Good morning, madam president CEO.

Thank you for being here.

We are looking forward to the presentation.

Got the documents coming before us.

I know you're loading up the computer.

Getting your things ready.

And when you get situated, please introduce yourself, your team, and the floor is yours to begin.

All right.

All right, I think I can be heard now.

Good morning.

Um, I'm Terry Wings, and I am grateful to be here this morning with uh Stephanie Nixon.

Uh, we're prepared now to take you through uh workforce for the city of Detroit.

Uh, in alignment with Mayor Sheffield's vision, we have an increased focus on youth this year, adult basic education, and good paying jobs.

We're proud to be coordinating with new departments that are also aligned in these areas, including the youth department and labor.

Uh, as you know, Detroit at work is focused on supporting employers and providing job placement, training, career advisement, and supportive services to job seekers.

Uh also, as most of you know, Detroit at work is made up of the workforce board, which is the legislative body required by federal law.

Excuse me, Detroit Employment Solutions Corporation, we call DESE, is the fiduciary identified to uh receive the funds and act as the Michigan Works Agency for the City of Detroit.

And it procures third-party service providers who operate the career centers across the city of Detroit.

Today we'll be talking through DESC's budget.

Okay, thank you.

Uh through the chair.

Um, in our fiduciary role, DESC is subject to regular city-state and federal operational and financial audits throughout the year.

DESC received a clean audit opinion during its last financial statement, um, which was finalized in December and January of this of this year.

Uh the public workforce system has standard requirements.

The law requires us to operate career centers, provide employer services, provide training, make referrals to barrier removal, assist customers to receive public assistance and meeting work requirements, and provide youth services.

We offer innovative programming, some of which we will cover today.

We connect with economic development to identify opportunities for Detroiters.

We serve special populations, including returning citizens, immigrant communities, and we advertise our services broadly to employers and to Detroiters, hoping to encourage those seeking workforce development services.

And because we are in Detroit, and because our mayor asked us to certainly to constantly look for opportunities to help Detroiters rise higher, of course.

Um, this year we are focused in new areas.

We are expanding services across the city.

We're partnering uh with organized labor, we're coordinating with the community violence intervention program to connect participants to jobs and GDYT.

We're expecting GDP, we're expanding GDYT opportunities and for youth in general, all of which we will talk about today.

Um, prior to 2020, over 90 percent of our services were delivered in person, and we operated three centers.

In 2020, we expanded to nine in order uh to be at least three mile in a three-mile radius of every Detroiter, so we'd be easily accessed.

During COVID, we transitioned uh to online services, and today almost half of our customers will prefer this option.

The centers in red, five, number five and seven serve less than five hundred customers a year.

So, in order to be fiduciary uh to be fiduciarily responsible or fiscally responsible, we tried something different.

We transitioned from one brick and mortar location at Bagley to three pop-up locations in Southwest.

Thank you, Councilmember Santiago Romero's office for checking in with us to ensure that bilingual staff remain available at these offices in district six.

Next slide, please.

Now, seven proposed Detroit Ed Work Career Centers.

This is where we're proposing.

Well, this is where we're proposing to move forward.

We uh we're considering further expansions on the east side.

You see the map.

We aren't sure yet, but there are sites to consider, including the Samaritan Center, you may be familiar with, or the new life remodel community hub plan on the east side.

We're also thinking about how to expand support at the East Warren, which is a beautiful location in district uh district four, council member Johnson, and intend intentionally working with the Department of Neighbors on an opportunity and empowerment strategy.

That's in that district.

So I'm gonna talk through our funding streams.

Um the DESC budget is reviewed by its board in June.

However, there's about five million dollars in funding requested from the city.

DESC anticipates about $57 million in funding coming primarily from federal sources.

You'll notice that federal funding levels are returning to pre-2020 levels with reductions, excuse me, primarily attributable to ARPA.

This year, new initiatives to raise funds for GDYT, including having employers pay for the wages of youth.

GDYT has really proved itself in my opinion over the past 10 years, and so I think it's time for employers to start paying for their interns.

We were successful in getting 500 more employers last year to pay for their interns, and we continue to work through that strategy.

We're also uh increasing our the availability of fiduciary services.

Uh, here this is how we expect to expend those resources.

Uh we've reduced expenses pretty significantly, have uh several cost uh cutting, if you will, initiatives in place.

We've identified some preferred health care options which have reduced costs.

Health care costs are increasing everywhere, but we've been able to identify some strategies to reduce those.

Uh we're reducing facilities costs, parking, printing, IT.

This budget also reflects a reevaluation of DESC's cost allocation structure to ensure our administrative costs are appropriately aligned to grants, but we've uh reduced administrative costs pretty significantly.

I recall that member Callaway asked some questions about what gets done at a career center.

We serve about 30 to 40,000 people every year.

Uh we perform basic services to folks.

People come in with um unemployment insurance.

We're required to serve those folks.

Anyone who's receiving uh assistance, um, cash assistance or food assistance are required to meet work participation requirements.

