphasis on green energy workplaces. 'They'll learn basic construction skills, like using power tools and measuring tools, electric wiring like how to run conduit,' he said. 'The Bridge Program lays the foundation for clean energy jobs.' Community Works' responsibility is recruiting participants. Ewing said she is a navigator, working throughout the area at events and by invitation, letting people know about the CEJA Hub and what it offers. It not only puts people in green jobs, but also careers that provide a good lifestyle. Much of the work of the Bridge Program takes place at her facility. 'We help people remove barriers,' Ewing said. 'We help them upskill themselves. We can teach basic construction skills here. The older people teach the younger, and the younger people teach the older people some things, too. They also see people who look like them.' Martinez-Messner said he is working closely with the introductory or Bridge Program. He will teach it to either the May or June cohort. His days of making unwise decisions — often, he said, influenced by alcohol or other substances — are over. 'I'm helping people get jobs, and helping people not be in the place I was in,' he said. 'If you want to keep what you have, you have to give it away (to others). I want to help other people do well.' Though some people like Martinez-Messner are ready for a full-time 'upskilled' job, others like William Gist, 43, of Round Lake, another member of the first cohort, want to learn a new green skill. He is now enrolled in a three-semester program to learn how to work with electric vehicles. Previously a boxing coach, independent personal trainer and taking other jobs to pay his bills, Gist said he was drawn to the CEJA Hub because he wanted a career with a future. He likes working with engines, and was drawn to the electric vehicle program. 'I knew I didn't want a warehouse career,' he said. 'I like working with my hands. I've worked on motorcycles and am pretty good at it. I also knew I didn't want to be on a roof. This will make the world better for my children and grandchildren,' he added, saying he will help reduce the area's carbon footprint. So far, Ammon said 37 people have completed the first three cohorts, and eight more are in the fourth which finishes at the end of April. The other hubs are in Alton, Aurora, Carbondale, Champaign, Chicago's South Side, Chicago's Southwest and West sides, Danville, Decatur, East St. Louis, Joliet, Peoria and Rockford.
Chicago Tribune
07-02-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Officials say Lake County workforce outlook is strong, but warn of future challenges; ‘Our businesses are still growing'
A 'State of the Workforce' presentation last week painted a positive picture of Lake County's workforce last year, but while the Lake County Workforce Development Board analysis painted a similarly rosy picture for 2025, it warned of potential issues looming in the distance. During the virtual presentation, Ronald Lanz, business development director at Lake County Partners, said 2024 was a strong year for Lake County and the broader region; Unemployment remained stable, sitting at about 4.5% in December — slightly down from the same time in 2023 and lower than many of the surrounding communities. That means of Lake County's 454,000 residents in the workforce, about 15,000 are currently unemployed. In the technology and life sciences sectors, two of the county's strongest industries, employment numbers remained largely unchanged from 2023. However, Lanz expects a number of projects 'in our pipeline' will change that in 2025. The transportation, distribution and logistics industry saw a 4.3% jump from 2023, while manufacturing saw a smaller, 1% increase. Lake County has also been a 'very strong' warehousing location, Lanz said, with expansions into the western and central parts of the county. 'A number of our wins' in recent years have actually been in food manufacturing, he said. Lake County has the talent base and training programs, and it has attracted businesses, making the county a 'stronger and stronger destination' for food manufacturing companies. According to Jeff Hubert, business services project lead with Lake County Workforce Development, the county saw a 5.8% wage growth, outpacing national trends. It was an indication of economic strength, he said, while also underscoring, 'the need to align wages with rising livings costs.' Since 2020, Lake County has seen $1.3 billion in new capital investments, Lanz said, aiding in the retention of nearly 5,000 jobs, and the creation of over 4,600 new ones. In 2024 alone, roughly 1,200 jobs were created or retained, he said. Challenges ahead Despite the positive outlook, there are serious challenges to consider. A number of speakers pointed to labor shortages. The county's labor force shrank last quarter by 8,000 in a year-over-year comparison, partly because workers are aging out of the workforce and retiring. 'Lake County does face a pretty significant challenge in that our employment population is aging,' Lanz said. 'It's shrinking.' It will be important to continue to get workers to move into Lake County, he said, to staff the different businesses the county is looking to attract. Those employees will need housing, a challenge that local municipalities 'are recognizing … and stepping forward to begin to address.' Lanz said they expect, and are even beginning to see, a 'lot of growth' in a range of housing types across the county. 'It needs to be spread out, so that when we're landing new businesses, they know that there's an opportunity for their employees to having housing opportunities within close proximity to where they're working,' he said. Hubert talked about the importance of working with various local organizations to build a talent pipeline, ensuring a 'steady flow' of workers for employers. As technology advances, Hubert said the county will also need to address the growing 'skill gap.' As the healthcare, IT, manufacturing and renewable energy industries grow in Lake County, they've struggled to find qualified candidates, Hubert said. 'Our businesses are still growing,' he said. 'Let's just train up that workforce so we can fill some of those roles.' Labor perspective Michael Lazzaretto, business manager at Lake County Laborers Union Local 152, agreed that 2024 was 'pretty strong' for the county, especially compared to some of the union's city branches, which have seen a downturn with vacancy rates still up. 'They're not building skyscrapers right now,' he said. 'There's a lot of offices that are empty. They've seen a slowdown, but we have seen an uptick.' The uptick they've seen came from federal funds, Lazzaretto said, with the infrastructure bill leading to plenty of revitalization work on roads and bridges. While 2025 seems like it will follow the trend, Lazzaretto said national issues were causing some uncertainty, including talks about pausing or even canceling projects. 'It's a kind of wait-and-see approach right now,' Lazzaretto said. Pete Olson is the president of the Lake County Building and Construction Trades Council, which represents some 50,000 workers in a variety of trades across Lake County. He said there's 'ample work' in the county, although nowhere near the levels seen pre-Great Recession. Lazzaretto said the trades have also been affected by the demographic shifts of an aging workforce, and they don't see as many young people coming in as they, would like although Olson noted his local union receives more than a thousand applications a year, indicating high interest in joining trade union organizations. Lake County unions have been working to increase recruitment, running career fairs and 'trying to get that message out there,' he said. Local unions are beneficial for both workers and the community, Lazzaretto and Olson both said. They offer high pay and benefits, while guaranteeing the money spent on projects remain within a community. 'You want that money to trickle down to everyone else in the community,' Lazzaretto said. 'When a guy is working in his community, he's going to spend his dollars in the community.' Unions can also draw on larger, skilled pools of labor if need be, Olson said, including from neighboring unions.
