Greater Peoria Regional Workforce Alliance

Everybody is headed somewhere.

The Regional Workforce Alliance helps people in Greater Peoria get there — with a credential, a program, or the help that clears the way.

Find work or training I am an employer

Start where you are

N — Hiring I am an employer Build a pipeline. Train who you have. Widen who you can hire.
E — Working I need work or training Find a credential, a program, or the help that makes it possible.
S — Learning I am a student or educator Career pathways, dual credit, and paid work before graduation.
W — Backing I am a partner or funder The data, the outcomes, and where the Alliance goes next.

43%

of Greater Peoria adults hold a postsecondary credential

Up from 40% when the Alliance formed in 2017. The regional goal is 60%.
58

partner organizations across sectors

Employers, school districts, colleges, nonprofits, and government agencies.
645

people credentialed through GPEAK

Since the essential-skills program launched in Fall 2020.
90%

of new jobs required a postsecondary credential

Among jobs created in the region between 2010 and 2016 — the finding that prompted the Alliance.

43% of adults hold a credential

Seventeen points from where we need to be.

Thriving regions run at 60%. We have moved three points since 2017 — real, and not fast enough. Closing the rest means reaching adults working full time, people who started a credential and stopped, and people facing barriers that no class alone can fix.

See the full picture

Three places people get stuck.

We do not run the training. We get the fifty-eight organizations that do pointing the same direction, through three committees.

01

Emerging Workforce

Before the first job.

K-12 career awareness, career and technical education, dual credit, and work-based learning that connects students to real regional employers.

What this committee does
02

Upskilling Workforce

Moving up, not starting over.

Short-term credentials, employer-led training, and career laddering for adults already in the workforce.

What this committee does
03

Multiple Barriers

When something is in the way.

Transportation, housing, childcare, record, and disability barriers — and the employer practices that keep good candidates out.

What this committee does

Who sets the direction

The Alliance is co-chaired by the region's largest college and its largest business organization, and each committee is led by two people who answer to different constituencies. That is deliberate: no single institution sets the agenda.

Executive Co-Chair

Dr. Jamonica Rolle

President, Illinois Central College
Executive Co-Chair

Jessica Linder Gallo

CEO, Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce
Administrative Coordinator

Carolyn Williams

Director of Workforce Solutions, Greater Peoria Economic Development Council