Why a PACT Partnership?

The nine communities comprising this regional partnership meet the requirements for an effective Employment Opportunities Grant Program:

• As communities, they have suffered severe economic deterioration since the late 1960s.
  
  
• They have a combined population of 214,925 people, larger than any city in Illinois other than Chicago.
  
  
• Their unemployment rates are significantly higher than the state average.
  The average unemployment rate in the nine communities is 12.3% (with extremes as high as 22.9% for Robbins, IL).
  Statewide, by comparison, 5.3 % of Illinois residents are unemployed.
  
  
• The average household income is $37,603.
  
  
• Populations are predominantly minority (seven of the nine have minority populations exceeding 85%).
  
  
• Less than 11% of the combined population has a college degree or higher, but 73% of the population has a high school degree or higher (required for admittance to apprenticeship programs) making nearly 75% of the population potentially eligible for inclusion in the program.
  
  
• They all are embarking on redevelopment/development projects including housing development and rehabilitation, new shopping strip malls, renewal of a 150,000 square foot mall, development of a new 225,000 square foot shopping mall, big box retail, and myriad other projects that are still in planning stages.