Mayor Rahm Emanuel announces plans for a new building mission for Malcolm X College on the Near West Side. (Credit: CBS)
CHICAGO (CBS) — The City College system’s Malcolm X College is getting a whole new mission, as well as a new building.
As WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports, the overhaul is part of the remaking of the city’s community colleges.
LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports
The new Malcolm X College will be built just south of the United Center, on the parking lot of the existing college building at 1900 W. Van Buren St.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel says it will focus on careers in the health care field, where some 84,000 jobs are expected to be available in the next decade.
“Eighteen thousand of the 84,000 jobs will be in the nursing field,” Mayor Emanuel said. “Now, some people will move here and fill those jobs – they’ll come from the Big Ten states. Some will come from our four-year institutions statewide. But I want to make sure that the kids coming out of the community colleges have a shot at that job.”
The Malcolm X overhaul will be part of a $500 million retooling of the City Colleges of Chicago. The retooling will also include a makeover of Olive-Harvey College into a transportation and logistics institution.
In coming years, other schools will focus on computer science and hospitality careers.