We support those folks.

We train somewhere between two and three thousand folks a year, uh, usually about twenty to thirty service offerings and training, but people primarily choose uh CDLA or B training and uh CNA training, certified nursing assistant.

We have a lot of folks who are interested in that.

Um, in terms of the city, the request here includes 5.6 million.

Uh, these are all recurring.

However, there's an additional 500,000 to support the mayor's GDYT Rise Hire initiative aimed at adding a career readiness component to GDYT and starting it earlier for at-risk youth.

Last year you'll notice the amounts from the city were 6.9.

Uh, all of these have been either spent or encumbered, or the program is expand expected to ramp up.

Encumbered means that we have contracts uh existing and outstanding, but the vendors haven't billed us yet.

The best example of that is the boys and girls club.

Uh, the internships are actually going on in place, they just haven't built us yet.

Uh, an example of a program that's ramping up is B Next.

Um Next had a late start, it didn't start until October.

It went from about 92 uh participants uh interviewed in a three-month period to 164 in just two weeks, and we'll talk about that in uh a few minutes.

Uh as far as the staffing grant, the staffing grant pays for staff who coordinate our marketing.

It pays for the employer engagement staff who secure hiring agreements with employers.

Over 14,000 Detroiters have been employed through these priority hiring agreements.

We've got two new ones in the past few months.

In addition to engaging employers who may be new to the city or involved in some sort of economic development activity, I'm really pleased to lift up our latest collaboration with the Office of Contracting and Procurement who have agreed to consider embedding workforce related questions into the proposal process.

It only took a few weeks for that conversation to actually bear fruit, and there's a pun there intended because the group that we are connecting with is a tree program.

So we have a new priority agreement with contractors associated with the Detroit Tree Equity program.

And we're working working with Owens Tree Service to train and to re hire Detroiters.

Our staff also support media events, websites, and about 350 job fairs annually.

And we're always working to ensure that we're inclusive and have much of our flyers and content available in different languages.

And now we'll move on to skill trades.

Moving on to skill trades.

We use the workforce training fund to support getting Detroiters into skilled trades.

This includes training programs, supportive services for folks in the trades, and because we know there's some work needed to get Detroiters ready for skill trades.

We also support adult basic education to get math and literacy levels up to the trade standards, and we support pre-apprenticeship programs in efforts to better Detroit's for skilled trades opportunities.

The quarterly construction report uh it represents July 2018 through December 2025.

We had 35 94 job placements of 49, over 4900 people recruited and trained.

The average wage, 3247 an hour.

So we understand.

So since the training fund started, it's been um it's been a big deal.

It is really important for individuals to get into the trades.

So we are we are pleased to have these the support, and we're moving forward.

Thank you.

The skilled trades training fund.

We combined the funds from the workforce training fund with funding provided by council member waters and young.

Thank you.

Um, as you requested, we spoke with the union partners and understand their needs, and they told us overwhelmingly that they want to help create more pipeline.

Together, we prioritize these programs back into our schools by adding three union instructors at Randolph CTE, the Bricklayers, Electrical and Carpenters.

Hundreds of students are benefiting from these programs today.

We also support welding students at Breithoff and Aviation.

We developed the first ever master training agreement with the Carpenters Union to support it supports pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship training.

We've provided supportive services to apprenticeship apprentices, including supplies, rent assistance, and the purchase and repair of 25 cars in county.

So next up in skill trades.

I know this body is very very supportive of supporting our labor.

I know council member Miller was raised in the union halls.

We want more qualified Detroiters in the pipeline.

We continue to build relationships with contractors and developers, and Mayor Sheffield has appointed union partners to the mayor's workforce development board.

We are refreshing the fast-track business model.

Some of you may remember that.

Allows Detroiters to work on a construction site as pre-apprentices.

They are essentially auditioning for the apprentice position.

We are continuing pre-apprentip readiness at Detroit at work with focus hope, Cyrmetro Detroit, Must Workforce, and Goodwill Industries.

We're relaunching a learn to earn program to support Detroiters who need to get their math and reading levels up, and we are increasing barrier removal efforts with a focus on transportation.

Now I'm going to take you through some of our signature programs, and Stephanie and I are talking fast because we want to make sure we get to your questions.

The Brightmore B next project is patterned after jump start.

Despite a late start in October, the program is on track to actually exceed its goals.

A few recent actions made the difference.

Council President Tate attended a community event and encouraged members to or residents to take advantage of the opportunity to improve their lives through education and high growth employment.

In just a few days, residents interviewed increased from 92 to 162.

And those enrolled increased from 52 to 89 and counting, exceeding our goal of 75 people.

Additionally, our outreach expanded to Bright Moore-based community organizations, including a local reverend, which has also increased awareness and sparked excitement about having a neighborhood focused resource designed to promote economic mobility.

I appreciate that there are other members who are interested in that opportunity as well.

Next is community crime intervention.

We're coordinating with the C VI groups and have established a dedicated referral process to support folks who are ready to leave a life of violence and to prepare for work.

