RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, A good education is a fundamental building block in the development of the individual, and in turn, in that individual's role in a healthy, strong, productive society; and
WHEREAS, In furthering this vital goal, the City of Chicago recently announced that it is implementing a new job application preference for City positions for Chicago Public Schools (CPS) high school graduates; and
WHEREAS, This new hiring preference, the first hiring preference for City of Chicago positions that targets CPS students, will encourage our students to stay in school and graduate, so they are prepared for college and a career, and further underscores the City's strong commitment to helping our youth succeed; and
WHEREAS, With this new hiring preference, the City's Department of Human Resources will ensure that a minimum of 20 percent of the candidates referred for a'position that has the CPS hiring consideration are CPS graduates; and
WHEREAS, This groundbreaking initiative would not have been possible without the stalwart support of organized labor, working hand in hand with the City for a brighter economic future; and
WHEREAS, An example of the kind of City position that would be open for this new preference is a new position established at the City's Department of Streets and Sanitation, titled "General Laborer," and involves training to work on a variety of tasks that require different skills, including tree trimming, graffiti removal, sanitation removal, and hand labor work; and
WHEREAS, This new preference not only encourages students to stay in school and get their degrees, but also helps the City fill its positions with students who we know have received a quality education in our public schools; and
WHEREAS, This new preference, presenting an exciting new opportunity for our youth, is timely, for the CPS high school graduation rate has increased, with the 2011-2012 school year projected to see the highest recorded graduation rate for the District at 60.6 percent; now, therefore,
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BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the Mayor and Members of the City Council of the City of Chicago, assembled this third day of October, 2012, do hereby call upon representatives of organized labor, and interested public officials, to appear before the City Council Committee on Workforce Development and Audit to discuss the new CPS student preference, the potential it represents, and the ways in which it can be used to best benefit our students and our City.