Welcome to Civic Consulting Alliance’s Quarterly Partner Spotlight, where we highlight the corporate partners that help our clients get big things done. In 2024, we collaborated with 29 professional services partners, each bringing unique expertise and capacity to tackle the Chicago region’s most pressing challenges. Learn more about our partners.

This month, we’re sharing how Civic Consulting Alliance, McKinsey & Company, and West Side United collaborated to refresh a food access strategy that will improve West Side residents’ health.

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Strategies to Increase Food Access on Chicago’s West Side

In 2017, Civic Consulting Alliance and several pro bono partners helped a collaborative of six healthcare providers to build West Side United (WSU), an organization committed to eradicating the 16-year life expectancy gap between residents on Chicago’s West Side and the Loop.

One of WSU’s primary strategies is to address the social determinants of health by removing barriers to accessing healthy food. In 2018, a pro bono team from McKinsey & Company and Civic Consulting Alliance supported WSU to develop its initial food access strategy, which guided the organization’s work over the following five years. During this period, WSU piloted various food access initiatives, built strong relationships with West Side communities, and responded to immediate needs during the COVID-19 pandemic, including grocery store closures.

As the community’s needs evolved, WSU wanted to accelerate the progress of its food access strategy by building on lessons learned from the first five years. WSU turned to Civic Consulting Alliance, and McKinsey & Company again answered the call to partner to help refine the approach.

McKinsey Brings Expertise in Agriculture and Food Systems

Madison Pearsall, a Partner with expertise in the food and agricultural sector, led the McKinsey team that supported WSU. Madison has a track record of supporting food security initiatives in Chicago, and brought her professional expertise and personal commitment to the project. She explained that leading the food security work “is an impactful way to bring together the skills and tools from my years in consulting with my knowledge and interest in our food systems in order to give back to the community that I’m part of.”

“We worked with West Side United and their many community partners,” Madison shared. “Our role was bringing folks together, providing frameworks, facilitating dialogue, and helping the group define WSU’s role in community food access, including how to prioritize actions. It was about driving focus and ensuring that resources are aligned with the most pressing needs.”

The McKinsey team produced an updated food access strategy for West Side United that outlines quantitative and qualitative goals to guide resource allocation and attract additional funding to close the food access gap for West Side communities.

“We helped them structure their ideas, sharpen a set of priorities, and set measurable targets for the future,” Madison explained. “At the end of the day, they were able to put together a clear, concise set of materials they can use to communicate the vision, strategic pillars, and key actions & metrics that West Side United will prioritize to improve food access, in collaboration with their institutional and community partners.”

With the updated strategy in hand, WSU has a roadmap to attract resources—from hospitals, nonprofits, and community organizations—to scale their food access efforts.

Cross-Sector Collaborations: A Recipe for Success

Oliver Bevan, a Partner at McKinsey and a Civic Consulting Alliance Board member, shared his broader perspective on the power of collaborations between organizations like McKinsey, West Side United, and Civic Consulting Alliance:

“The emphasis is on the word collaboration,” he said. “I believe in the power of diversity of thought and experience. These partnerships allow us to bring a breadth of experience from different sectors, and that’s where we see the magic happen. When you bring different backgrounds, experiences, and skill sets together, you can solve problems in ways that no one group could do alone.”

Oliver highlighted how Civic Consulting Alliance uniquely brings together the right people, resources, and expertise for successful outcomes:

“Civic Consulting Alliance understands how to use our expertise and talent very effectively,” Oliver added. “We trust that Civic Consulting Alliance has the right commitment from the end clients, the right scope, and the right objectives to ensure impact. That gives us great confidence that we can give our best by doing the research, supporting inputs, and helping decision-makers craft effective solutions.”

The Power of Partnership: Building a Stronger Chicago Region

Civic Consulting Alliance’s unique position to bring together organizations like McKinsey and West Side United is crucial to achieving systems-level change. By aligning the resources and expertise of multiple organizations, we can solve problems more effectively.

• Learn more about Civic Consulting Alliance’s work by exploring our 2024 Impact Report.
• Reach out to discuss becoming a corporate partner at information@ccachicago.org