LEED Council

What do Recruiting, Hiring Tax Credits, Training Grants, and Fee-for-Service Customized Trainings have in common? They are all services that North Branch Works offers its business partners.

Recruiting

You define the hiring requirements.  We sift through hundreds’ of resumes and our own applicant database to find the perfect candidate. Wouldn’t it be nice to free up all those hours spent looking through resumes to a more productive endeavor? This service is provided at no charge.

Hiring Tax Credits

New hires may be eligible for Federal and State tax credits. But you will never know unless you ask. Ask us. We can tell you and make the filing for the credits simple because we do most of the work for you.

Training Grants

Do you need to train your employees? Ask us about training grants that can reduce your training costs.

Fee-For-Service Customized Trainings

Are you planning to introduce a new piece of machinery onto your plant floor? Do your just promoted supervisors need supervisory training?  How about computer skills training or green carpentry or energy auditing training? All can be provided by North Branch Works. Some at a fee and others at no charge.  Let us be your training partner.

All of these are available to our business partners for the asking. If you have any questions about these services, please contact Liliana Kaminski Bradford, Assistant Director-Employer Relations, at lily@leedcouncil.org

For the last year and a half, the Local Economic and Employment Development Council and now with our new name as North Branch Works has been expanding our service area north and west along theChicago River into the “Addison Industrial Corridor”, shown below.  This area, which is almost contiguous to the rest of our service area, has been the focus of City and local planning efforts for a few years. 

A plan for the area (A Strategic Plan for the Addison Industrial Corridor), commissioned by the Department of Housing and Economic Development (then the Department of Community Development) identified three sub-areas of the Corridor. 

The southern-most sub-area, dubbed the “Rockwell Corridor”, has been a particular focus of ours and builds on redevelopment efforts at the Green Exchange and Lathrop Homes.  This area basically follows the Chicago River from George on the south toBelmonton the north and is home to a few large employers, including Cenveo Envelope Company and Tampico Beverages.  The goal of the Rockwell Corridor redevelopment is to modernize an old corridor with inadequate space, land use uncertainty and speculation into a sustainable industrial park with well-functioning space for green and traditional businesses.

Partially due to our success in reaching out to business and property owners in the Rockwell Corridor, the City’s Department of Housing and Economic Development expanded our LIRI (Local Industrial Retention Initiative) contract to include the entire Addison Industrial Corridor. We are excited about being able to help businesses stay, expand, and locate to this area.  We have begun to outreach to major stakeholders in the area, including the 47^th Ward Alderman Amaya Pawar, owners of Bradley Place  (the former Bodine Electric campus near WGN studios)  now under new ownership and partially up for lease) DeVry University, and others.  We are planning to have a business forum later this summer at DeVry University that will provide information on lowering your business’s bottom line and will be a great opportunity to meet with more stakeholders in the area.  Please be on the lookout for more information as we firm up details. 

For more information, please contact:

Krista Kahle Elam

Krista@leedcouncil.org 

773.929.5552 x 226

“Weatherizing Lincoln Park” was the headline for a workshop, conducted on June 26th by the LEED Council’s Green LEEDers. The workshop was part of Green Week, a community project organized by the office of Michelle Smith, Alderman for the 43^rd Ward. The team put forward the basics of what every homeowner or small building owner should know about weatherization - how it leads to energy and utility cost savings, as well as a healthier and more comfortable home or building. Some of the specific topics included “whole house” weatherization theory, explanations of blower door testing and some industry-wise thoughts on the cost effectiveness of specific weatherization measures in addition or comparison to other approaches to energy conservation. Overall, the thrust of LEED Council’s aims was to make weatherization exciting and sensible enough, to inspire attendees to take “next steps” toward weatherizing their buildings.  

In addition to being trained in weatherization, Green LEEDers are skilled in a variety of home improvement and repair trades including carpentry, painting and kitchen remodeling. Green LEEDers can deliver professional work at affordable prices to single family homeowners, landlords of 1-3 unit buildings, and small business establishments. If you’re interested in an estimate appointment, give us a call at 773 929 5552 ext. 235.