History

CLCR was established in 1982 in response to the impact of dramatic deindustrialization on communities and the corresponding strategic crisis in the labor movement in the late 1970s. CLCR formed to engage in research and analysis of what were new conditions to understand whether this was an inevitable and essentially irreversible byproduct of globalization and new technologies signaling the permanent decline and marginalization of manufacturing in the United States or whether this was a trend that could be stalled or even reversed by effective programs and action by labor, community, business, and government.

By 1998, CLCR had come to the conclusion that the decline of manufacturing was far from inevitable and that 80% of the losses in manufacturing and its communities could have been averted and the corresponding rise in poverty prevented. CLCR shifted its focus from reacting to deindustrialization to advocating the rebuilding of a modern manufacturing economy as part of an overall vision for international development that is economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable and restorative. Our vision is anchored in the reality of America's communities and borrows as appropriate from best international practice in proposing comprehensive and practical solutions such as the experience of the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation in the Basque region in Spain; private and public partnerships in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy; and the educational programs in Germany, Denmark, and other countries. This vision was articulated in the book Building a Bridge to the High Road by CLCR Executive Director Dan Swinney.

In 2001, in partnership with the Chicago Federation of Labor, CLCR authored the study Creating a Manufacturing Career Path System in Cook County, which recognized the growing shift in American manufacturing to making high value-added products, the need for a highly educated and skilled workforce, and the failure of the publicly funded education system to provide such a workforce at all levels of the firm. The study advanced a plan for dramatic systemic reform in education. The paper's analysis and proposals for reform served as a catalyst for new partnerships for CLCR, reflected in the development of the Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance Council (CMRC); the launch of Austin Polytechnical Academy, a new model of public education; and the creation of the Center for Polytechnical Education (CPE), a company dedicated to building new schools and educational programs linked to advanced manufacturing.

Our principal strength has been our strategic vision and our ability to prove, test, and refine these ideas in the context of particular partnerships and projects. CLCR is now in a position to substantially increase the scope and scale of its programs, projects, and influence in policy.