Chicago Housing Authority and Capsim Help Local Youth

The partnership between Capsim, DePaul University, Chicago Housing Authority and BMO Harris Bank continues on for the second year this summer as a component of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s One Summer Chicago. The six-week program provides job and internship opportunities to youth throughout the Chicago area.

Capsim’s role is to help participants to develop a better understanding of basic business principles through an engaging learning experience by using Foundation, our business fundamentals simulation. Senior Client Relationship Consultants, Renee Marongwe and Ranan de Jesus, are serving as instructors to the class of 30 teenagers.

Each week, the class is taught new lessons that will help students complete the simulation, in addition to improving their overall business acumen. One session specifically focused on marketing and the value of a consumer awareness and product accessibility. Marongwe and de Jesus used popular commercials by AT&T and Apple that targeted younger millennials as the audience to make the lesson more relatable. Incorporating well-known marketing campaigns into the class created a more relaxed environment, so our instructors could better facilitate conversations and ask questions.

Before the students broke into their Capsim teams and played the simulation, time was spent debriefing them on the results for the previous round. Showing which teams were doing well and explaining some of the reasons why allows the students to see how they can make better strategic decisions. Once all of the questions were answered, the six teams each went into a different computer room in the DePaul Center.

Foundation incorporates decision making and teamwork into the simulation, so people with interests in all career fields can benefit.  The user-friendly interface introduces and immerses the students to a more realistic way of learning.

Many companies and organizations in the Chicago community come together to give teens in this program a summer filled with growth and opportunities. Capsim plans on working with Chicago Housing Authority for many years to come.