LEADERSHIP COMMUNITY

Peoria Pathways to Prosperity

The Greater Peoria region renewed its efforts to study economic development including the region’s talent ecosystem that includes representatives from elementary, secondary, post‐secondary institutions, and business‐centric talent development organizations.

In the spring of 2015, the Mayor of Peoria invited executives from Peoria Public Schools, Peoria Federation of Teachers, CEO Council, Peoria Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Central College, Illinois Student Assistance Commission, Illinois Pathways Initiative, and Greater Peoria Workforce Alliance to participate in a conversation with the Illinois Governor’s office to consider the possibility of joining the Pathways to Prosperity Network. The participants agreed to form a Peoria Pathways to Prosperity (PP2P) team to study education to careers challenges facing students matriculating through the Peoria Public Schools and to recommend improvements.

In the years since, this work has evolved to scale regionally, connecting multiple employers and school districts across five counties to align career pathways to the Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness Act framework. This work is now coordinated by the Emerging Workforce committee of the Workforce Alliance, alongside two other population-based strategies focused on upskilling working adults, and supporting the success of adults with multiple barriers. These committees, along with the K-12 focused Emerging Workforce team, are working to ensure that they’re utilizing the P-20 framework for moving the region toward the 60 by 25 goal in the communities.

Lead Intermediary Organization

Greater Peoria Economic Development Council & Workforce Alliance

Region Contact Information

greaterpeoriaedc.org

gppathways.org

Areas of Expertise

  • Curriculum Alignment
  • Development of Earn & Learn and Career Development Experiences
  • Career Information and Advising
  • Employer Engagement

Prioritized Focus Sectors

  • Health Sciences
  • Information Technology
  • Manufacturing/TDL

Key Successes

  • Engaged over 22,700 students from over 70 unique middle and high schools, through Greater Peoria CareerSpark, our regional career expo, since 2016.
  • Supported placement of 400+ high school interns at over 75 unique companies since 2016.
  • Leveraged over $7 million dollars of local, State, and Federal grant dollars to support Workforce Alliance aligned strategies.
  • Increased Early College Enrollment by 33% year over year for the past two years.
  • Supported the development of Earn & Learn model at Illinois Central College and streamlined employer engagement efforts through Workforce Equity Initiative model.
  • Supported three Greater Peoria school districts in applying for College and Career Pathways endorsements in the inaugural CCPE cohort.

2-Year Goals

  • Increase the number of adults with a post-secondary credential by 4% by 2022.
  • Engage around 10,000 students through Greater Peoria CareerSpark.
  • Support placement of another 200+ high school interns.
  • Engage remaining school districts in the region in CCPE mapping and planning work, working to have at least one endorsed pathway at each post-secondary district by 2022.
  • Further improve Early College enrollment.
  • Support expanding Earn & Learn and pre-apprenticeship models in partnership with Illinois Central College and Workforce Alliance.

Community Updates:

Greater Peoria Hosts Fifth Annual CareerSpark

The Greater Peoria Economic Development Council and their partners at Junior Achievement of Central Illinois collaborated with local volunteer employers to create 48 industry-specific virtual booths representing eight different career clusters.

December 2, 2021