Birmingham and Chicago to exchange employment strategies in ’Sister City’ week

Birmingham Post
Tuesday 3rd June 2008 – 12:58pm

Birmingham City Council representatives will be sharing success stories in raising employment when they meet with counterparts in Chicago, as part of a packed week of events to celebrate the American city’s ’International Sister City Week’.

Taking place between June 2 and 6, Chicago’s ’International Sister City Week’ will be an opportunity for Birmingham to showcase to cities from around the world some of the major regeneration initiatives being delivered to drive up employment and prosperity.

Clive Dutton, director of planning and regeneration at Birmingham City Council, will deliver a Birmingham overview speech at the Welfare to Work exchange, being held at the Chicago Cultural Centre, an event aimed at sharing success in tackling unemployment and partnership working to create jobs within local economies.

Clive will follow speeches from the City of Chicago’s Sam Assefa, director of policy for department of planning and development, and David K. Hanson the City of Chicago Mayor’s office workforce development commissioner.

Councillor Neville Summerfield, Cabinet Member for Regeneration at Birmingham City Council, also attending the event, will deliver a key speech celebrating Birmingham’s strong links with Chicago two days later, during ’Birmingham Day’, a celebration of all things Birmingham.

The day will include music from celebrated jazz musician Soweto Kinch and a major photographic display showing varying aspects of life in Birmingham.

Councillor Summerfield said: “Birmingham has a proud record of innovation in terms major regeneration projects such as the Bullring and Eastside, and this in turn is creating a wealth of employment opportunities for a cross section of potential employees, from architects and planners to builders and retailers.

Already through initiatives such as the City Centre Masterplan, the New Library of Birmingham and proposals to redevelop New Street Station we have more than £10 billion worth of investment and regeneration planned for the city centre alone.

This investment is not city centre focussed, we are actively working to attract millions of pounds of investment and thousands of new jobs to all parts of the city, so we are delighted to share the valuable lessons we have learnt with our colleagues in Chicago, and listen to new ideas on how we can enhance our own practices.”

Following the conclusion of the speeches, and the sharing of ideas, officers from Birmingham City Council and the City of Chicago will produce a joint report and action plan around tackling unemployment, to be implemented over a potential five year time period.

In 2007 Birmingham City Council conducted a priority review and agreed a joint action plan to formalise a new approach to tackling unemployment, through working locally with strategic partners.

Progress made has included developing an employment framework and new investment plans, to drive up economic regeneration, and working closely with priority wards to make them more attractive to business and private sector development.

Under the new plans an employment access team was also established in Birmingham to improve the connections between jobs created and access to employment by local people.