INDIANAPOLIS — Today, February 6, 2023, EmployIndy, Marion County’s Workforce Development Board, has named Esther Woodson as its new executive director of Indy Achieves. Effective immediately, Woodson succeeds Matt Impink who has led the initiative since its launch by Mayor Joe Hogsett and his administration in 2018. Woodson joined EmployIndy in February 2019, most recently serving as senior director for Indy Achieves.  

Indy Achieves is focused on closing the skills gap in Indianapolis by increasing the proportion of residents with high-quality credentials to 65% by 2027 and by eliminating the attainment gaps that currently exist for minority students. To accomplish this, Indy Achieves works to actively increase the number of individuals who apply for existing financial aid programs such as 21st Century Scholars and FAFSA, as well as provide Promise Scholarships, Completion Grants and wraparound support services for Marion County students who attend Ivy Tech Indianapolis and IUPUI. 

Woodson, a native of Indianapolis, is a proud graduate of Indianapolis Public Schools and a 21st Century Scholar, attending Crispus Attucks Middle School and Northwest High School. She then went on to pursue her undergraduate degree at the Indiana University School of Journalism, followed by 15 years in secondary and post-secondary education in Indianapolis and will complete her pursuit of a graduate degree in Management and Leadership later this year. Today she attributes her personal and professional achievements to the 21st Century Scholars Program, along with a host of family, mentors, teachers and friends.  

“Indy Achieves Scholars are the future workforce and leaders of Marion County,” said Woodson. “I am excited to lead Indy Achieves forward, working collaboratively with K12 and postsecondary to ensure all Indianapolis students, particularly minorities, have the education, experiences and resources needed to complete a high-quality credential that leads to good and promising jobs in our community.” 

To improve access to postsecondary education, Indy Achieves processed 710 21st Century Scholars applications, accounting for roughly 19 percent of the overall scholars from Marion County in the 2021-2022 school year. To ensure postsecondary persistence and completion, Indy Achieves offers coaching services and scholarships that supported 199 graduates at IUPUI and Ivy Tech Indianapolis last year. This student success coaching model has increased postsecondary retention by as much as a13 percent over comparison groups.  

“This year, as Esther takes the reigns, Indy Achieves will grow by half a million dollars in City funding,” said Mayor Joe Hogsett. “That will enable our growing program to impact hundreds of additional Indianapolis students, many of them traveling a path that Esther knows personally.” 

Woodson has been recognized locally by several organizations for her commitment to education and community, receiving the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Indiana Big Sister of the Year Award in 2015 and the Live United Volunteer of the Year Award in 2014. She was recently a finalist for both the Center for Leadership Development Minority Achievers Award in 2022 and the Inspire Awards “The Power of Mentoring” Youth Mentor in 2018. A member of The Father's Heart Ministries Church, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Chi Chi Omega Chapter, and an active Big Sister with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Indiana, Woodson resides on the west side of Indianapolis with her husband and two teenage sons.  

 ### 

A photo of Woodson can be sourced here. 

About EmployIndy 

EmployIndy guides the local workforce ecosystem and makes strategic investments to remove barriers to quality employment for underserved and underrepresented residents. Our vision is for all Marion County residents to have access to services and training necessary to secure a livable wage and grow in a career that meets employer demand for talent. As the workforce development board for Marion County, guided by 24 business, civic, education and nonprofit community leaders, EmployIndy invests over $20 million in public, private and philanthropic funds for both youth and adults annually. EmployIndy stands against all forms of racism – systemic, individual, and structural – as an anti-racist organization. Learn more at employindy.org. 

The worker voice is becoming more and more dominate in the decision-making process for businesses. The rise of Covid created a shift in how workers view jobs and which aspects of those jobs they find important. This is especially true for workers at the entry-level or “front line.”

Ritse Erumi and Martin Whittaker, in their recent Fortune article Americans know what they want from companies. It’s time to listen, summarize this shift in saying that “what the pandemic catalyzed was a fundamental shift in expectations for workers. With wage hikes over the past year failing to keep pace with record-high inflation, many workers are also feeling more dissatisfied.”

It's for reasons such as these that EmployIndy is creating a Marion County Employer Resource Network (ERN), in partnership with ERN-USA. This national model was created first in Michigan and has been around for more than a decade, now spanning more than 10 states and with over 20 networks. It is a member-based program that serves the employees of the members who participate. Members are the companies themselves, and the cost of membership gives each employer access to a Success Coach. This Success Coach, which will be employed by EmployIndy’s ERN, is the designated “barrier navigator” helping individual employees navigate the external issues that impact their ability to come to work and/or do their work at their full potential.

In Indiana, Johnson County is the only other community that has an active program, and their employer members are seeing a lot of impact as the program moves into its second full year. Amanda Parkhurst with Endress+Hauser shared her motivations to join the program as a founding member: “As an HR professional, it’s difficult to be all things to all people, and we saw the ERN as an extension of our benefits offered to employees. The ERN allows for focused time to be spent on and with employees with an emphasis on finding resources for their specific needs.”

