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player ready...The board of the Pace suburban bus agency on Wednesday approved a grant application to the U.S. Department of Labor for $5.4 million to subsidize the transportation of Chicago welfare recipients to jobs in the suburbs.
Working with Chicago’s Workforce Board, Pace officials said they hope to tap into $185 million Congress has allocated to move welfare recipients into the work force.
The Pace application is believed to be one of the first for a transportation role in the effort.
“We’re point on this,” said James Jarzab, Pace’s manager of strategic planning. Pace, which would administer the grant, would provide transportation for 19,000 of Chicago’s 150,000 welfare recipients.
The Pace board also moved Wednesday to extend for a year Route 1017, which provides service for Sears, Roebuck and Co. employees between Chicago and Hoffman Estates.
Also approved by the board were $2.9 million in contracts for a transportation center in Harvey and a bus transfer facility in Waukegan.