Economy — Thrive Indianapolis

Economy: (EC:1) Develop additional pathways to employment and the delivery of financial empowerment tools, while taking into account local social vulnerabilities

	Action	Status
EC:1A	Expand partnerships with sustainability-related businesses and organizations to offer green job opportunities to Indianapolis youth through Project Indy by 2021.	Complete
EC:1B	Collaborate with workforce development partners to pilot a green jobs training program by 2022.	In Progress
EC:1C	Leverage and increase participation in existing workforce development and other related programs that provide residents with the tools to be financially sustainable and minimize chronic stressors	Action Needed
EC:1D	Pilot a green job incubator or co-working space by 2025.	Action Needed

EC:1A - Project Indy

Project Indy, an initiative of EmployIndy, is comprised of a network of community organizations, employers, and corporate partners who are providing job opportunities, soft-skill development and job-readiness training to in-school and out-of-school youth ages 16-24 in Marion County. Green jobs are those that produce goods or provide services that benefit the environment or conserve natural resources.

For more information, please visit Project Indy.

ec:1A - COMplete

To commemorate the UN’s International Youth Day 2023, Employ Indy and the Office of Sustainability celebrated the achievement of this action item. The number of green jobs for youth in Indy has grown from the 2019 baseline of 189 to 522 in 2022 and an estimated 654 for 2023. The following local employers have listed youth green job opportunities on Project Indy:

Indy Parks
TeenWorks
Keep Indianapolis Beautiful
Groundwork Indy
Indianapolis Zoo
Indiana Reclamation and Excavating
Eway Foundation
Freewheelin' Community Bikes
Felege Hiywot Center

EC:1B - Green Jobs Training Program

The Indiana Office of Energy Development (OED) is collaborating with the Indiana Department of Workforce Development (DWD) to create a state-based home energy efficiency contractor training grants program, also known as the Training for Residential Energy Contractors (TREC) program. The goal of the program is to train, test, and certify residential energy efficiency and electrification contractors. The Indiana OED is partnering with DWD to develop and implement efforts that will prepare contractors and their employees to bring energy-efficient technologies into homes.

The TREC funding is planned to achieve three primary outcomes. These are: (1) reduce the cost of training contractor employees; (2) provide access to workforce development tools for contractors including, but not limited to, testing and certification; and (3) partner with community organizations to develop and implement an equitable state program.

Indiana’s total allotment under this grant opportunity is $3.35 million. The Indiana OED website has additional information about the program here.

Economy: (EC:2) Collaborate with anchor institutions and businesses to target local investments and provide family sustaining wages.

	Action	Status
EC:2A	Work with businesses to develop policies for local hiring, contracting, and procurement to ensure that economic opportunities generated by employers are accessible to nearby communities.	Action Needed
EC:2B	Develop and pilot a green business / energy efficiency training program for the re-entry population with local workforce development and re-entry partners by 2022.	Action Needed
EC:2C	Expand partnerships to encourage reintegration and successful re-entry of previously incarcerated individuals.	In Progress

Keys2Work

Keys2Work helps homeless and justice-involved citizens successfully transition into the workforce through employment assistance, workforce certifications, workplace mentoring, and job placement services. Keys2Works works to connect all homeless and justice-involved citizens in Marion County with access to training, services, and support necessary to secure and maintain meaningful, living wage employment. Keys2Work staffs Downtown Indy Clean Team, Pathway to Employment, and Recycle Force.

For more information, please visit Keys2Work.

downtown indy Clean Team

In 2023, the City of Indianapolis invested $3.7 million into a pilot program focused on 365-day operations in the Mile Square. Downtown Indy, Inc. was able to increase the Street Team from 12 to 36 people and is responding to requests made by Downtown property owners within a 24-hour window. From Jan. to Sept. of 2023, the Clean Team successfully removed just under 6,700 bags of trash from Downtown – an over 550% increase from the same year-over-year timeframe – totaling roughly 335,000 pounds. The Clean Team has responded to just under 5,000 vandalism cases in the Mile Square, ranging from graffiti on power boxes to stickers pasted on street polls. DII is also nearing a total of 200 city blocks that have received power washing treatment since Jan. 2023.

Pathway to Employment

The Pathway to Employment program provides people experiencing homelessness with the resources and skills necessary to find stable employment. Participants are identified by IMPD’s Homeless Unit and are connected with employment, transportation, and support services by staffing agency Keys2Work. Participants are paid to complete tasks like picking up litter or cleaning graffiti, with the ultimate goal of transitioning participants to full-time employment as a bridge to stability. Since the program’s inception in 2019, 246 participants have transitioned into full-time jobs and removed hundreds of tons of litter from Indianapolis streets.

Recycle Force

RecycleForce is a 501(c)3 that is committed to reducing crime through employment and job training, while improving the environment through electronics recycling. Since 2006, RecycleForce has safely recycled more than 65 million pounds of electronic waste while providing job training to thousands of returning citizens.

For more information, please visit RecycleForce.

St’artup 317 Incubator

St'artup 317, in partnership with the City of Indianapolis, has been connecting emerging entrepreneurs and under-utilized retail real estate downtown since 2018. St’Artup 317 is proud to be working alongside Mayor Joe Hogsett and the City of Indianapolis in initiating and carrying out the Downtown Resiliency Strategy as it relates directly to the downtown retail sector. When the right vendors, artists, brands, and storefronts come together, magic happens. The organization’s mission is to eliminate empty storefronts, increase local and visitor consumer spending and ensure that Indianapolis neighborhoods continue to thrive.