So far, there have been 52 placements from the CVI group, and we've also dedicated programming focused on justice involved.

We work with Councilmember Benson to launch a free food safety training to anyone who works at a Detroit restaurant.

Those spots are quickly filling up.

State law requires at least one employee per shift to have a safe serve manager certification, and this initiative makes the course more accessible by covering the cost and making sure our restaurants have access to it for free.

Training began this past Monday, and council member Benson was there, and sessions are running through June and focus on food safety.

A second session will be running in August and focused on customer service.

Now we'll turn to youth.

So our youth strategy is evolving.

I know that this is an area of great interest to our mayor, and I know to all of you as well.

We're required to perform intensive services to youth, and we will continue to do that.

But we want to expand more into career exploration.

That means taking GDYT to the next level, and it also means providing more year-round internship opportunities for our young people.

Right now, we're piloting internship opportunities for high school seniors in their second semester.

We're also partnering with a boys and girls club on internship opportunities year-round, also.

We want to expand our reach for to ensure that young people have opportunities.

In a recent state survey, 60% of young people say that they do not know where to go to get a job.

We want to change that.

So last fall we began partnering with CREO and Wayne State and WC3D to visit schools.

We made it to about a dozen schools in the fall, and we plan to hit another dozen in the spring.

We also want to expand awareness and access with increased materials and apps for young people.

Here's our current youth footprint.

You guys have asked about this before.

We don't overly advertise this youth footprint because our federal funding requires that we focus on certain youth.

So we contract with these certain these service providers who go out and recruit those youth and serve them intensively.

There are 14 elements of the we owe a youth plan that they have to go through.

We pay our third party providers to do this.

We want to expand.

Our providers have locations across the city, and we're exploring how to connect to those youth that our providers are already connected with so that we can serve more of these young people.

So simply by adjusting our strategy to leverage their other locations, we're going to be able to get in front of more young people.

And if we uh expand our partners' partners, we can do even more and have a greater footprint across the city of Detroit.

So just wanted to give you that visually.

This is how we're planning to move from here to here and then to here for our young people.

Now on to GDYT, I won't read all these numbers to you.

I'm sure everybody's familiar with that.

I do want to address a couple of things.

I know a member Calway asked how our funds are being raised.

Generally speaking, about 40% of our funding comes from federal, state, or city sources, and the rest of it comes from philanthropic donations from our bombers, Apple, Ralph Wilson, Rocket, many others, and employers, as I mentioned.

We want more of our employers to pay for their interns.

That's our strategy going forward.

I also know that Member Johnson asked us to track the outcomes of those who complete the GDYT program and understand the challenges around retaining talent.

You also have in front of you, hopefully, I passed out results of some portion of the results of those surveys.

Many of our young people want to stay in Detroit.

They cite things like pride in their hometown.

They love the opportunities here.

But there are a few, about 28%, who do not see themselves in Detroit.

And so we wanted to understand why.

And it's a just a natural young person of this day thing.

They want to explore, they want to travel, they want to see the world, they want to expand their reach.

So that's a good thing.

But we wanted to be responsive to that.

What we also wanted to demonstrate, though, is that overall the satisfaction rate for GDYT is 92%.

90% 6% noted that they learned valuable technical and job readiness skills in the program.

And then given increasingly increased levels of loneliness and social isolation, we also surveyed uh folks and found that 87 reported making a successful connection with another young person.

And an about a third changed their career goals after participating in GDYT.

So I thought that was really good.

Next for GDYT, uh we're going to take it to the next level and rise it higher, ensuring our youth have opportunities.

We're going to extend it for at-risk use so that it starts prior to the 4th of July holiday, and we're gonna uh grow year-round opportunities for young people uh so that they know that they have opportunities.

And uh that ends our presentation.

Thank you so much.

All right, we will start with uh questions.

I'll start with questions with uh Member Santiago Romero.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair, good morning, good to see you all.

Um to my colleague member Johnson, the outcomes of GDYT, you can become a council member.

Um so I was a part of the GDYT program.

I think it's incredible.

Um providing youth opportunities to work and to be a part of our city.

Um it does make a huge difference, so thank you.

Um and quite frankly, there are many programs that my family and I um were able to access that helped me.

So I know how important this work is, and I'm really grateful.

Um really my one question, because I know of the work that you do, I support it, and if we ever have any questions, we know we can reach out.

It's regarding the being um be next program.

Um I think council president Tate did a really great um did really great work in identifying needs um and then really focusing resources there.

So I'm wondering if it's possible to expand the bean next program to other targeted areas that we know are incredibly low income.

Um so where I grew up in 48210, and actually I qualified for almost all of the programs because my mom made less than 20, 30,000 a year.

Um, but again, I'm here now because of those programs, and they do really make a difference.

Is there a room in our budgets or what budgets allocations need to be made so that we're able to replicate these efforts?

Because I I really want to focus this in for district six for four two ten and four two and seven.

