New $5M initiative trains Chicagoans for healthcare jobs

A powerful new investment aimed at strengthening the city’s workforce is set to open doors for thousands of residents seeking meaningful careers. The Pritzker Traubert Foundation has awarded a groundbreaking $5 million grant through its inaugural Chicago Talent Challenge, launching an ambitious effort to train Chicagoans for critical healthcare jobs in Chicago.

The winning initiative, HealthCatalyst Chicago, brings together City Colleges of Chicago and Cook County Health in a partnership designed to build a clear pathway from classroom to career. Over the next three years, the program is expected to train and place about 1,000 residents into vital healthcare roles, with the potential to place as many as 400 workers each year afterward.

Healthcare remains one of the fastest-growing fields in the region, but hospitals continue to face staffing shortages in essential roles. Through HealthCatalyst Chicago, students will receive training for high-demand positions such as medical assistants, patient care technicians, medical laboratory technicians, and nurses.

The program builds on an earlier collaboration between City Colleges of Chicago and University of Chicago Medicine, which helped more than 200 students secure healthcare roles over the past two years. Leaders say the new initiative will expand those proven pathways and create a coordinated system that connects training directly to hiring needs across the city.