Overview
- Officials marked the opening with a ribbon-cutting at 7247 S. Chicago Ave., where Mayor Brandon Johnson highlighted the hub’s job-creation mission.
- SDI Presence is the anchor tenant under a 10-year lease, with about 25 SDI staff already working on-site supporting the City of Chicago’s IT call center.
- Xchange plans to train 100 apprentices next year and is managing a waitlist of more than 400 applicants, reflecting strong demand for the program.
- The $28,000-square-foot facility was financed with a $5 million City grant and recent philanthropic support, including a $500,000 prize, after federal Good Jobs funding ended.
- In its first 18 months the initiative placed 55 apprentices in full-time roles, reporting $3.25 million in wages and benefits and typical post-placement salaries of about $50,000–$70,000 in fields such as software, cloud, cybersecurity and infrastructure.