Right now, we have um a lot of families that are still struggling to to be working class to to to gain the skills and the opportunities to do so.

Is there space for us to expand this program?

Uh yes, okay.

And uh I know that member McCampbell also uh shared that he has an interest in this as well.

Um I want to I want to say yes and um we do have funding for path participants, anyone who is receiving assistance, we can do something similar for this program.

Um uh, but obviously federal funds have lots of restrictions.

So having more flexible funding allows us to uh do some of the things that federal funding precludes us from doing, including paying participants to participate in a program.

Um so there are some things that we're exploring with our path and and assistance dollars, and we're trying to develop something that we can do more broadly across the city.

Okay, uh, do the chair.

Thank you for doing that.

And I actually think we've been doing things very broadly.

I think to this new effort has to be specific and being specific would actually yield to results.

I I think the results that we want.

Um, so I I want us to be moving in that way.

We know the data, we know where the need is.

Targeting specific programs to that community, that neighborhood is exciting.

Um, and and really my head is right now for this.

So I think I'm just gonna add that as a closing resolution that we work together uh for programs like this uh for district six, and I also understand we have other partners like Goodwill that is doing a lot of the work that you're doing.

They are in district six, right?

But I guess just for for me and my office and and for for our residents knowing that we have a plan that we know where the need is that we have a plan to try to address um economic um opportunities, um, employment opportunities.

So, Mr.

President, that's just a task for us for closing resolution um that we work together on creating a plan for employment opportunities in district six.

This motion motion is a motion on the floor, colleagues.

Any objections?

Discussion with discussion, Member McCampbell.

Um one I uh for my colleague uh member Santel Gramero would love to join you if we could expand it for D7, but also uh wanted to see if you'd be open to um adding this to executive session so we could have further conversation about how do we expand but also be specific in other areas in the city.

Yes, we can do that to be more targeted across the city where we need employment needs.

So there'll be an amendment, there's an amended motion on the floor, colleagues that will be followed up with a memo.

Any objections?

See none that action shall be taken.

Thank you, Mr.

Presidents.

Um, and really these are our marching orders moving forward.

We'll we'll keep working on this, but I did want to note um I know for the need for us to keep people here in Detroit or us not wanting to lose people.

I actually think that people come back.

Um there were a lot of people I know my age uh growing up that left for college, and I remember um wanting to also leave, and it was actually a mentor that told me well, if you love the city so much, how about you stay and make a difference?

Um so I think we also have to challenge our our our young people to see themselves as the actual solutions to the things that that we're dealing with in the city.

Um I know that made me think twice and say, okay, let me be a part of the change.

And I will note a lot of people have come back and now they feel a little behind the eight ball because we have been doing so much.

Um and I think there's been some regret for people leaving the city uh when when things were hard and now coming back feeling a little bit like they missed part of the party.

Um so I think I think we're doing well, we're gonna continue to do this work.

Really grateful for it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Thank you.

Member Waters.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Um, I want to go to skill trade as chairperson of the of the task force, and I I took a look at your chart in terms of how you how you outlined it.

Now you do know that was a total of a million dollars that was put in there, and you're gonna spread it out over four years.

Did you did you all understand that?

Um, I see I see you have it up here actually.

So but then when I look at when I look at the chart, you said I mean the fiscal year 2627, it was blank.

Um through the chair.

The million dollars that you're referring to is the workforce training fund.

And um, we heard a million dollars as well, but the allocation that we received in last year was 250, and we have not been allocated another 250 in this fiscal year.

Well, I let me assure you that I've placed a million dollars in the budget last year for exactly that.

And so I don't know where this other million dollars that you're talking about, but mine was supposed to be specifically for for skill trade.

And somehow things get lost around here.

Um I don't know what's happening, but it but I I certainly want to talk to the OCFO about it, because in fact, uh we had we had an agreement on how uh how it would be used.

Some of the people in labor, some of the labor leaders were afraid that this would happen.

They said, well, you know, it's gonna end up going to administrative fees and people won't won't receive that training that they need.

But you did say that you're training X number of people, you talked about some of the schools and and so forth.

So so that was good to hear.

But somehow another the monies that I put in there, uh, I want to know what happened to it.

And and maybe that's not for you to answer through you, Mr.

President.

Okay.

Uh through the chair uh to council member waters.

So what was added to the budget last year was 250,000 with an intent for it to continue for four years, yeah, for a total of one million over four years, right?

Um, when we allocated resources to all of the necessary the needs for the upcoming fiscal year.

This item was not included in the budget.

Um when we looked at how workforce programs were going, it looked like there's you know continues to be a lot of folks in the pipeline.

And so we made the call that the additional funding would not be needed for fiscal year 27 because the pipeline continues to be pretty robust of folks that are in there.

So that was the decision, a decision that was made for resource allocation.

Well, I why didn't somebody tell me that?

I mean, you you you think it that you have something going, and all of a sudden decisions are made and people don't know don't let you know, you know.

Um so how much has been spent thus far um on the trainees that that you provided?

