With recent layoffs and closures, the City collaborates with partners to provide resources to ensure a smooth transition for dislocated workers
INDIANAPOLIS – September 6, 2019 – Recently, Nestle USA Inc. and Nestle Dreyer’s Ice Cream Co. announced that they will close a frozen distribution center on the southside of Indianapolis, directly impacting 172 employees by the end of 2019 (as cited by the Indiana Department of Workforce DevelopmentWARN notices). In order to assist these dislocated workers, the City of Indianapolis is working with partners to provide resources that will help in preparing them for the next step in their career.
As with previous large-scale worker dislocations in Marion County, the City of Indianapolis, EmployIndy, Indiana Department of Workforce Development, and many community partners are working in tandem to directly address the needs of these workers. Historically, EmployIndy has partnered with the employer to provide on-site career services for dislocated workers in order to assist them in taking the next step towards a new job.
Since May of 2019, nearly 1000 Indianapolis workers have been identified by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development as potentially being affected by a company layoff or site closure. In order to best serve these residents, every effort will be made to ensure the dislocated workers are positioned to continue their careers at comparable wages if possible and be provided necessary services.
“It is important that we work together with our partners at the State to deploy all the resources available to us in order to provide assistance for these dislocated workers,” said Mayor Joe Hogsett. “Utilizing the services and tools available through WorkOne Indy, we will be able to better serve these residents as they search for the next step in their career.”
WorkOne Indy, Marion County’s full-service American Job Center overseen by EmployIndy, has workshops available for dislocated workers to advance their job search skill set and connect with local providers to pursue job training, a high school equivalency degree, or higher education credentials as they prepare for success in in-demand industries. EmployIndy and WorkOne Indy currently have grant funds specifically available to aid dislocated workers with opportunities for training and upskilling to ensure a positive transition in their career.
To provide further career assistance, WorkOne Indy career navigators work closely with individuals to identify transferable skills, refine resumes, apply for jobs, prepare for interviews, and more. Every Wednesday, WorkOne Indy hosts Wednesdays @ WorkOne featuring local employers looking to fill open positions. In addition, they keep a calendar of job fairs, workshops, and events – such as the upcoming JobNewsUSA.com Indianapolis Job Fair on September 11, the Southeast Community Services’ 901 Job Fair on September 18, and many others throughout Indianapolis.
“In addition to offering career services, WorkOne Indy career navigators can identify supportive social services to ease the burden often felt by those going through this sudden life change,” said Marie Mackintosh, Chief Operations Officer at EmployIndy. “Our goal is to make this transition as smooth as possible for the affected workers as we work quickly to maximize available resources and minimize personal and professional hardships often associated with job loss.”
Given the increased need for these services, WorkOne Indy will be open to the public Monday through Friday at the main office at 4410N.Shadeland Avenue and during the week at many community partner organizations located throughout Indianapolis. Hours, events, and more information can be found atWorkOneIndy.com.
LaKeshia Hardy was raised in a single-parent home and became a mother just after graduating high school. She was on welfare in her younger years, but even in hard times strived to stay positive – she knew that she wanted more for herself and her family. She began to look for steady work and LaKeshia filled out a simple application on one sheet of paper and landed a job on the assembly line at Carrier. Over the years, she realized she wanted to be challenged in a role she could achieve if she gained experience beyond her high school education.
Initially, this job changed her world. LaKeshia was able to finally get ahead. She started working overtime to pay off bills, earned seniority to take better shifts, and reached a point where she was saving money. She and her husband worked different shifts to accommodate their children, and life was good – busy and stressful, but good.
Suddenly, after 13 years, Carrier announced they were moving hundreds of positions to Mexico. LaKeshia had built a life around a job that was going away and now had the opportunity to make this change she had been imagining. As a Carrier worker, she had a limited skill set and she knew with further training and education she would be able to achieve whatever goals she set her mind to – and inspire her children to dream big along the way.
“I had been making money – it was a job – but it never felt like a career,” says LaKeshia. “Going back to school, that felt like a path to a career.”
