The city of Kokomo was chosen to be part of the Good Jobs, Great Cities Academy, a newly-created program aimed at addressing key shortcomings in communities' education and workforce ecosystem.
The city will work in a peer-learning cohort led by the National League of Cities and the U.S. Department of Labor to accelerate "city efforts to design, develop, and launch a workforce plan to build pathways to good jobs," according to a city press release. The city is of one of 16 chosen for the program.
The Good Jobs, Great Cities Academy works with municipalities to spur innovative and scalable city-supported solutions that upskill and reskill workers into quality, high-demand jobs in infrastructure, clean energy and advanced manufacturing jobs made possible by investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
According to the program's website, the municipalities will:
• Identify and convene employers and other stakeholders within a targeted subsector relating to infrastructure, clean energy or advanced manufacturing
• Identify and address gaps and/or shortcomings in their education and workforce ecosystem, allowing them to develop new or scale existing successful initiatives
• Implement strategies that ensure infrastructure, clean energy and advanced manufacturing career opportunities are high-quality and support long term economic vitality in communities
• Be better positioned to address the multi-faceted structural issues many groups of workers face, including opportunity youth, women, workers of color, • Indigenous workers, workers in rural communities, justice impacted individuals, veterans, parenting workers, etc., in accessing good jobs, and connect such workers to equitable and meaningful postsecondary and workforce opportunities
• Learn how to effectively leverage and allocate funds and other resources to support their goals for addressing their workforce needs
• Strengthen policy and practice by intentionally building connections to supportive services for workers and connecting to the care economy, including childcare, health care and mental health as key supports for workers.
“With the influx of new investment in Kokomo, including the new battery factory, it is more important than ever to develop our workforce,” Kokomo Mayor Tyler Moore said in a prepared statement. “The fact that Kokomo was just one of 16 cities nationwide to be selected for this opportunity speaks to our commitment to develop a stronger, well-trained workforce. We appreciate this opportunity to work with the National League of Cities and the Department of Labor.”
The city of Kokomo is working with community partners Ivy Tech Community College, the Greater Kokomo Economic Development Alliance, the North Central Indiana Regional Planning Council (NCIRPC) and the Region 4 Workforce Board to build a structured workforce development system. A primary goal is to help both employers and employees focus on workforce development, ensuring workers are trained and prepared to enter an ever-changing workplace.
Kokomo is joined by 15 other cities in the Good Jobs, Great Cities Academy. The program will run through 2024.
The other cities are: Birmingham, Alabama; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Duluth, Minnesota; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Frederick, Maryland; Jamestown, New York; Lansing, Michigan; Missoula, Montana; Monroe, North Carolina; Newark, New Jersey; San Antonio, Texas; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Saint Louis, Missouri; Tacoma, Washington; and Tempe, Arizona.
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