On Monday, the Columbus City Council and Aspyr, formerly called the Workforce Development Board of Central Ohio, unveiled grant recipients of their new workforce development program, including Goodwill Columbus and Riverview International Center.
The Columbus Access to Resources for Expanding Employment Readiness (CAREER 500) program, will give $1.8 million to different companies around Columbus to provide training, wraparound support and job placement services to 500 or more unemployed or underemployed individuals, according to the Aspyr website.
Columbus City Council President Pro Tempore Rob Dorans said the program will provide people with an opportunity that will train workers with skills they need for the modern job market.
“Let's make an investment in people to make sure that they're trained for the jobs that exist today and into the future, to make sure that again, they gain that stability so they cannot just put food on the table and have a roof over their head, but have more of an ability to really move up and have that stability for their family,” Dorans said.
Aspyr CEO Lisa Patt-McDaniel said when looking for companies to be a part of the program, Aspyr sought out companies with already existing successful job training programs.
“We were looking for programs that already saw success, because what council wanted to do was expand capacity and then have an opportunity to look at what was making the program successful. So that's unusual,” Patt-McDaniel said. “Usually, you put out money and you say, ‘Hey, who has a good idea’? But in this case, it was, you had to already have a good program and so that's what we prioritized.”
Dorans said the lack of trained workers is one of the biggest problems in central Ohio. Though the overall unemployment rate is low, he said underemployed workers deserve to be a part of the program as well.
“We have a very low unemployment rate in Columbus and in central Ohio. So many folks are working, but the idea that they're oftentimes trapped in a job that is 12, 13, 14 bucks an hour, and they really don't have the time or resources to go with the training that they need in order really to move up the next rung,” Dorans said. “So the idea with a lot of these training programs is not just finding folks that don't have a job, it's folks that want to move beyond where they're at right now.”
Additionally, Dorans said though many grant recipients are a part of growth industries in Ohio, including healthcare and construction, he said the program targets not just one industry but the workforce as a whole.
“It's no surprise many of the grantees are involved in some of those industries. But you know, we didn't come into this and say, ‘Hey, we're only going to fund healthcare programs. We're only going to fund construction programs.’ We tried to take just an open mind of seeing what came to us, and tried to sort of identify and score them again through Aspyr,” Dorans said.
McDaniel said the program will last the next two years, but will hopefully provide support beyond the timeframe.
“Our hope is that as much as possible, we're getting into a career ladder that they can then navigate themselves, but always come back to us for additional help," McDaniel said.
For more information on the program, including the full list of grant recipients, visit the Columbus City Council website.