2018 CAPER (Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report

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A CommunityWINS grant was awarded to the Near Northwest Neighborhood, Inc. to fund a minority and women contractor training pogram. Grant funds are being used to create and operate a year-long program of training and certification opportunities. Michiana SCORE, Project Impact South Bend, South Bend Heritage Foundation, and the City of South ' Bend partnered to open the Westside Small Business Resoure Center in 2018. The Center serves to stimulate business development in the area, and is the first neighborhood-based business development center Michiana SCORE plans to help launch. Available services include basic SCORE mentoring, access ' to Small Business Development Center services, Small Business Administration, Small Business Innovation Research, and Small Business Technology Transfer Program training and support. The Employer Resource Network (ERN) is a collaboration between Goodwill/Michiana Bridges, the City of South Bend,the Community Foundation and five local employers.The group has a shared desire to increase rention in their entry-level workforce while assisting their employees solve non-workplace problems impacting their attendanace and productivity. For an under-resourced employee lacking coping skills, a financial safety net or family support, small problems such as car troubles or lack of child tcare can escalate into lost work time or a lost job. ERN helps employees find solutions to such problems. A Resource Navigator, trained in rapid problem resolution and with access to a wide range of community resources, is on-site at each employer's workplace for a portion of each week and available the rest of hte week by phone and email.This Resource Navigator works directly with employees to ' address their everyday non-workplace issues, connect to resources, and build stability. While these services are focused on entry-level workers, they are available to all employees. In 2018, 185 employees in four businesses received services. Of the 471 service requests delivered upon, housing, financial literacy, and community food resources topped the list.The retention rate was reported at 86.3%. In 2015,the City of South Bend, in conjunction with the City of Mishawaka, the St.Joseph County ' Chamber of Commerce, IVY Tech Community College, WorkOne Development, and a number of local businesses launched a new workforce training initiative, "Supporting Manufacturers and Regional Talent" (SMART). SMART assists residents in obtaining the necessary skills to participate in a wider range of employment opportunities. Participants are trained through IVY Tech as skilled workers in manufacturing. Smart also merges various local employer advisory boards into one council to provide a ' unified local effort in job creation. In 2018, the program continued to develop a skilled workforce to meet the needs of local manufacturers. The St.Joseph County community was further committed to implementation of the low income employment provisions at 24 CFR, Part 135 in the use of federal funds covered by Section 3. To that lend, the Section 3 clause is incorporated into each contract. All public works construction contracts using such funds included Section 3 language as well. In addition, Section 3 requirements were outlined during the pre-construction meeting for those projects. 1 CAPER 25 OMB Control No:2506-0117(exp.06/30/2018)