News

Center Collaborates with Iyai+ to Deliver Online CTA Summer Youth Program

Posted July 2020

Resources available online for the participants of the program.

On July 14, Center Executive Director Jack Clark teamed up with Jamaine Gibson, the Amalgamated Transit Union’s (ATU) International’s Workforce Development Coordinator, to introduce twenty-five students from the Chicago Public Schools to opportunities for frontline careers in public transportation, including opportunities to work in areas related to new technology and electrification. Their presentation was part of a summer program run by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), in partnership with Introducing Youth to American Infrastructure (Iyai+), led by Dr. Beverly Scott.

A highlight of the morning’s program provided participants with an opportunity to have small group breakout sessions with experts on frontline work and career opportunities. In addition to Dr. Scott and Jamaine Gibson, students talked with: ATU Local 308 President Ken Franklin, representing CTA rail employees; ATU Local 241 President Keith Hill, representing CTA bus employees; and Frank Burnett, Retired Electrician and Signals Trainer, IBEW Local 103, Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority. The participants also heard, by video, from Karin Prendergast, an IAMAW automotive technician from UPS, about her career and being a woman in the field.

Because of the pandemic, the entire program was delivered online, using a combination of live interactive Zoom classes and a learning management system (Moodle), housing program resources accessible to the youths. The Center, which is a program co-sponsor, is providing critical support on educational design in this virtual environment and in structuring the learning management system for easy access and use. Support work for this program was provided by: Jim Reid, IAMAW; John Burkard, IBEW Local 9; and Center staff members Karitsa Holdzkom, Julie Deibel-Pundt, and Pat Greenfield.

For more information on this and other youth outreach programs and resources, please contact Pat Greenfield.