CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The City Colleges of Chicago have opened a new center in the city’s Lower West Side neighborhood to help immigrant nurses licensed in their home countries get back to work here in Illinois.
Richard J. Daley College President Dr. Janine Janosky said the newly opened Welcome Back Center, located near South Western Avenue and West 31st Street, will guide immigrants toward earning the proper certifications to work in Illinois.
“The Welcome Back Initiative started in the early 2000s,” Janosky said. “The focus is for individuals recently making their home in the United States — immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers — some of them frequently come to the United States with licenses.”
Janosky said this addresses the state's nursing shortage and the needs of the immigrants. Officials said there are currently about 52,000 immigrants who hold at least a four-year college degree in medical or health sciences and services in Illinois.
“During the pandemic, we became acutely aware that we have a shortage,” Janosky said. “So if we have individuals that are joining us in Chicago, in Illinois, that have been licensed in another country, the opportunity for them to obtain a license within Illinois to help us with our workplace shortage is quite crucial.”
Nurses in Illinois must be licensed to work here, even if they were licensed nurses in other nations. Officials estimate that of the thousands of immigrants with medical and health services degrees here in Illinois, more than 20% are in low-wage jobs, or out of work.
Applicants must be legal residents of Illinois and be licensed as nurses outside the United States.
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