All two all two hundred and fifty thousand.

All right, so through you, Mr.

President.

I know I'm kind of going back and forth here.

The CFO's office, um you decided that normal money should be put in there because why again?

Because we don't need we don't need the additional training.

I mean I'm trying to understand Mr.

Johnson through the chair.

Uh no, that wasn't necessarily the logic of the decision.

The decision was that the the city's general fund revenues had declined, and we didn't have as many resources to allocate across programs, and we needed to fund new programs for the new administration and on balance when weighing where resources go.

This was an item that was not included in the budget when we allocated the more limited resources available for 27.

That is interesting through you, Mr.

President.

You know, be why why?

Because we talk about how we want to engage young people in skilled trades and so forth, and then we turn around and we're gonna cut the cut the money.

I'm out there talking about the apprenticeship program all the time, all only to find out when I get to this table.

Oh, well, we gotta we've decided to that that we're not gonna allocate the funds.

Well, I want to put this in, I have a motion.

I want to put it in executive session.

Um the skill trade.

Um that is my motion.

There's a motion on the floor, just a little bit more clarity.

Um, a little bit more clarity.

Yes, this uh this exactly how is here skill trade city funding.

Because I mean you've got my picture there, but then I I'm disappointed that nobody bothered to talk to me about the fact that they were gonna cut the remaining years from the budget, just cut it.

So I want to put it in executive session.

Okay.

There's a motion to be placed in the pub into the executive session.

Uh but before we do that, member Mr.

Corley.

I think I saw his face.

That's why.

So Emma Waters, are you saying you want 250,000 again?

I am saying exactly that.

I mean, they just can't cut something that's supposed to be really good and helping young people.

You you want to brag about that, and then you try to mind and cut the funding.

I just bet the labor leaders don't know that either.

Yeah, well, yeah, to answer your question.

Yes.

Before we go for there's a motion on the floor, colleagues, any objections?

See none, then action shall be taken.

Uh before I come to you, uh uh Director Williams.

Why why wasn't there a conversation with with uh the member?

I think that's a fair question, you know, seeing that it was in the budget, um, and seeing that it was pulled out just to at least to have a conversation in advance.

Hard conversation, I know, but I think it's one that's out of respect, should should have happened.

Um, I think this is likely attributable to the fact that this budget cycle was very different from the normal budget cycle.

It was bifurcated by two administrations, and there was a lot of just difference in how everything was done as we transitioned in a new administration, and I think this is an item and a conversation that just I I think it just got missed.

Um we you know, I will have a conversation with the government affairs team and you know, ask them about you know, moving forward how we can ensure that these conversations do happen timely.

Um, I do want to note that I like other city departments do have I do rely on the government affairs team uh for this communication stuff.

I I do try not to individually rate, you know, I try not to go around that process.

So um I will have a conversation with them um about how I can better keep them informed and um make sure that we're working together to have these conversations.

And if there's any other landmines that may be out there as well like this one, if we can get ahead of them before any additional uh hearings that would be helpful.

Yes, Mr.

President.

Thank you.

Uh Director Williams.

Yes, I I I through the chair, I would like to take some responsibility here as well.

Uh the departments um proposed their budgets, and we did not add this item.

However, the work will continue.

We are the the uh relationships that we have with the union, what we uh told the union that we would be doing, we committed to for the next three years.

So we're still going to do that work.

Uh we're still going to have union instructors in Randolph.

Um that is not that's the that work is not being pulled back.

So I do want to give you some um uh information on that.

I but that doesn't miss the point.

I hear what you're saying, but the uh we are committed to doing that work still, and so Mr.

President.

So where are you getting that money from to continue the work?

We're using the uh workforce training fund.

Workforce training fund.

All right, so next time you guys don't be so disrespectful.

I mean, we are co equal branches of government, and I damn well don't appreciate being ignored.

I work hard and I work hard to lift up my community to lift them up to make sure that they become protective members of society, and then to just be dislike that I don't appreciate it.

I'm just gonna tell you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Member Johnson.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair, and good morning.

Um, thank you for all of the information.

Of course, I'm ecstatic to see the survey um and the fact that you all actually did it and and were able to get feedback from the participants.

I think that is extremely important.

Um I'm I'm glad to see over 70 percent of folks want to stay home and and continue to grow here in the city of Detroit.

I think there are a number of tremendous opportunities for them that exist today that didn't exist a decade ago, right?

Um and so I I do want to ask you how you all are connecting GDYT participants to um employment opportunities as they get older.

It is there any connectivity there?

If not, would love to have that conversation about how we do that.

There they want to stay home.

How are we now connecting them to employment to ensure we are um driving down the poverty rate in the city of Detroit and um just making sure that we have uh employed uh residents in the city?

If I might, through the chair, excellent question.

I think we need to be more intentional.

Um so I think our young people uh have the word and know about GDYT.

I mean, in the first few days of the application being open, we had 12,000 young people apply annually.

We have 15, 16,000 apply.

I think this year we'll probably we're trending up.

