On Monday, March 17, 2014, Illinois Institute of Technology announced a partnership with World Business Chicago (WBC), Cook County and other academic institutions to launch Chicago Anchors for a Strong Economy (CASE).

The new program will strengthen Chicago’s economy by building ties between the city’s largest ‘anchor’ institutions and its neighborhood-based business, in turn impacting local firms, increasing community and neighborhood vitality, strengthening the regions’s business-to-business platform, generating jobs, and helping to grow the regional economy.

“Chicago’s businesses are the backbone of our economy, and by connecting them with the city’s largest institutions, and providing them with training, we are giving them new opportunities to compete,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel, chairman of World Business Chicago. “Such business-to-business relationships will provide ‘anchor’ institutions with another avenue to invest in competitive, local businesses, generate jobs, and help Chicago’s economy to thrive.”

To date, anchor institutions including the City of Chicago, Cook County, ComEd, Illinois Institute of Technology, Rush University Medical Center, University of Chicago, University of Chicago Medical Center, and University of Illinois Chicago, have committed to the program.

CASE assesses anchor institutions’ product and service needs and compares those needs with neighborhood business assets to make connections for local suppliers of good and services. Some of the businesses will also have the opportunity to participate in training to prepare them to respond to those procurement needs. CASE businesses will then have the opportunity to bid on contracts from any of the anchor institutions in the program.

CASE is made possible by contributions from member anchor institutions, and a grant from the Polk Bros. Foundation. Anchor institutions can include educational institutions, hospitals and health care centers, civic institutions, government, and large corporations, especially those headquartered in the Chicago region. CASE will add anchor institution members throughout 2014.

For more information visit www.worldbusinesschicago.com/CASE