Interested in learning about a new career options, she took full advantage of meeting with a WorkOne Indy career navigator. LaKeshia was informed about different manufacturing training and certification opportunities, detailed in materials created by CAEL specifically for Carrier workers. But she decided to go down a different path and make choices that would directly impact the future of her career.
As she decided to utilize this opportunity to make a transformative change, her career navigator did a thorough analysis of her skills and interests, urging LaKeshia to hone in on a career that she would love. Because of her own life experience, the idea of helping troubled high-schoolers overcome barriers, struggles, and emotional difficulties was a passion she wanted to pursue. Then, identifying social work as a correlating field of study, she was connected to Ivy Tech and enrolled in an associate’s degree in human services.
Working towards her goal, LaKeshia is set to graduate in May 2019 with intent to receive her bachelor’s in social work from IUPUI. She is involved with her department’s charitable student group, maintaining a 4.0 GPA, made the Dean’s List, and is eager to be the first in her family to earn a degree. “The services available have not failed me, and what you put in is what you will get out of it,” she says. “I can’t wait to walk across that stage.”
WorkOne Indy staff members serve a wide variety of audiences and this week the focus was on veterans. At the JVSG Veterans Conference, Career Navigators and Service Providers from all over the state gathered to learn more about best practices, programs, and tools available to better assist this population. Many of these individuals have served in the armed forces and have passion in their hearts to help other veterans take the next steps to navigate back into the workforce.
“With every military person that I have come across, there is a sense of commitment and dedication to whatever they are working on at the time.” – DWD Commissioner Fred Payne
Darrell Johnson, Commissioner Payne, and Joshua McDonald
A major point of discussion revolved around the importance of partner organizations working together to invest in these individuals and continue to grow the numbers of veterans served, especially amongst this time where employers are actively seeking individuals with a wide variety of training and qualifications. There were several staff members from service providers who were recognized throughout the state as individuals who excel in this practice, and two of them were from Region 12 (Marion County): Joshua McDonald and Darrell Johnson.
Joshua was one of five recipients of the “Annual Performance Incentive Award,” recognized for his “never take no for an answer” approach and his work in exceeding expectations by reaching out to other organizations in order to retain positions and “going above and beyond” to connect with veterans.
Darrell was given the “Service Provider of the Year Award,” a state-wide award for one individual who excels at work, actively honors all veterans, and “raises the bar” for team members. Darrell has been called upon to share his experience serving veterans and his passion for this population far exceeds job requirements.
EmployIndy is so proud to have WorkOne Indy staff members who go above and beyond to serve the residents of Marion County. With the goal of breaking down barriers for all individuals and providing opportunities and connections so that they can take the next step in their career, service providers and career navigators are the individuals on the front lines who are making things possible.
This recognition is well deserved and the hope is this success will continue to grow as WorkOne Indy services expand into different areas throughout Indianapolis, such as libraries, adult education centers, and Ivy Tech, in order to serve more residents.
EmployIndy posted its 2017-18 Annual Report on September 25th, showcasing the accomplishments of the first year of work of our five-year strategic plan. Read the intro letter from our President & CEO, Angela Carr Klitzsch below – and be sure to sign up for our monthly newsletter to get EmployIndy info like this directly to your inbox.
ADVANCING THE WORKFORCE
Dear Ecosystem Partners, Supporters, and Influencers,
September annually celebrates and honors American workers and their impact on the well-being of our country. We at EmployIndy follow suit to commemorate another year advancing local workers on pathways that ensure self-sufficiency.
EmployIndy plays a pivotal role in the prosperity of our city’s economy and its underserved and underrepresented residents. Leading EmployIndy through notable transition to streamline investment towards a strategy of youth development, neighborhood prioritization and place-based workforce development, and career pathway creation for low- to mid-skilled residents, has been both gratifying and a worthy challenge.
