The Gary Common Council at its meeting Tuesday approved using American Rescue Plan Act funds to help pay for workforce development services in the city.
In an 8-0 vote Tuesday, the council approved appropriating about $1.6 million in ARPA funds for Center of Workforce Innovations. Councilman Dwight Williams, D-At Large, was absent Tuesday night.
The final council meeting for 2024 was Tuesday, which meant it was the final time for council members to vote on using ARPA funds, which have to be obligated by the year’s end. Funds must be used by 2026.
When it became law in March 2021, ARPA provided about $350 billion in additional funding to state and local governments, according to the Government Finance Officers Association.
Eligible uses of funds include revenue replacement, COVID-19 expenditures, premium pay for essential workers, and investments in water, sewer and broadband infrastructure. ARPA funds can’t be used to directly or indirectly offset tax reductions and can’t be deposited into a pension fund.
Bryann Gibson, senior outreach and WorkOne system liaison for the Center of Workforce Innovations, gave a presentation at meetings of the council and its ways and means committee. Gibson presented the “Think BIG” initiative, which aims to work toward eliminating blight through workforce development. BIG is an acronym that stands for “Beauty in Gary.”
“The project itself is really the first step in a groundbreaking journey that is much more long-term than the specific length or participant numbers that are in the project itself,” Gibson said.
Center of Workforce Innovations is a Valparaiso-based nonprofit that invests in workforce, education and economic development throughout Northwest Indiana. The organization partners with Ivy Tech Community College and Goodwill to train and provide jobs.
Last year, Goodwill served about 653 Gary residents and employs about 90 people who live in the city, Gibson said.
The group asked the council for $1.6 million for the program, which lasts 15 weeks. The Center of Workforce Innovations plans to help 100 people across two years, Gibson said, with each cohort having about 25 participants.
Program participants will learn skills for supply chain logistics, construction or manufacturing jobs. In those fields, Gibson said people can make between $50,000 and $75,000.
“The real focus and real investment that we are proposing is eliminating skill gaps and investing in Gary residents,” he added. “This is a foundation for larger future municipal growth.”
The jobs created would also help eliminate blight throughout the city, Gibson said.
Gary Common Council President Tai Adkins, D-4th, said she wants to ensure that people who go through the program will benefit the city.
“We’ve named all these great companies that are going to go and do teachings,” Adkins said. “I would hope that program is going to prioritize a general service perspective, a public works perspective, a (Gary Sanitary District) perspective, as we have a hard time recruiting here.”
Councilman Darren Washington, D-At Large, told Gibson that he wanted to approve the project, but he wishes the council had been brought in before to understand more of what the program looks like. He eventually voted to approve the project.
Washington stressed that the council is invested in what goes on in Gary and shouldn’t just be considered a financial arm. He thinks the community could have been involved with the project earlier.
“I’m just asking the administration in the future to connect with our council leadership about projects because the first time I knew about this was yesterday,” Washington said. “People need to understand that we are a council that approves, but we also are invested in our constituents by wanting to know specifics when it comes to programming for the residents of this community.”
