Chicago, IL – On Tuesday, July 26, at St. Augustine College’s main campus in Chicago, HACIA, a construction advocacy, training and membership organization working to ensure the equitable participation of construction industry professionals, graduated over 200 new HACIA U program participants from its 2022 pre-apprenticeship (construction trades) and small business capacity training programs in Chicago, Aurora and Elgin.,

HACIA U, short for HACIA University, was created by HACIA to further prepare those currently in the construction industry and address the shortage of skilled labor and lack of diversity in the industry by providing free ongoing certified workforce training and small business capacity programming. The programs in Chicago and Aurora were offered in partnership with The Institute for Workforce Education at St. Augustine College, which provided the training. This training was made possible through a grant from the State of Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) at no cost to participants.

Speakers and participants at the event included Jackie Gomez, HACIA Executive Director, Andy Manar, Deputy Governor for State of Illinois; Sylvia I. Garcia, Director, Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO): Dr. Norman Ruano , Deputy Director of of Illinois Works; Dr. Reyes-Gonzalez, President of St. Augustine College; Javier Garibay, Executive Director of Institute for Workforce Education (IWE), a division of St. Augustine College.

HACIA U graduation of over 200 construction trades program participants, with training provided primarily by St. Augustine’s Institute for Workforce Education (IWE). For info about upcoming programs contact us at 773-878-4772 or info@iwe.staugustine.edu.