07-11-16 Community Investment - Laserfiche WebLink

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Regarding business development, we've seen a lot of success in our workforce development program. We are trying to look at ways to incorporate folks at a younger age to create a pipeline for people who do not want to go to college. This year, there are forty -three (43) individuals enrolled in workforce development programs right now. Thirty -four (34) completed the program and twenty -three (23) have already been placed. Some don't even finish the training program, because they're placed almost mid -way through. Important to note is that the areas that were supporting those efforts mirror what you see in our economy, health care, advanced manufacturing, building trades, hospitality and CDL licensing. At this point in 2016 we're right around the area of $31 million in private development, and only about $2 million in public development. In addition to that, we've created around two - hundred fifty 250 jobs with DCI assisted projects. The second half of the year might takeoff with more momentum, because many people are waiting on the Regional Cities Initiative decisions which will take place on July 25th. Between those projects combined with other initiatives, we're looking at approximately $200 million more in private investment this year. Part of rebuilding our team effort is that we were able to hire a new Planning Director. He has a very strong eye for urban design, and he and the team have really gone a long way towards identifying the priorities in the community and how we are going to get there. He is also committed to community engagement. Pam Meyer briefly went over the Neighborhood Engagement program. Ms. Meyer stated that they are continuing efforts to engage residents and community organizations. We provide direct services to members of the community through the programs that we are conducting in house including home repair, and first -time home buyer and housing counseling. Housing counseling is not just mortgage or default counseling. The program also includes pre and post purchase counseling, where we are educating people about what it takes to buy a home, and what it takes to maintain it. We also manage the federal funds that are available for these programs. We were very successful in 2015 relative to our home repair and first -time home buyer program, with seventeen (17) new homebuyers in our low and moderate homebuyer programs, and we're on target to match that again this year. Ms. Meyer stated she has seen more interest this year than any year prior. The South Bend Home Improvement program maintains continued interest. The City only funds one (1) address and one (1) person, this ensures that we are not duplicating resources. We struggle in terms of the fact that we have a lot of contractors that are helping service this program, but they are the same contractors that are servicing all of the programs in the community, so it is difficult to do this in a timely manner. The Department of Community Investment is trying to encourage more contractors to participate in the program. Our housing counseling is one of the best in the state of Indiana and we've received awards for our hardest hit fund and the Indiana foreclosure prevention that we're funding for 2016 and 2017. The program continues to respond to a high number of households, this year we are at one - hundred sixty -seven (167) and we're only halfway through the year. 1)