The Marion County Workforce Ecosystem is made up of many unique stakeholders – the work of an intermediary to coordinate these critical partners is no small task. Parts of this local system have historically been fragmented, and our focus in year one of EmployIndy’s five-year Strategic Plan has been on building organizational capacity to unify and advance the system. In year two EmployIndy will continue increasing investment in programs, providers, and initiatives that ensure inclusion and equity to effectively increase labor participation as the economy continues to grow.
WorkOne Indy is more than two brick and mortar locations on either side of town. It is made up of the combined efforts of staff, partnerships, referrals, employer partners, and more. As EmployIndy has sought to find more ways for career services to be available in strategic locations that most need support, partnership with Ivy Tech has proven to be successful in connecting job seekers to local employers.
“We have career coaches who do great work with finding jobs and resume development,” says Bradley Pearson, Director of the Early Resource Connections Center (ERCC) at Ivy Tech. “WorkOne has been helpful with more detailed services like understanding transferable skills, beginning a job search from scratch, and providing connections to other WorkOne resources.”
WorkOne Indy career navigator Danielle Sims shares space with finance coaches and others who provide support services at the main Ivy Tech Fall Creek Parkway campus at the ERCC. She compares it to the type of holistic support and structure that one would find at a Center for Working Families rather than what is typically found within a traditional college career services office because “if someone needs a job, they need to have those basic needs met first.”
Danielle Sims, WorkOne Indy Career Navigator
Though she says her most common type of support is helping people maneuver through the job search process, Sims also is quick to say that she never sees the same situation twice. Generally, though, there is a pretty even split between people who are seeking help with a career upon matriculation versus those needing a job “right now” while enrolled school. Her services often include resume and application help, sharing opportunities like hiring events and job fairs, and connecting clients to community resources.
Ivy Tech students are not the only people who make use of this resource. With the main campus positioned squarely in the 46208 zip code, this access point also serves as a location that people in the nearby neighborhoods of this target impact area can utilize.
“It is a different demographic than those at the main WorkOne offices – we are definitely reaching people who we otherwise might not be able to support.”
Danielle Sims, WorkOne Career Navigator
With the school year about to start, WorkOne Indy is ramping up on-site hours to 20 per week to be well-positioned for the activity that comes with a new fall semester.
Ivy Tech has done some outreach to ensure that students know WorkOne Indy is offering an on-site resource, and Pearson is quick to say that he believes WorkOne Indy’s presence has enhanced the ERCC’s growth in intake numbers, “becoming more a part of the vernacular for students, faculty, and staff.” Danielle Sims has personally taken that effort a step further.
“Now that I have been co-located here for a while, I have had an opportunity to learn how things work at Ivy Tech and network with others on campus,” she says. One example of this is working with academic advisors to help connect students to Indiana Career Explorer to help students more clearly understand how their strengths and interests can lead to a meaningful career.
Danielle Sims is excited to see WorkOne Indy grow in this area, and she believes this model could work with other locations around Indy. “As more people understand why I am here, I expect to see more referrals come my way.”
During the school year, WorkOne Indy can be accessed on the fourth floor of theIvy Tech North Meridian Center in room 414 from 8:00am – 4:30pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and from 10:00am – 2:00pm on Thursdays.
Updated May 30, 2018
In 2012, Deandre Lander was a senior in high school who was invested in taking next steps in his career as he participated in Indianapolis’ J. Everett Light Career Center, where he earned his welding certification. However, for personal reasons, he did not end up graduating from high school. This certification got him a job, but because of his authority issues, it only lasted for six months. After that, Deandre worked in food retail until Fall of 2015, when he was arrested for being a part the wrong crowd.
As a first-time offender, he was given the opportunity to be released on work release after two years. This is when he came into contact with James Conway, a case manager for Keys to Work. When the two met, James immediately saw potential in the young man and enrolled him in WIOA (Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act), a bill designed to help job seekers gain employment, education, training, and services to succeed in the workforce. Because of Deandre’s age, he also qualified to be part of YES (Youth Employment Services) programs, which work with young adults to prepare them for the workforce and help them discover their next steps.
