Skills for Chicagoland’s Future (Skills) announced it has reached a significant milestone of 10,000 job placements for local residents as it works to address job market inequities in disinvested communities throughout the Chicagoland area. Founded and developed in 2012, Skills is a leading nonprofit that has flipped the traditional workforce model to address unemployment and underemployment. Skills’ “jobs-first” approach starts by going directly to employers to understand their hiring needs, company culture and long-term goals. Skills then connects those employers to unemployed individuals who Skills has helped recruit, coach, prepare and advocate for to find quality employment. Since Skills opened its doors, the organization has developed more than 100 corporate partners that seek out Skills’ help in hiring talented workers, including JPMorgan Chase, Hyatt, Ulta Beauty, Discover, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Walgreens, UChicago Medicine, and Jewel Osco. Skills serves as a recruiter, coach and resource to help job candidates obtain positions with these corporate partners. Skills focuses its recruitment efforts in disinvested communities of Chicago, where Black and Brown unemployment rates remain high and job seekers have been traditionally overlooked. For more information, visit Skills’ www.skillsforchicagolandsfuture.com