CCDI representatives Dan Lester and Curtis Florence attended the Chicago Women in Trades SHE Can Build It Event on July 23rd. The event covered a variety of topics around hiring and retaining women in the trades and helping them adjust to jobsite culture.

Curtis Florence, a member of CCDI Chicago’s leadership, attended the Black Contractors Owners and Executives Summer Event. The event brought together members, sponsors, and developers to discuss upcoming opportunities. Curtis took the opportunity to network and discuss the goals of CCDI.

CCDI Chicago attended the City Incite Annual Fund Raiser as a Sponsor’s representative. City Incite is a Chicago-based, non-profit organization created to help inner-city youth unlock new opportunities, gain leadership skills, and give back to their communities. Cornelius Griggs, President of GMA Construction was the keynote speaker. Several students gave personal testimony on the impact the program has had on their lives. They run a nine-month program fixing and repairing one home donated by either Wells Fargo or the Cook County Land Bank. The students earn $100 per week and the program is for individuals ages 16-24. All students get exposed to the various aspects of construction and are able to seek entry into their preferred trade at the end of the program. City Incite has close ties with the Carpenter’s Union and has had the most success getting apprenticeships with them. They also offer an 8-week service internship and college admission for low income students to Indian Hills Community College in Iowa.

CCDI Chicago attended the Solve Changing the Narrative event. Solve’s software helps people find jobs and resources to overcome all the barriers to employment. The event consisted of acknowledgment of investors, corporate clients, non-profits, and testimonials from Solve participants. Solve is working on Solve 2.0 designed to address a lot of the requests from people currently utilizing the software. We will continue to work with Solve to them improve the database for CCDI Chicago.

Curtis Florence, a member of CCDI Chicago’s leadership team, attended the Black Contractors United’s June event. It was an excellent opportunity to network with local subcontractors and introducing them to CCDI’s mission.

Urban Prep Englewood visited Clayco to learn about careers in construction, design, and real estate. Urban Prep’s mission is to provide a high-quality and comprehensive college-preparatory educational experience to young men that results in our graduates succeeding in college.