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South Bend Redevelopment Commission <br />Regular Meeting –March 5, 2010 <br /> <br />6. NEW BUSINESS <br /> <br />D. Airport Economic Development Area <br /> <br />(3) continued… <br /> <br />Mr. Downes thanked the clients of Project <br />Impact for coming today and speaking before <br />the Commission. He noted that the <br />Commission thinks very highly of Mr. Blake <br />and Mr. Summers and the job they have done <br />with Project Impact. That said, he feels it is <br />necessary for the Commission to ask some <br />tough questions in order to respect the <br />Commission’s fiduciary responsibility. <br /> <br />Mr. Downes noted that when the <br />Commission was first approached to fund <br />Project Impact’s initial phase, everyone may <br />have been overly optimistic about how <br />quickly the program could be ramped up and <br />how quickly people could be placed into <br />jobs. He, himself, had the impression that <br />there was tremendous support from <br />employers in the Airport Economic <br />Development Area (AEDA) to actually place <br />people from Project Impact. He asked (1) <br />how much time Project Impact spends <br />visiting businesses in the AEDA to establish <br />whether there are jobs available and their <br />willingness to place these clients; and (2) <br />looking forward, what Project Impact’s <br />projection for the next six to nine months is. <br /> <br />Mr. Summers agreed that he had expected a <br />tremendous amount of support from the <br />employers in the area. He outlined the <br />methods he has used to try to find or create <br />jobs for Project Impact’s clients. He made a <br />list of all the companies in the AEDA, their <br />executives and contact information. He sent <br />them information about Project Impact and <br /> 38 <br /> <br />