So, what happens after membership? And what is the real impact? Melissa Dewey from GMI, a local manufacturer, shared one such story. One employee at GMI had been struggling to get to work on time, to the point where it was affecting the person’s performance. Dewey knew the person was a good employee. The employee met with Johnson County’s ERN Success Coach, and the details of the tardiness came out. The staff member had a parent who did not have a drivers license. The parent needed to be taken to work regularly and this was causing the tardiness. The Success Coach was able to dig deeper and learn that the parent also didn’t speak English as a first language, which was contributing to the challenge of earning a driver’s license. But with some intervention and resource referring, the parent was able to pass a drivers test and was then able to drive to work every day. The GWI staff member was retained, and with the original need met, tardiness was no longer a problem.

This is just one example. When we factor in the cost of turnover, one employee saved is literally worth thousands of dollars for a business. ERN-USA puts the current return on investment of their services at more than 700% (from the organization’s latest annual report). And in addition to retention, ERNs can have positive impacts on employer recruitment, with many employers packaging the ERN membership as an addition to their employee benefits.

If you’re a Marion County business that’s struggling with worker retention, let’s talk about how to lighten your own load by investing in future satisfied employees. To learn more, reach out to EmployIndy’s business partnerships at businesspartnerships@nullemployindy.org and they can help get your organization on the right path to better employee retention.

INDIANAPOLIS — Today, October 11, 2022, EmployIndy, Marion County’s Workforce Development Board, has named Marie Mackintosh as its new president and CEO. Effective immediately, Mackintosh succeeds Angela Carr Klitzsch who has led the organization under Mayor Joe Hogsett and his administration since June 2016. Mackintosh joined EmployIndy alongside Carr Klitzsch in June 2016 when she was appointed as the chief operating officer, most recently serving as the organization’s chief strategy officer.

“An Indianapolis native, Marie is keenly aware of the challenges residents face accessing good jobs in a post-pandemic economy with disproportionate opportunity,” said Mayor Hogsett. “She brings deep and valued relationships with key community stakeholders, officials, employers and funders who will pursue thoughtful and equitable workforce solutions for our community.”

Most recently, Mackintosh has led implementation of pivotal investments to improve the local workforce ecosystem, including talent development strategies aimed at addressing systemic barriers for employers and job seekers, including the New Skills Ready Network, Modern Apprenticeship, Talent Bound and Rapid Re-Employment Response. These integrated investments are aimed at ensuring students and job seekers have equitable postsecondary options – informed through career-connected learning – that offer economic mobility through good jobs and good wages, providing a diverse and well-prepared talent pool for Indianapolis employers to grow and thrive.

“I am incredibly proud of innovative solutions that EmployIndy and its partners have created for employers and workers alike during my first six years at EmployIndy,” said Mackintosh, “but our most important work continues to be ensuring a diverse and skilled workforce has equitable access to economic mobility through good jobs.”

In Marion County, the median income of white households is almost twice that of Black households, affirming that all opportunities are not created equal and that a concerted effort must continue to ensure we are building up our communities, households, and residents of color. From July 2021 to June 2022, EmployIndy assisted 50,000 Indianapolis residents, and of those who self-identified, 75% were people of color.

“New EmployIndy initiatives like Choice Employers and Good Wages are helping employers implement hiring and employment practices that will close this opportunity gap as job access, performance, satisfaction, and retention improve,” said Jay Styles, senior director, business partnerships. “Job quality boosts talent attraction in a big way and has currency when filling skilled positions.”

The Good Wages Initiative certifies, celebrates, and showcases Marion County employers that have voluntarily committed to providing full-time employees with a living wage – $18 per hour – and health insurance benefits, and is a recommended hiring and promotions strategy of Business Equity for Indy. Launched just this year, 58 local employers, representing 18 industries and over 23,400 workers are already committed to increasing worker wages by $4.2 million annually.

“As a Good Wages employer with a commitment to equity, EmployIndy sets the highest equity standards for itself as an employer in our community,” said Aman Brar, EmployIndy board chair. “In her new position, Marie will continue to drive thoughtful and equitable solutions through data- and partner-informed processes that further our goal of increasing access.”

Mackintosh brings over 20 years of relevant experience to this role, having worked immediately prior to EmployIndy in various leadership roles at the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, in marketing at a global manufacturer, and in advising and program development at Butler and Depauw universities, respectively. She holds an MBA from Butler University and a BA from Indiana University, she was named one of Indy’s Best and Brightest in 2017 and has served on committees and boards convened by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Indy Chamber, Ascend Indiana, Business Equity for Indy, Far Eastside Collective Impact Council, Thomas Gregg Neighborhood School, and IndyFringe.