I think the key is to your point maintaining that contact because I don't know that they also know all of the other things that we can do for them as a young person and as an adult, which is why we're getting into the high schools.

It's my goal to get into every high school and help young people understand all of the great things that are available from promise to Detroit at work um so that they can become successful.

Excellent.

I love that because I think one of the things we see is that Detroit kids don't typically go through internships and try different um opportunities and and work in different fields to get a sense of where they would like to land, and so I think GDYT affords them that opportunity.

Um I would love to see that connectivity, and if there is any way that I can assist um with DPSCD, please let me know.

Um just want to make sure that we continue to open doors for them that um they may not realize how to get into, right?

Um so my second question, because I kind of put two of my questions into one in that first question.

My other question is because you all receive uh the amount of federal funding that you do.

Are you given the opportunity to restrict the program to Detroit residents?

Um that's a good question.

Um you don't have to answer it.

Never mind.

Okay, all right.

Uh we can talk about that offline.

I I will answer it okay through the chair.

I don't I don't want to put you in No the Federal Federal funds cannot be restricted to a geographical um location.

However, our Michigan works agencies do a really good job of making sure that we refer people uh to their location.

So uh to the extent someone comes to us who lives in a different area, we will send them to the Michigan Works uh agency of their location.

Perfect, but we won't refuse service to anyone.

Okay, all right, excellent.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate the work.

Um looking forward to the continued connection.

I know we've talked previously about the Detroit at Works Facility on East Warren and just making sure that the variety of services and support that residents need can be accessed in that one location.

So I appreciate the work that you all are doing.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair, and um good morning, everyone.

Thank you for all the amazing work that you do.

Um this would be the they're not numbered, your pages are not numbered, but this would be through the chair.

This would be page number three from the back, where it says Detroit at work youth centers.

And I always tell you about a couple of them.

I mean, one is a church, it looks like a church, a storefront, and then one is in an apartment building, River Place.

I mean, I don't know how we're choosing these locations.

I've been talking about this since 2022.

One is a private 300 river place is an apartment complex.

And I've been over there and I also been to, and I told you guys I would go, and I did.

Um 8300 Longworth, that's like a refurbished church or something.

And when I looked at your map, you see that there's nothing in District One or District 2.

I know you you're planning to expand your footprint, but as of today, and since I've been on this council, and the youth, what is the age that you are looking to recruit when you say youth at work?

Who are the youth?

What's the age for the youth?

Through the chair.

Yes, through the chair.

That first map, those are administrative sites.

And one is a refurbished church and one is a private apartment.

Okay, go ahead.

Those are administrative sites.

That's with it.

The second map is where they're actually providing services today.

This one.

That's where they're actually providing services.

So they go to schools, they go to the community centers, they go to rec centers.

So that's the actual map that's um currently it currently exists.

Okay.

That third map is their partners.

So that third map, each of those organizations that are working across that second map have multiple partners.

So as we begin to track the young people through their partner network, that's the kind of tap and uh uh the kind of footprint, I'm sorry, that we would see um going forward.

So the second map is where the services are actually being provided.

Okay, still advocating for the west side, not a large footprint.

What is the youth, the age that we are looking to put to work?

What's the age?

14 to 24.

Okay.

So 14 to 24 would be mostly high school because 14 is ninth grade, all the way up to 18, 19.

Yes.

I have probably more high schools in any district.

We have Renaissance High School, UAD Jesuit, Monford, Loyola, Mary Grove High School, Detroit Edison Public.

That's not that's a charter school.

Um, Lincoln King High School, Jalen Rose Leadership Academy, but hardly anything going on in terms of youth.

We don't even have an administrative office, and I have some recommendations for you because this is this is not servicing my youth at all.

The way that I'm reading that, it's it's going to, but I've been telling you, I I've been mentioning this since 2022.

But for looking looking at this one, the first one, I know what you're planning to do, but we've been talking about this for for a while now.

Um back to the first map.

Everything is east.

There's nothing above that line.

It will be, but it hasn't been since I've been on the council, and I've been complaining.

And I also told you that one of the administrative offices is an apartment.

How so they're administrating from the location.

No students can go to these locations.

These are okay, apartments and stuff where people live.

Okay.

Or run their business out of.

But I'm hoping, I know we're going to been saying this for a while.

We're gonna expand it, but right above this line, um, there would be nothing on the west side.

All of this is a concentration on the east and and and lower, like downtown right here.

If if I'm reading it right, so there's no west side um zip codes.

They're eastward, so you have the concentration is just in one area.

So I'm hoping, according to the second and the third map, the expansion.

That's expansion of services.

Right?

Yes, the second map is actually where services are being provided right now.

Right now, so no administrative offices on the west side.

One has just left district two, that's in district five now.

So that's like, but I'm saying for the admit through the chair, through the for the administrative offices, there would be no youth who have any reason to visit an administrative office.

Correct.

That's correct.

All correct.

All right.

