Kinzie Industrial Development Corporation

Support for innovation clusters—geographic concentrations of firms that share supplier networks, workforce skill requirements and other common features—has emerged as a key strategy for promoting regional economic growth. With Foundation support, a team of economic development analysts in Chicago have identified the food industry—firms that process and package a range of products—as offering growth potential and a means to improve regional economic performance while realizing positive employment and other outcomes for the area, including low-income communities. Funding for the Kinzie Industrial Development Corporation (KIDC), a nonprofit economic development organization established in 1985 with a mission to incubate and provide services to businesses in Chicago’s industrial corridors, supports the formal launch of the cluster organization that will provide or broker a range of services, including market information, specialized workforce training and streamlined access to supplier networks.

To design a community development partnership strategy.