A new $10 million program to build Cleveland’s minority workforce was re-approved by Cleveland City Council Monday. Along with that approval, council provided more details about the project.
The program, funded by American Rescue Plan Act money, promises apprenticeships, job training and actual placement in jobs for thousands of Clevelanders. It includes: Immersion in construction and information technology trades for Cleveland Metropolitan School District students; job training targeted specifically at women, Latino and Black residents; and providing wrap-around services like transportation and childcare for those receiving training.
Cleveland City Council had already approved the $10 million in funding for the workforce development initiative back in January, but said it needed to both rescind the ordinance and approve a slightly adjusted version Monday due to a procedural error. Essentially, some regulations require the city to contract with the various entities providing the work, rather than running those contracts through Ohio Means Jobs Cuyahoga County.
The ordinance approved also includes specific details about which nonprofits and agencies are receiving money in the collaborative project and for which purposes. The overall goal is to enroll 3,000 residents in the training programs; place 800 residents in jobs; and support 150 to 200 minority-run businesses.
The biggest tranches of money are going to the following organizations:
- About $1.425 million will go to Cleveland Builds, a union construction readiness program, to host an apprenticeship readiness program to train 475 residents for construction jobs and place 375 residents in union construction jobs.
- Almost $1.5 million goes to Youth Opportunities Unlimited, a workforce development program for young people, which will be used to support 144 grade 9-12 students in “employment, placement and career planning” through its Summer Youth Employment Program.
- Cuyahoga Community College will receive $1.1 million for pre-apprentice training for 140 students and training for a short-term certificate for construction operations for 330 students. That will include paying for tuition and supplies for participants in addition to other support.
- United Labor Agency, a union-created workforce development agency, will receive $975,000 to provide up to 3,000 of the overall program participants with the aforementioned wrap-around services, which will also include “cost-of-living payments” (it’s not clear how much) as well as equipment.
Cleveland City Council members Joe Jones and Richard Starr asked to be put on an advisory committee that will track the progress of the project. Jones and Starr have previously raised concerns about the project, despite ultimately voting for it, arguing the city has given a significant amount of money to nonprofits and other agencies in the city to move the needle on the city’s poverty metrics, with little to show for it.
“What is it that you're going to do any different than what you have been doing already?” Jones asked during a Committee of the Whole meeting Monday.
Michelle Rose, executive director of Ohio Means Jobs – Cuyahoga County, responded that the agencies involved with the project all have significant experience doing the work they’re being contracted to do, and said they anticipate all of the work being completed by 2026, when the American Rescue Plan Act funds are required to be spent by. She said a program manager will likely be hired to coordinate the various projects. Ohio Means Jobs – Cuyahoga County is receiving almost $500,000 of the $10 million funding to manage the project
Other agencies receiving funding through the project include:
- The Spanish American Committee will receive about $615,000 to train, certify and provide additional case-management support to 250 low-income Latino residents, with the goal of all 250 going into construction trade jobs.
- Hard Hatted Women, a career support agency for women, with $262,500 to provide career exploration and job coaching and other services to up to 500 women, with the goal of 100 participants entering into a new career or education program.
- The Greater Cleveland Partnership, which will receive $750,000 to create growth plans for the 15-20 minority-owned businesses mentioned earlier, and help 75 new minority-owned businesses get off the ground.
- The Rid-All Green Partnership, an urban agriculture and youth education outfit, will receive almost $620,000 to offer pre-apprenticeship and career training for about 135 residents for careers in urban forestry, horticulture and stormwater management.
More information on the other organizations receiving funding can be found in an executive summary below.
The ordinance specifies the program is meant to help "historically underrepresented and marginalized workers" but does not mention a specific goal of how many Black and other minority residents will be engaged with the job training. Project coordinators have previously suggested they want at least 75% of those trained to be BIPOC (Black, indigenous or people of color) or women.