But I just want you to know for the most part, when you look at your maps, I see the services, but the administration is all like east, according to the first map.

Through the chair.

See that that's a large country concentration on half of the map, half of the city.

According to this, right?

Yes.

Okay.

All right, so you know, we'll talk about that later.

But we have quite a few high schools, youth in District 2, probably more than any other area in the city.

I was just sitting here writing them down, and there might be more because I only counted two charter schools, two charter high schools, which is Lincoln King and Jalen Rose Leadership Academy.

I think there might be maybe one other, and I think KIP is coming online.

I think that's going to be in member McCampbell's district.

I think that's District 7.

I think that's 4828.

So close to where one of my one of our high schools are, but so my question is, and I I've sent sent them all to you.

I'm really concerned about what we really do with our youth.

They don't stay in Detroit.

They graduate, and a lot of them don't even go outside of the state to go to college.

And I'm a retired DPS, so I I know DPS.

They don't stay here.

And when they get an opportunity to leave and come back, they say there are no opportunities.

So regardless of what we're hearing, they're not staying here because they can't find opportunities.

I said this earlier today.

So what are we really doing to get them to work?

What kind of work?

And then how are we encouraging them to stay?

Because I read this to page 25 and 26.

Some of this is good, but it's not like real positive in terms of the survey, you know.

Um, so what are we doing to put them back to work and work at what?

And then how do we um encourage them to stay here?

Um, because when they a lot of them stay in the state anyway, but sometimes they leave because they don't see the opportunities.

One of the things is through the chair.

Sorry, one of the things that we're doing, career exploration is important.

We want young people to understand what is available.

Okay.

That's why GDYT is a great program because it re outreach to the entire city.

It's a citywide program.

So individuals on the east side, west side, north, south, they have that opportunity.

And we have we're building out a two additional weeks for intensive career readiness, and which will be included career exploration opportunities available in the city of Detroit.

We have year-round programming, programming, and the map that you see that second map, they recruit from at least a five-mile radius.

We have transportation opportunities.

So although that site might not be the site that's in the community, it is within distance where young people within that 10 mile radius can actually attend.

We recruit across the city.

So we are looking to expand in all schools to Terry's point.

Our goal is to get into every school, and the audacious goal is that every young person who graduates from high school will have a solid plan, not something that someone just stamped and gave to them, but something they engaged in, something they made a decision around because the information that we give them during high school time, they'll make a wise decision beyond high school.

We definitely want young people to stay in the city.

We understand your concern, we have it as well.

There's work to do, and and that's our plan.

So that third map is the map that we aspire to.

Okay, I appreciate that.

And and when they um get that career, um, my goal through the chair since I've been on the council is we register every high school student in district two.

We register them to vote, and we talk to them about the importance of voting.

So I tell them diploma in one hand, voter registration in the other, and that's my little theme going into every high school.

But voter registration in one in this hand, your diploma or whatever they call it these days in this hand.

So I appreciate all that that you're doing, and I'm excited about the Owens Tree Service that are training um folks to trim and cut down trees.

That's that's a lot of work.

That's good work, and that's um leads to them getting the skills that they need and employing other people.

That's a job maker, because we we spend millions on trees and sidewalks, and that's a skill that our our our students and um our residents deserve.

Um I have someone through the chair, and this is this is not even a question, um, on a block in in my area.

I never see any people of color, um, my color working on sidewalks or cutting trees.

They just are not doing it.

And one company I had to track down because they did such a lousy job.

They're out of Lincoln Park.

They came back the next day though.

They came back because I called Mr.

Brundich.

But um, so it that would be excellent too if we could start that type of program where they because we got a lot of sidewalks um where they can learn how to um repair sidewalks and still do the tree trimming and tree removal as well, but those are skills that um our students deserve to um be exposed to.

You know, I I don't I shouldn't have to have my sidewalks repaired by someone from Lincoln Park, and then you gotta call them back.

But anyway, using a Detroit number, but I appreciate you so much, and I you already have my questions, and I'm looking forward to working with you.

Ums whenever you're in district two, please give me a jingle.

Um, and I would love to join you.

And again, I am retired DPS C D and I still have my little connections in the school district.

So thank you all so much, and God bless you.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh Pro Tim Young.

All right, how are you guys doing?

Good to see you.

Always a pleasure.

Um, I just wanted to say first and foremost, I wanted to say it was uh a privilege working with you, particularly on the Jumpstart program.

That was really nice to be able to do that, and I appreciate all that we were doing for that and what we done.

I just wanted to ask you um very briefly.

I want to talk a little bit about um what we're doing involving preparing people in terms of technology jobs.

Um what are we doing involving artificial intelligence?

What are we doing involving coding?

Um are you partnering with Black Tech Saturdays?

Are you partnering with New Lab?

What are we doing to kind of get these young people ready uh for those?

Are you partnering with DPS CD?

Talk to me about those partnerships, talk about the training, and are those skills stackable?

Are they something that they learn that they can be able to go higher?

Just just talk to me a little bit about that aspect if you could.

