Education is Chicago’s number one priority, and strengthening the ranks of teachers is critical to provide every Chicago student with a quality education. Nationally, the United States is facing an education crisis in primary and secondary math and science; the U.S. Department of Education reports that the country needs 260,000 secondary math and science teachers by 2009. New approaches in public-private cooperation are necessary to solve important community needs, education being the foremost.

Chicago neighborhoods face many challenges; chief among them is economic development and job creation because in many communities small businesses are the greatest source of new employment. Strengthening existing small businesses is essential for increased economic opportunity for residents as small businesses generated 70 percent of new jobs annually in the U.S. over the past decade, but are often disadvantaged by the lack of access to resources such as skills, knowledge and information that larger businesses routinely use to grow and succeed.