SOUTH SHORE — Tech hub Blue 1647 and Leave No Veteran Behind are taking over one of Bouchet Elementary Math and Science Academy’s three annexes.
The two groups are finishing a deal to buy one of three annexes at Bouchet from Chicago Public Schools and convert it into a center to train youths and veterans for cyber security jobs.
Eli Williamson, president of Leave No Veteran Behind, said the goal is to start work on the building in June to install the infrastructure necessary to provide job training.
“These are the people that will protect us when the Russians want to attack our elections,” Williamson said.
He said there is an unmet demand for people in security in the information technology field and it provides good transitional jobs for young people and veterans in South Shore
Williamson said he expected the sale of the building to be finalized in the coming months and in the meantime he is focused on finding supporters in the technology sector and trying to raise the $2.5 million-$5 million needed to renovate the building and provide the programming.
“It’s going to take a major heavy lift,” Williamson said.
The 24,600-square-foot building at 7401 S. Chappell Ave. is separate from the rest of the Bouchet campus and is in rough shape after sitting vacant for more than 10 years.
Williamson said the building is more than the groups need and they will likely look for other organizations to use some of the building to open it up more broadly as a community resource.
It’s not the first time Leave No Veterans Behind and Blue 1647 have worked together in South Shore.
The groups help set up a job training center at Windsor Park Lutheran Church, 2619 E. 76th St., that has trained more than 400 vets in its first six years.
On Jan. 25, the Chicago Board of Education agreed to sell the building.
The property sale must now be approved by the City Council, and a measure to finalize the sale was introduced Wednesday.
