[remote or in person] Committee on Workforce Development

Chicago City Council

Labor

Politics

Thursday, March 14, 2024
12:00 p.m. — 2:00 p.m. CDT

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121 N LaSalle St Chicago, IL 60602 (Directions)

City Hall, 2nd floor, Room 201A

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Reporting

Edited and summarized by the Chicago - IL Documenters Team

Note-taking by Austin Gana

Alders approved the appointment of Sandra Blakemore as commissioner of the Department of Human Resources.

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Live reporting by Ayesha Riaz

Alders approved the appointment of Sandra Blakemore as commissioner of the Department of Human Resources.

ayesha_offline

Afternoon, covering Committee on Workforce Development for @CHIdocumenters. Meeting is scheduled to begin at 12 PM.

01:33 PM Mar 14, 2024 CDT

ayesha_offline @ayesha_offline 2/12

Agenda was posted online [] w/ two items. 1) Approval of January 30th Rule 45 report and 2) Appointment of Sandra Blakemore as Commissioner of Dept of Human Resources. chicago.documenters.org/documents/agen…

chicago.documenters.org/documents/agen…

ayesha_offline @ayesha_offline 3/12

1) Rule 45 report is approved from January 30th meeting, covered by @sofiainchicago : [] https://twitter.com/sofiainchicago/status/1752408909904765007

https://twitter.com/sofiainchicago/status/1752408909904765007

ayesha_offline @ayesha_offline 4/12

Sandra Blakemore speaks to confirm her commitment to the role and connecting sectors of the city, hoping to create an equitable hiring process.

ayesha_offline @ayesha_offline 5/12

Alder Curtis asks about the state of applications, particularly when job seekers put in 15-20 applications with no response back on any of them.

ayesha_offline @ayesha_offline 6/12

Blakemore responds that there are administrative hurdles, that the city requires ‘testing’ on some roles, but would like to remove testing that isn't adding value. Testing adds 6-8 weeks onto hiring process.

ayesha_offline @ayesha_offline 7/12

Since early January, Blakemore has filled 2 deputy roles, is currently onboarding recruiting managers, and several onboarding specialists. HR is ‘aggressively hiring’ to make sure things are in order.

ayesha_offline @ayesha_offline 8/12

Audio is quite choppy at this point. Alder Coleman thanks Blakemore publicly on behalf of the Chicago Aldermanic Black Caucus. Coleman references the current antiquated systems, which are problematic for the department, Blakemore, and the city at large.

ayesha_offline @ayesha_offline 9/12

Black and brown people make up a significant part of the Chicago workforce, so its important to make sure the city is using the right tech and data to employ.

ayesha_offline @ayesha_offline 10/12

Blakemore agrees that the city can do more interdepartmentally. Considering that the US is experiencing record low unemployment rates, and Gen Z’s inclination for mission-driven work, there is much to upgrade in positioning the city as an employer.

ayesha_offline @ayesha_offline 11/12

2) Sandra Blakemore is appointed as Commissioner of Department of Human Resources.

ayesha_offline @ayesha_offline 12/12

With no further business, meeting is adjourned at 12:47 PM.

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Attachments

5 attachments

Meeting details

By India Daniels ⋅ March 14th, 2024

Recording on Vimeo

By Austin Gana ⋅ March 14th, 2024

Notice

March 14th, 2024

Agenda

March 14th, 2024

Summary

March 14th, 2024

Agency Information

Chicago City Council

chicityclerkelms.chicago.gov

(312) 744-3166

@ChiCouncil

See Documenters reporting

The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the government of the City of Chicago and consists of the Mayor and Aldermen elected from each of the City’s fifty wards. Source

If you attend a meeting in person, be prepared to go through a security checkpoint and show photo ID.

Meetings are also livestreamed at https://www.chicityclerk.com/.

At this link, scroll down to “Meeting Notices.” Look for “Watch now” and click on the link with the meeting title to go to a livestream page. If you don’t see a link for the meeting, you may be early or the meeting may be starting late. Wait a few moments and try refreshing your Internet tab.

Recordings of past City Council meetings may be found here: https://vimeo.com/user100351763/videos/sort:date.

See also: “What to Expect at a Meeting of Chicago’s City Council” via the Better Government Association.