This next step brought Deandre to RecycleForce, a 501(c)3 offering “innovative recycling services all while providing life-changing workforce training to formerly incarcerated individuals.” While he was there, Deandre impressed his managers immensely and they offered him an associate position that provided him with resources to expand his skillset. He gained warehouse experience and earned his forklift license, a valuable, high-demand certification. But his employability skills growth did not stop there.
Deandre knew that he could continue to get certifications but having a high school diploma is something that would really make him stand out to employers. That is why when he re-entered the workforce in Fall of 2017, he got involved with Warren Township. Through the Walker Career Center, Deandre was able to earn his HSE (High School Equivalency) degree in October of 2017 and continue to further his career. At this point, his employability toolbox had a forklift license, warehouse experience, and a HSE. But he is a motivated young man and wasn’t going to stop there when he had so much more potential.
Since then, he has gone through OSHA and machine guard training and is currently working on getting his driver’s license and CLA (Certified Logistics Associates) degree. “I have the motivation to get jobs and now I have my credentials so when I apply for a specific job, it’s nice to be able to show that certificate,” says Deandre when asked why he has continued to grow his resume. One of the main reasons behind this motivation is Deandre’s young son, who lives with him. He wants to be someone his son can both look up to and be proud of.
“What I got in trouble for was no where near like how I was raised but then I came to Keys to Work and things started changing for me. Changing for the better.”
-Deandre
Because of his drive, success, and dreams to excel, Deandre has been featured in a series of employability skills videos by Ascend Indiana and in a news segment by Fox 59. “I want to work and stay at a place for a long period of time,” says Deandre,” I want to find something I enjoy and make a career out of it.”
Most recently, Deandre is working for the Indianapolis Dept. of Public Works (DPW) doing landscaping at city parks.
Jason Leslie works full-time at Nelbud, a company that specializes in kitchen exhaust hood cleaning, fire protection and suppression systems, and grease trap services. Like many people, he went a roundabout way to obtaining his steady job.
Over the past 20 years, Jason had been in and out of prison on three separate occasions. During his final stay, he made a promise to himself that it would be his last time – a promise that started by making some serious lifestyle changes. While he was incarcerated, he enrolled in a year-long drug-free program, worked at a paint shop, and became a Kairos prison ministry member. Once Jason was out on probation, he knew it was crucial for him to find a job immediately. That was when he walked into a WorkOne office and was quickly connected with career navigator Anne Knapke.
Anne had worked with many people whose stories weren’t too different from Jason’s, so she had a game plan once they sat down and evaluated his job skills. For the next two weeks, Jason went in every day to work with Anne. She helped him create a resume and discover resources, such as utilizing local food banks. Once his resume was finalized, Anne connected him to Tammy Green, a recruiter at EmployIndy.
Tammy likes to refer to herself as “a professional matchmaker,” and for Jason, she did just that. He expressed an interest in heating and cooling and was offered an interview at Team 360 (now Nelbud), where he was told that he was a perfect fit and was hired on the spot! Within a week, Jason started his new position where he excelled immediately.
After working at Nelbud for only three and a half months, Jason has been promoted and is in training for a leadership position. “I was hesitant at first,” he says. “I have never been a leader. I was always a follower, which lead to my criminal past. But now I have a chance to be better, and I’m going to take it.” Little did he know, he had been a leader all along.
“Everyone at WorkOne showed me a lot of love and care and motivated me to keep going in the direction that I’m going. I give a lot of thanks to Anne and WorkOne for what they have done for me.”
Jason Leslie
After Jason was hired at Nelbud, his 21 year-old son saw a major change in his father: his dreams, his goals, and his attitude. His son witnessed a 180 and couldn’t help but be impacted by what he saw and realized he had to make some changes of his own, learning from his father’s mistakes. Jason introduced him to Nelbud and he was hired on. Since then, his son has been drug-free and has been recognized company-wide for living out the organization’s core values and mission. “Now I get to sit back and watch him succeed. Nothing is better than that,” says Jason, reflecting on how his son has grown.
