CPS students make connections with skilled trades professionals at special McCormick Place event

CHICAGO (CBS) — Approximately 1,000 students were able to make connections with skilled trades professionals on Monday.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the Chicago Public Schools announced a three-day in-person skilled trades career fair, which kicked off on Tuesday. The Skilled Trades Career Fair began at the McCormick Place Lakeside Center from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The event is co-hosted by the Department of Family and Support Services and the Community Safety Coordination Center. It is intended to connect students who are at risk of becoming disconnected from work and school after graduation with information on how to break into the skilled trades.

As CBS 2’s Shardaa Gray reported, some students from Dunbar Vocational Career Academy, at 3000 S. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. in Bronzeville, were in attendance at the McCormick Place event on Monday.

Not only did the event give kids career options after graduating, but it is intended to keep them off the streets as well. The initiative is part of Mayor Lightfoot’s whole-of-city approach to address violence and develop viable career pathways for young Chicagoans.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot toured the trades fair Monday. The goal is to expose about 3,000 students to the skilled trades throughout the three days.

Students from the city’s South and West sides were prioritized to make sure students living in communities with higher poverty and unemployment rates to have access to learning a trade.

One student who is part of the Chicago Builds Construction program said he became interested just by stepping outside.

“When you go outside, you see construction everywher, so I always wanted to know – I always thought, what goes into that?” said the student, Tyshawn Leftridge of Kenwood Academy High School. “And I felt like this was a very good program to see.”

Companies that hire construction workers, painters, bricklayers, and roofers were just some of the businesses at the fair.

It goes until Thursday.

For further information on the events, see the announcement below.