CTA Board Approves New Partnership to Expand CTA’s Second Chance Program

The CTA Board of Directors has approved a new partnership between CTA and City Colleges of Chicago that expands the CTA’s successful Second Chance Program, an innovative initiative that provides valuable job skills and career opportunities to Chicago residents who face challenges re-entering the workforce. The program has expanded significantly under Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the partnership with City Colleges, which was announced this past January, will now provide participants even greater opportunities for skills and career development.

Under Mayor Emanuel, the CTA’s Second Chance program has grown into one of the largest workforce re-entry programs of its kind in the U.S. — providing critical opportunities to hundreds of Chicagoans that they would not receive elsewhere.

“Since 2011, more than 600 men and women have participated in our successful Second Chance program and more than 150 have been hired into permanent positions,” said CTA President Dorval R. Carter, Jr. “This new partnership with City Colleges will help provide even greater opportunities for skill and career development.”

The Second Chance Priority Careers Program launched in May. It is a 12-week program customized for CTA’s Second Chance Program that will now include mechanical skills training as an option as part of the new partnership with City Colleges of Chicago. The mechanical skills training will be optional four-week training program, beginning later this month, which includes classroom instruction in math, tool identification, electrical skills and more. The training will also include hands-on lab work at City College’s Daley College.

Last year, the CTA received a $750,000 federal grant to help expand diesel mechanic training as part of the Second Chance program—providing participants with a career skill that will see significant demand in Chicago and across the country over the next decade.