Columbus looks to improve the careers for 500 residents
CAREER 500 is aimed at increasing the city's workforce development programs to help residents train in skills needed in central Ohio.
Columbus leaders recognized a gap between the number of career opportunities and the number of people trained to do those jobs. The CAREER 500 initiative could be the solution.
Columbus City Council President Pro Tempore Rob Dorans spearheaded the effort, hoping to strengthen the city's workforce.
'We have jobs, we just don't have the people trained to do them,' Dorans said. 'At the same time, we know friends or family that live paycheck to paycheck. It seems let's make an investment in people to make sure they're trained for the jobs that exist today and into the future.'
Seven programs were selected to be awarded up to $350,000. Those programs include Riverview International Center which helps immigrants and new Americans learn the skills necessary to get jobs.
Riverview Executive Director Emelia Sheeley said the organization is using the grant money to hire more staff and make the workforce development program bigger.
'Our population in central Ohio is really growing thanks to immigrants and refugees,' Sheeley said. 'To be able to ensure that going ahead for the next couple of years, we have the funds to help people get jobs is just huge.'
Franklinton Rising also received the CAREER 500 grant. The nonprofit helps young people learn life skills to enter the central Ohio workforce for the first time. They learn about construction trades through restoring and building new homes in inner city neighborhoods.
Franklinton Rising President Tom Heffner said those homes are then rented to low-income people in need.
'Being an employee and working and earning a great wage is foreign to many, many, many young adults that are in this age group, so we're doing a lot of life skills teaching as well as teaching job skills,' Heffner said.
Dorans said CAREER 500 grants will allow more people to access life-changing workforce development programs, giving them the chance to get good wages, quality health care benefits and retirement plans.
'Especially when you have such a low unemployment rate historically for Columbus, we really need to be focusing on folks that just with a little bit of extra help and training they are going to be able to move up,' Dorans said.
The goal of CAREER 500 is to help 500 central Ohio residents over the next two years with the grant program.
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