Jason’s lifestyle changes and career aspirations aren’t stopping here. He is currently enrolled in a math course through WorkOne. Once he completes that, he is going to pursue his dream of owning or managing a HVAC company, starting by getting his HVAC certification. In the future, Jason plans to finish his associates degree (something he began prior to his last incarceration) in Business Management at Harrison College. Outside of furthering his education and growing his career, Jason is attending meetings and staying drug free, in the process of buying a house, enjoying life, and continuing to volunteer with Kairos Prison Ministry and mentor others. “I just hope one day I’ll be able to inspire others to do good and stay out of trouble. I’m a good story that if you do the right things, good things can happen. Many people think you have to do criminal things to get what you want, but that just isn’t true.”
Anne Knapke is a Talent Development Specialist and Career Advisor at WorkOne Indy East where she works with a individuals to help them through their job search and/or education process. Having as many as 62 clients at one time, she is dedicated to helping others take the next step in their career. Anne had only been working for a few days when she first met Melynda.
Melynda was a transfer case and was working on obtaining her TABE (Test of Adult Basic Education) when they met. She had already taken an equivalency test and did not pass. After this setback, Melynda lost hope in herself and had a lot of anxiety, thinking she would never reach her dreams. Anne believes that “many times, it’s fear that holds people back. We have to help people believe in themselves and give them the tools and encourage and uplift.” This is the heart behind many of the WorkOne career advisors as they work with clients to pursue their dreams and take steps in their journey.
At the time, Melynda was working as a home health aide and was very passionate in pursuing a career as a CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant). The perfectionist side of Melynda pressed on, determined to create a better future for herself. Through an additional 70 hours of courses and training, she received her HSED (High School Equivalency Diploma) with flying colors. After this, Anne was able to further assist her in receiving CNA Training through WorkINdiana. The WorkINdiana program provides over thirty certificate training opportunities while also earning an HSE or improving skills in an Adult Education classroom.
They continued to meet to format Melynda’s resume to help her stand out in her job search so she could start her career as a CNA. “She is the only client I have given my cell phone number to,” says Anne, emphasizing both the depth of their relationship. After finalizing her resume and becoming certified, Melynda began to reach out to employers and had several interviews within a week.
After her interviews, she was offered a variety of positions and chose to work at Wellbrooke of Westfield: The Center for Health & Wellness. She started on October 17, 2017, and is learning more and more every day. In Melynda’s words, “This experience has been one of the best experiences in my life with something to show for my efforts. They all saw something I couldn’t see in myself.” She is passionate about the work she is doing with the older population and openly thanks Anne for being “an amazing counselor, mentor, and leader who helped me set and obtain my goals.” Anne and Melynda still keep in touch and meet regularly.
Indianapolis, IN – Local American Job Center’s free career services at 9002 Purdue Rd. #200 on the Northwest side of Indianapolis (near the Pyramids) will officially move to the WorkOne Indy West location at 34th St. and Lafayette Rd. on June 30th.
The North location was opened as an “express” site for mid- to professional-level dislocated workers shortly after the 2008 recession, designed to augment WorkOne Indy’s career services on the Northside. With an improved unemployment rate and changing needs of job-seekers, the facility has seen a significant reduction in traffic for re-employment services. Career coaches and case managers from the North office will be relocating to the existing WorkOne Indy West on June 30th or be deployed to community sites through mobile service delivery.
“This transition aligns with EmployIndy’s strategy to deliver services in areas with the greatest need,” according to Chief Operations Officer Marie Mackintosh.
In addition to the East and West WorkOne Indy locations, EmployIndy is increasing availability of mobile services, which set up workshops and career coaching at various community organizations around Indianapolis. “We believe this will immediately improve client accessibility by bringing services into more Indy neighborhoods in better coordinated ways.”
EmployIndy will still retain the North office for other career service programs, including its EmployUp program that serves long-term unemployed and underemployed job-seekers.
Media inquiries should be directed to Joe Backe, EmployIndy’s Communications Manager.
Jason Leslie works full-time at 