EmployIndy Charts Future Course
The grant marks the 13th consecutive year Lilly Endowment has funded the program.
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowEmployIndy has outlined a new five-year strategic plan, focusing on quality of life, addressing barriers to employment and helping young adults enter the work force. Chief Operating Officer Marie Mackintosh says the plan is based on Mayor Joe Hogsett’s direction to target "disinvetsed" areas of Marion County with meaningful work force development services.
The initiative is the result of a year-long strategic planning process and runs through 2022.
As part of the goal to remove employment barriers, Mackintosh says EmployIndy has set a goal to increase the number of employers it serves by 50 percent by 2022. She says the organization will also add onto the services it supplies to businesses, including helping with the development of internships and apprenticeships, job fairs and youth engagements.
She says another goal is to help create a "positive trajectory for young adults," saying too many of them are disconnected from employment opportunities. EmployIndy says, in a city experiencing economic growth, there is an "urgent need" to make sure residents have the skills they need to fill incoming job openings.
Mackintosh says the quality of life goal focuses on "devising an employer-driven neighborhood framework" that can be duplicated in communities with higher unemployment and poverty rates.
"A year ago, I charged EmployIndy with focusing efforts to reach the most underserved populations in our community while working closely with local business leaders to understand their evolving needs – ultimately expanding our city’s potential for growth and success,” said Mayor Hogsett. "With this strategic plan, EmployIndy will plot a course for significant progress toward this vision, outlining actionable steps that not only benefit employers and job seekers, but the entire Indianapolis community."
Mackintosh says EmployIndy hopes to get more buy-in from the whole community.