High Road Network

Mayor Speaks at APA Event

The Bridge — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:58:27 +0000

Now you can read the full text of Mayor Richard M. Daley’s remarks at the January 14 dedication cermony for Austin Polytech’s new Manufacturing Technology Center.

A transcript of Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman’s speech is also available. If you missed it last month, check out our photo gallery and media coverage in The Austin Weekly.

CMRC Forum | Joan Fitzgerald

The Bridge — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:36:28 +0000

Join us for our upcoming forum with Joan Fitzgerald, author of Emerald Cities: Urban Sustainability and Economic Development.

Thursday, April 8th
3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Location TBA

We will also hear from:

Christine Raguso: Commissioner, Chicago Department of Community Development
Jorge Ramirez: Secretary Treasurer, Chicago Federation of Labor and Co-Chair, Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance Council
Jim Wurtz: Vice President, National Railway Equipment Company
>

Please save the date! More details forthcoming in our March issue. Questions? Contact Dan Bianchi at dbianchi@clcr.org.

News from Regional CMRC Chapters

The Bridge — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:50:42 +0000

North Suburbs

In response to the success off November’s Green Collar Jobs and Building a High-Tech Green Economy conference, Oakton Community College has developed a series of courses to teach students in-demand skills for emerging green jobs.

South Suburbs

A delegation from our South Suburban Chapter and the South Holland Economic Development Chamber visited Austin Polytech on February 16. The chapter currently has no plans to start its own school, focusing instead on incorporating more STEM education into existing programs in the region.

The South Suburban Chapter has recently approved its new bylaws, and is currently electing chapter officials. The chapter is considering ways to engage the growing interest in southern Chicagoland around wind energy and high-speed rail.

West Suburbs

After its successful Community Colleges and Manufacturing conference just over a year ago, our West Suburban Chapter is getting re-organized for a productive 2010.

Chapter Chair Sandy Westlund-Deenihan joined Bill Vogel and Joan Wrenn on a panel of manufacturers at our last Executive Committee meeting on February 17. Despite the recession’s challenges for manfuacturers, Sandy was brimming with optimism. For more on the panel, see Dan’s message.

Village of Wheeling

The Village of Wheeling held an open house for local manufacturers at Wheeling High School, where the group discussed starting a Wheeling chapter of the Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance Council (read more in Trib Local). The high school’s STEM education program is one of the best in the country. We hope the new chapter becomes official!

News from our Regional Chapters

Partner Spotlight | Symbol Job Training, Inc.

The Bridge — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:44:44 +0000

Symbol Job Training is no stranger to reinvention. The training provider grew out of a 25-year-old manufacturing company called Symbol Tool, in response to growing need for employees with CNC skills. Now, Skokie-based Symbol Job Training provides hands-on instruction in its full machine shop, and soon they’ll be moving to a new location four times larger than their current facility.

With its new internship program, Symbol Job Training is also helping local businesses cut costs. Students who get into the program (there’s a long waiting list for the 100 available spots) earn money working under faculty supervision to produce real parts ordered by manufacturers. This innovative program is a great way for businesses to save money while actively participating in workforce development.

Briefing to US Senate Taskforce on Manufacturing

The Bridge — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:41:18 +0000

A report by RAY PRENDERGAST, who represented the Renaissance Council in Washington, DC, on January 12.

At the invitation of Chris Slevin from Senator Brown’s office, I spoke on a panel briefing Congressional staff members on Sectoral Strategies for workforce development. The meeting was convened by the Senate Task Force on Manufacturing. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) are on this Task Force and they are the initial sponsors of the SECTORS Act.

Austin Polytechnical Academy dedicates new Manufacturing Technology Center

The Bridge — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 20:47:30 +0000

We were honored to have Mayor Richard M. Daley dedicate Austin Polytech’s new Manufacturing Technology Center, a high-tech facility for hands-on training. We were also joined by US Representative Danny Davis and Ron Huberman, CEO of Chicago Public Schools.

The dedication ceremony (see PDF program) recognized the organizations and individuals who made Austin Polytech and our new MTC possible. We could not have achieved this tremendous milestone without the support of public and private sector partners like WaterSaver Faucet Co., who donated over $75,000 to our school last year.

The MTC represents a significant milestone in the progress of Austin Polytech’s mission to educate the next generation of leaders in advanced manufacturing. Our goal is to also open the facility to adults in the community seeking training and certifications. We hope that this event will draw awareness to our innovative model for career education based on public-private partnerships.

Some highlights:

US Rep. Danny Davis visits the MTC with Janice Christiansen, Glen Johnson, Elston Goff, and Steve Kersten before the dedication ceremony.

Mayor Daley greets APA students as he arrives.

The MTC dedication draws crowds and cameras to Austin Polytech.

Mayor Daley highlights the importance of career and technical education in his remarks.

Dan Swinney recognizes partners and founders for their commitment to APA.

The student spokesperson team reports on a recent field trip to the FABTECH trade show.

