Detroit taps 18 groups to help long-term unemployed get back to work
Sarah RahalDetroit — City officials on Friday introduced 18 Detroit organizations that have been selected for the Jump Start program, a pilot aimed at getting long-term unemployed residents back to work that's being looked at as a national model.
The 18 In Detroit Organizations, referred to as IDOs by the city, will identify the residents, and then connect them to supportive services to get them back on a path to employment through education or training programs. They will also coach and mentor participants. As an incentive, program participants being able to earn money as they go through the programs and the organizations can earn performance-based incentives of up to $2,200 per participant if they meet their milestones.
“In the Jump Start Program, participants have a financial incentive to work hard and succeed, and so do the IDOs that are helping them along the way,” said Mayor Mike Duggan in a statement. “We really believe that this approach will result in a lot of Detroiters who had stopped trying to find work getting onto a path to gainful employment that can sustain them. We are deeply appreciative to President Biden for create the ARPA program and making Jump Start possible.”
The Jump Start program is being funded by $40 million in federal pandemic relief funding through President Joe Biden's American Rescue Plan Act. The city was allocated $826 million in ARPA funds and has until 2024 to spend it.
The program is expected to serve at least 1,200 Detroiters on four tracks including adult basic education and digital literacy; high school/GED completion; occupational or career training or getting a job. There are five high-growth and high-demand training opportunities in Detroit with more than 40 paths through the program, said Nicole Sherard-Freeman, the city's job executive.
"Nobody has tried this," Duggan said at a press conference Friday. "If we actually move 1,200 families from poverty and long-term unemployment to good-paying jobs where they can support a family, buy a house, how much different in this city? If we do that, I will deal with long-term funding. It is not going to be hard but these 18 groups are going to have to prove we can do it."
The Jump Start program will officially open to enrollment on Tuesday. Duggan will provide enrollment details on Monday night during his mandated charter community meeting where he will present on how Detroiters can take advantage of $100 million in adult scholarships for job training opportunities.
For the Friday announcement, the city hosted Biden's ARPA coordinator and senior adviser, Gene Sperling, who said, "the first step of establishing a national program is showing success at a local level."
Sperling, who grew up in Ann Arbor, worked for President Bill Clinton and was on President Barack Obama's auto bailout task force in 2009.
Sperling was selected by Obama to identify resources for Detroit and in 2013, the president put him on the White House task force for helping Detroit during the bankruptcy. Later, then-Vice President Joe Biden would take over that task force responsibility and formed a special relationship with Duggan, Sperling said.
"If President Biden did have a favorite mayor, it would be Mayor Duggan," Sperling said, adding it was a homecoming for him. "There are so many people who want to find economic security, economic stability and they just need a helping hand."
Sperling said the initiative "is a national model of how to deploy President Biden’s American Rescue Plan."
“The entire Detroit-At Work Adult Scholarship program is indeed one that President Biden has highlighted as one of the nation’s most innovative, pro-work strategies funded by the American Rescue Plan to build a larger, more skilled, and more inclusive workforce.”
During a private 90-minute meeting to cover how Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill will be allocated, Sperling said they covered child care, transportation and the focus of second chances, like Jump Start.
"This nation was founded on second chances," Sperling said. "The program is not only a community-based program, it's innovative in its design and gives the opportunity to 18 community groups who raised their hands to be innovative themselves and compare notes. This could not be a better period in the economy for this program to work."
Duggan said the nation is looking toward Detroit as an example. He touted the City Council for being one of the first in the nation to allocate all of its ARPA funding but only half of the contracts have been solidified.
"There has been no area where there is a stronger alignment between my office and the city council than the Jumpstart program," Duggan said.
City Council President Mary Sheffield and Council Members At Large Coleman A. Young II and Mary Waters joined the announcement.
"We are replacing the bigotry of low expectation with the achievement of investment, opportunity and resources," Young said. "This is paying them a living wage so they can afford the cost. I really believe society is judged by how we give to those who cannot give back to us and I think this represents the best of us."
Negus Vu, president of The People's Action, a nonprofit that, said Jump Start is "a great opportunity for Detroit organizations" not just in terms of work development and education but also the social work aspect.
The city has a program called "the Community Health Worker Alliance, where they've been able to train us even particularly get certification and with regards to dealing with all the barriers and things that these Detroiters are facing in order for them to get to where they're at," Vu said.
As an organizer in the city for over 10 years, Vu said Jump Start has a lot of potential.
"Although this is a pilot program, this is the onset of something that's tremendous and can be a model on a national scale."
18 groups selected
- International Institute of Metro Detroit, serving all districts
- St. Vincent & Sarah Fisher Center, serving all districts
- Focus Hope, serving all districts
- Fit4Life Health and Fitness, serving districts 1 and 2
- The Open Door COGIC, serving district 3
- TMI Detroit Inc., serving district 3
- Family Assistance for Renaissance Men, serving districts 3, 4, 5
- Alkebu Lan Village, serving districts 3, 4, 5
- Emerging Industries Training Institute, serving districts 3, 4, 6
- The Black Bottom Group, serving district 4
- Urge Imprint - Detroit Friends and Family, serving districts 4 and 5
- Church of the Messiah Housing, serving district 5
- Teach Empower Achieve (T.E.A.), serving district 5
- Center for Employment Opportunities, serving district 5
- Spectrum Human Services Inc., serving district 5
- Detroit Hispanic Development Corp., serving district 6
- Southwest Detroit Business Association, serving district 6
- The People’s Action, serving districts 6 and 7
srahal@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @SarahRahal_