Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott Awards $5 Million to Skills for Chicagoland’s Future

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Skills for Chicagoland’s Future (Skills) today announced it received a $5 million gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. The transformative donation will support Skills’ work breaking down barriers to employment for overlooked talent on the south and west sides of Chicago and expand its successful model across the country.

Scott’s unsolicited and unrestricted gift, through her charitable fund Yield Giving, will help Skills significantly increase the number of Chicagoans placed into quality jobs with Skills’ network of employer partners. With Scott’s donation, Skills will invest in a variety of innovative programs, including a comprehensive technology solution to pull in more overlooked talent, a robust partnership referral system to engage with other workforce organizations, and tools and support to help more employers remove barriers to equity and hire local job seekers.

“We are incredibly grateful to MacKenzie Scott for her generous donation to Skills,” said Skills CEO Bridget Altenburg. “I love that she is finding great organizations like Skills and transforming the non-profit sector. I hope more philanthropists follow her lead. A gift of this magnitude will have a massive impact on the people we serve from communities that continue to face persistently high unemployment and systemic barriers as a result of historic disinvestment and redlining.”

“Skills for Chicagoland’s Future has been invaluable to Hyatt and an ally to the business community. I’m thrilled others are taking notice of their unique and successful approach to addressing employment of individuals from historically disinvested communities,” said Mark Hoplamazian, Skills’ Board Chair and President & CEO, Hyatt Hotels Corporation. “We thank MacKenzie Scott for her generosity, which will open doors to new and meaningful career pathways, with the ultimate goal of building a more inclusive workforce throughout Chicago.”

Skills operates several locations across Chicago, including Englewood, North Lawndale, and Gage Park and has employer partnerships with 130 businesses in Chicago. Skills is also engaged in an aggressive national expansion campaign to bring its successful approach into communities across the country where unemployment remains high.

For more information, visit Skills’ website.