July 2017
CONNECTING LEADERSHIP VISION TO CHANGE AT CPD
Fionna Millett
Operations Excellence Consultant,
West Monroe Partners

Mike Hughes
Senior Director,
West Monroe Partners
I joined West Monroe Partners  as a Consultant in the Operations Excellence practice because I was attracted to both the firm's expertise in change management and the firm-wide commitment to its "1-1-1 Program" to invest 1% of its "time, talent and treasure" for social good. When Civic Consulting asked West Monroe Partners to assist the Chicago Police Department  (CPD) with implementing its 2017 commitments, I was in the right place at the right time.

Both CPD and Civic Consulting knew that change management expertise would be a critical input to the wide-ranging and ambitious projects outlined in the "Next Steps for Reform," a commitment to major change across the Department. West Monroe Partners met this need with its time and talent in the form of a pro bono change management engagement involving Mike Hughes, a Senior Director, and myself.

With the Civic Consulting team, I organized workshops for CPD leadership on core strategy, mission, and vision, and together we jointly crafted a vision for the reform outcomes. It was inspiring to see CPD leaders articulate their goals for carrying out the department's mission in today's world.

Through this project, I learned that the methodologies we use at West Monroe Partners with private sector clients can help an organization like CPD, a highly visible public entity facing unique challenges. The leadership on the Civic Consulting team valued my expertise and perspective and gave me a lot of independence. Having had this opportunity at CPD, I know I will be more effective for my future change management clients.
My supervisor Mike Hughes, Senior Director at West Monroe Partners, puts it well: "Change management is a core focus area at West Monroe Partners, so Fionna was able to hit the ground running using some of our tools and best practices. We were proud to support the effort in collaboration with Civic Consulting Alliance and the Chicago Police Department."

For more information on this project, contact  Eric Patton.  
STUDENTS CELEBRATE SUCCESS IN EARLY COLLEGE STEM SCHOOLS
"This program prepares you for what's to come in the future. Through my high school coursework, college classes, and my internship at IBM, I have developed the skills and the confidence necessary to be successful in both college and in my career."
 
Cedric Kelley 
Sarah E Goode STEM Academy, Class of 2017
Students graduating from high school and college today enter an intensely competitive job market, in which good-paying, middle class jobs are increasingly scarce. In 2012, Chicago Public Schools , the City Colleges of Chicago , and the Mayor's Office worked with Civic Consulting and five corporate partners to launch five "Early College STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Schools," where students could earn both a high school diploma and an associate's degree in Information Technology at no cost to the student. Five years in, hundreds of CPS students are reaping the benefit of this work. Twelve students have earned associate's degrees in IT from City Colleges of Chicago (CCC) along with their high school diplomas, 68 have earned a semester or more of college credit from CCC, and 466 CPS students have taken at least one college class through the Early College STEM Schools.

The initiative began in fall 2012. Five CPS schools were each paired with a CCC campus and a corporate partner to provide internships, mentoring, and curriculum development support. IBM,  Motorola, Verizon, Microsoft,  and  Cisco  participated as corporate partners. Given the complexity of the model and the number of stakeholders, the Mayor's Office asked Civic Consulting Alliance to help plan and launch the program.

This year's graduates set out into a world where their IT skills are more in demand than ever. IBM's




















Charlotte Johnson observed, "CCA looked at the whole model, from vision down to key performance indicators, to understand how it could work in Chicago and provide a framework that enabled each partner to understand its role. The first crop of student participants have now graduated with valuable STEM and workplace skills."

For more information on this project, contact Veenu Verma.

IN OTHER NEWS...
  • The Chicago Police Department began training officers in accordance with its newly revised Use of Force Policy and the Department's "Next Steps for Reform" released in March 2017.
  • The Cook County's State's Attorney announced a new approach to prosecuting the most violent criminal cases. The Office will now assign a prosecutor to follow each case from charge approval to conviction. This change is based on analysis by Civic Consulting Alliance, which found that the reallocation of resources to allow for continuity of prosecutors can increase the effectiveness of the prosecution, provide better treatment for families of victims, and close cases in a more timely manner.
  • Civic Consulting analyst Michael Modak-Truran and associate Leslie Glotzer are moving on to exciting new work. Michael will be directing the first authorized documentary on William Faulkner, working with access to the newly public materials of Faulkner's full literary estate. Leslie will be joining Thrive Chicago as Special Projects Associate. Civic Consulting played a key role in standing up Thrive Chicago in 2015, along with partners McKinsey, Deloitte, DLA Piper, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and KPMG. We wish the best of luck to the latest CCA alumni!
Questions? Comments? Contact Robert Owens.

Civic Consulting Alliance is an affiliate of the Civic Committee of the
Commercial Club of Chicago.