Indianapolis, IN – EmployIndy, Marion County’s workforce development board, and the Region 5 Works Council have been awarded $40,000 by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development to design a work-and-learn plan targeting regional high school students for technically skilled career pathways.

EmployIndy has conducted extensive research for the development of strategies needed to prepare an appropriately skilled workforce to meet the needs of the area’s key industry sectors, such as healthcare, logistics, manufacturing and information technology. As a result, it is the vision of ensuring that both students and adult workers make smart choices about their career, have the skills that matter to employers and get on the talent highway to in-demand jobs available in Central Indiana. The newly funded partnership with the Region 5 Works Council will create a plan to operationalize those goals for current and recent high school students, ages 16-25, throughout the 41 school districts of Central Indiana.

Activities of this plan will focus around:

• Mapping existing work-and-learn opportunities in the region focused on the key sectors in Central Indiana;
• Using Gap Analysis to identify opportunities to scale promising work-and-learn programming; and
• Operationalizing with other area partners to scale identified best practices.

The ensuing work-and-learn plan will provide information and access to youth and young adults across the region for quality education and employment experiences aligned with EmployIndy’s commitment to expose residents to industries and employers driving the local economy.

“This partnership is a great demonstration of the commitment to collaborate on innovative strategies to provide career pathways for youth and young adults across Central Indiana,” said Angela Carr Klitzsch, EmployIndy’s president and CEO. “We are rich with resources, but lacking coordination with available opportunities, and will now be able to elevate them even more to maximize their capabilities to help people find great employment and careers.”
The work-and-learn funding is part of the $400,000 awarded by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development through the Innovate Work-And-Learn grant. The grant, which funded ten programs, was designed to foster and scale the most innovative and effective work-and-learn models in the state. For more information on the Innovate Work-And-Learn grant visit www.in.gov/irwc.

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About EmployIndy
EmployIndy is a Marion County nonprofit organization that provides expertise, identifies tools and prioritizes resources to develop, create or find the best talent needed to power the Marion County economy. Guided by a 21-member board composed of business, civic, education and nonprofit community leaders, EmployIndy guides the investment of public and private funds to meet the needs of Indianapolis businesses and residents. For more information visit www.EmployIndy.org or view the 2014-2015 Report to the Community.