Consultants pitch ‘opportunity collaborative’ hub to connect Waukegan residents to jobs and services

Consultants Mike Higbee and Shelley Moore, engaged by the city of Waukegan, told a public meeting that an “opportunity collaborative” — a small number of local hubs linking residents to job training, health care, childcare and other wraparound services — could help households move out of long-term economic distress.

The consultants and Noelle Kisher Lepper, director of planning, zoning and economic development for the city, presented study findings and asked meeting participants for ideas about locations and partners to operate the hubs. “What if there was a clear place to access opportunity in Waukegan? What if everybody knew where to go?” Mike Higbee asked the room during his presentation.

Why it matters: Consultants said many Waukegan neighborhoods show concentrated, persistent economic distress on commonly used measures — poverty, education attainment and median income — and that existing providers are not organized to scale to local need. A collaborative model would centralize access,…