A ceremonial ribbon cutting officially dedicates the Manufacturing Technology Center, APA’s new computer controlled equipment center.

Mayor Daley shares his experiences with a group of APA students.

CBS interviews Mayor Daley and APA students. The local news aired footage from the event that night.

Machining instructor Tom O’Brien teaches Mayor Daley to engrave his name on a lightswitch plate with a CNC mill.

Tom O’Brien shows Ron Huberman an example exercise from APA’s machining class.

Mayor Daley concludes the event with a press conference inside the MTC.

Northwestern University Delegation Visits APA

The Bridge — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 20:28:00 +0000

On December 8 a delegation from Northwestern University visited Austin Polytech to learn more about this innovative educational model.

The group included Jeff Coney, economic development director; Stephen Carr, associate dean for undergraduate engineering; Adam Goodman, director of the Center for Leadership; and Helen Oloroso, assistant dean of the Cooperative Engineering Education Program. Ms. Oloroso was also a panelist in the CMRC North Suburban Chapter’s conference on the green economy.

Following an introductory discussion, representatives from the Center for Polytechnical Education (CPE) led Northwestern on a tour of the Austin Polytech campus.

Part of the tour included a machine shop class in the Manufacturing Technology Center, where students learned to identify samples of metal by testing their properties on specialized equipment.

The team also heard from Michael Harris, APA junior, and engineering teachers Mr. Anthony Speller and Mr. Peter Schoedel. Mr. Schoedel’s class that day was led by APA partner Don Moyer from John Marshall Law School, who engaged the students in a multimedia discussion of intellectual property rights and manufacturing.

Reactions from the Northwestern team were decidedly positive, with Mr. Carr describing Austin Polytech as “irresistible and awe inspiring.” We look forward to working with Northwestern to build a model engineering program at Austin Polytech. Special thanks to the whole team for their support!

Sean Murdoch on our past, our future, and the role of nanotechnology

The Bridge — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 20:01:35 +0000

Sean Murdock at CMRCA look at where we’ve been and where we’re going, courtesy of Sean Murdock, the nanotechnology guru on our futurism panel at the CMRC Executive Committee Meeting on November 18. From the video:

“The future’s not independent of the decisions we make… If you have this universal assembler that can make anything out of anything, what are you going to make?”

Part 2

Dan Swinney on Beyond the Beltway this Sunday

The Bridge — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:29:28 +0000

Dan Swinney, executive director of CLCR and the CMRC, will be a guest on the national radio show Beyond the Beltway with Bruce Dumont this Sunday, November 22nd. Dan and Bruce will join Tim Aeppel of The Wall Street Journal to discuss how to invigorate the American manufacturing sector, especially in light of the recession.

Listen live from 6pm to 8pm on WYCC-AM 890, beyondthebeltway.com, or your local radio affiliate.

Watch the show live online or catch it later on TV. The show will be broadcast in Chicago on Sunday at 10:30pm on WYCC-TV Ch. 20 and in the suburbs on Monday at 11:00pm on Comcast Ch. 3.

Join the discussion during the show by calling 1-800-723-8289 or e-mailingBTB@museum.tv.

In case you miss it, an mp3 will be available for download next week on Beyond the Beltway’s website. We hope you can join us!

Green Jobs Conference Unites Chicago Region

The Bridge — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:01:32 +0000

Over 150 Chicagoland leaders came together for the Green Collar Jobs and Building a High-Tech Green Economy conference at Oakton Community College on Friday, November 13. Attendees included business, labor, government, education, and community representatives.

US Rep. Jan Schakowsky and Chicago Alderman Manuel Flores both delivered keynote addresses at the event, organized by the Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance council’s North Suburban Chapter. Discussion topics included green economic development, emerging green technologies, and green career paths and training options.

Education and manufacturing were the most dominant topics. The speakers and audience agreed that in order to compete in the global economy, the US must remain at the cutting edge of technological innovation, relying on its solid advanced manufacturing base.

However, the ability to motivate students to train for the math, science, engineering, and technology skills to lead our transition to a high-tech green economy is limited within our educational system.

“We have to take some action steps,” Alderman Flores said. “We have to support the kind of efforts to revitalize education and repurpose it in a way where there is some practical effect.”

The tone at the event was cautionary but hopeful. The speakers highlighted a number of programs in Chicago and around the country that are moving us in the right direction. An example mentioned by both Alderman Flores and US Rep. Schakowsky is Austin Polytechnical Academy, a manufacturing-focused public high school on Chicago’s west side.

“Our region can be a leader in discovering the technologies and developing the educated workforce that will put us right in the center of these new developments on a sustainable path,” US Rep. Schakowsky said. “We can build and employ a workforce that can mass-produce those technologies.”

The conference was hosted and organized in partnership with Oakton Community College, Illinois workNet Center, the Workforce Board of Northern Cook County, and the Delta Institute.

Join the discussion! We invite you to comment and share your impressions, ideas, and feedback from the event – as well as your thoughts on the green movement in general.