Sustainability

Work in urban sustainability!

Counseling First believes in connecting clients with local job training and employment opportunities in energy efficiency retrofits, urban agriculture and similar jobs related to sustainability. Sometimes referred to as "green jobs", opportunities are emerging in cities like Chicago to create efficient, energy smart communities that leverage new technologies to waste less energy (e.g. smart buildings), to generate electricity locally (wind, solar) and to enable collaborative development of sustainable urban farming, aquaponics, composting, recycling, and many other promising approaches to creatively re-think the built environment in neighborhoods throughout Chicagoland and across the Midwest.

As you develop your personal plan for recovery, we encourage you to consider seeking employment where you can play a role reducing waste and saving money in your own neighborhood, while you help our planet recover from, adapt to and survive the consequences of past centuries of industrialization.

Here are some links that may help:

• Chicago Sustainability Leaders Network

• Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership - list of workforce centers with helpful resources

• Skills for Chicagoland’s Future (SCF) - job seekers

• Chicagoland Green Collar Jobs Initiative

• Chicagoland Environmental Network - environmental jobs and internships

• Advocates for Urban Agriculture - Jobs & Paid Interships

• Curt’s Café - training for at-risk youth in Evanston

• Inspiration Kitchens - giving hope and opportunity to students working to achieve self-sufficiency

• Illinois Re-entry Resources

• Safer Foundation - employment services

• North Lawndale Employment Network

• Teamwork Englewood - Re-Entry Resource Center

• Re-Entry Illinois - list of WorkNet agencies

• H.I.R.E. Network - National Helping Individuals with criminal records Re-enter through Employment

• City of Chicago - Customized Work Services for Ex-Offenders Program Locations

• Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) - ​​Re-Entry Employment Service Program

• wikiHow - How to Find a Job (for Ex Cons)

• Illinois WorkNet - links to resources

• Chicago Department of Family & Support Services - Workforce Services Programs (list of agencies) (PDF)