Yeah, I I can start uh through the chair.

Um yes, uh IT uh and um AI are certainly areas that are high on the list for us.

Um I will say that they are often not the um training programs that are selected by our residents.

So we have some work to do to make sure that our residents understand um where there are greater opportunities.

We believe that there are greater opportunities in IT, in AI, and we've started training and we've been training in that area, and we're increasing training in that area, but our residents are not selecting that.

Um so one of the things that we started doing was um can you tell me what they are selecting if you if you know off the top of your head?

D D L A, B and B, truck driving, nursing assistant, um skill trades between skill trades, a lot of skill trades.

Yeah, yeah.

So that's what folks are are are most interested in.

Um so we're doing a lot of work to get people's math and reading levels up for both skill trades and for IT.

Yeah.

Um we are also doing a better job of coaching people to understand where there are greater opportunities to make more money and hoping that they you know choose something beyond what we've typically seen seen people choose.

But we're required to, you know, honor customer choice.

No, no, no, absolutely.

I w I wouldn't say that you would.

What I would say is that even if they're not choosing that, I would say or are there plans or lessons that you're doing teaching them in terms of how artificial intelligence affects those positions.

Absolutely.

They do affect all of those positions.

Even but blue collar, usually not so much in terms of the actual uh software itself, but in terms of you know, autonomous construction or autonomous demolition or the equipment that they would use, it is affected with that.

And with the internet of things, that data can't be collected by the city.

And so do they kind of understand that aspect of how that would be impacted if you were in the medical field in terms of electronic medical records and things that nature, the advancements because of that.

That is absolutely something we're embedding into our coaching conversations that that for our coaches are having with our residents for sure.

No, good, I appreciate that.

And then secondly, I just wanted to ask you um, what are you doing in terms of your department as a whole, in terms of artificial intelligence?

The reason why I'm saying this is because I think it's so very important.

You know, my my father used to have a saying there's no problem in this city that a good paying job can't fix.

And I really feel that what you're doing in terms of teaching people skill, teaching people something to be able to feed themselves and their families.

You know what I mean?

You know, it's like that old say, you know, you you uh you you you you you give a guy a fish, he can feed themselves for one day, you teach a guy how to fish, you can feed themselves for a lifetime.

And so I really feel that's something that you're doing within the city.

But I think that I for from my understanding, I think that there are ways which we can improve this so we can put more people in through placement.

What are you doing through artificial intelligence or technology to prove your department to be able to help more people either get placed in these skills or learn these skills overall?

That's a really great question through the chair.

Um, that's something as a state we're having conversations about across Michigan Works agencies.

One of the um more common conversations around leveraging AI is in our career centers and in our process.

And I think here in Detroit, what we've learned, and I think state surveys sort of uh suggest this as well is that um our our our residents don't want to talk to a bot, they want to talk to a person.

Sure.

So we haven't uh fully explored um advancements in AI in in the ways that uh a provider like us normally would because we don't think our residents would appreciate that.

What we are investing more in is AI in our trainings.

I think people are really um uh into simulations, um uh uh you know, virtual headsets and uh the ability to actually train, not necessarily with a person or something in front of you, but you know, virtually that's something that we're actually starting to invest in.

Well, as I understand people wanting a real person, and I don't and I'm not trying to tell you to do that.

What I will say though is that these artificial intelligence assistants are becoming more advanced.

So it's like you know, you know, it you're you can actually have like real conversations with a lot of these folks.

You'll ask me how I know.

So um I really think that's it's important.

But I just wanted to say uh wrapping up, thank you for all that you do.

I really appreciate it.

I think it was a real big difference in terms of people being employed.

I would hope that you would um implement all my ideas.

But um, I'm just gonna give you just abbreviated version of what the benefits would be if you were to implement artificial intelligence within your department.

So your total investment will be 10 million to 30 million dollars.

Your annual direct savings will be 5 million to 15 million.

Your total return on investment will be three to eight times return over a five to ten year period.

The employment increase in the city of Detroit would be 20 to 50% of job placements.

Unemployment duration will be 30 to 70 percent.

Your wage growth would be 10 to 25 percent, and your tax revenue impact would be from 10 million to 50 million dollars annually.

Um also your placement speed would be 20% to 50% better.

The participant wages would be 8% to 20% higher.

The city unemployment would be 0.5 to 1.5 percentage points lower over time.

The rent burden relief for participants would be three to eight points.

The targeted violence reduction effect in higher risk areas because more people are employed, we could reduce to 2% to 8% in direct improvement, and the small business hiring speed because the skills people learn to start small businesses would go from 10% to 20% better.

So your blended return on investment would be two times to five times over several years.

Now, obviously, AI can't do this by itself, it's got to have clean data and strong bias auditing and employer partnerships and neighborhood access point and human oversight for residents.

But I just want to say if you were to which I you have all that already.

So, but if you were to employ that, or you were to deploy these into your department, these are the benefits you look forward to.

I will send you this in writing.

I don't expect you to memorize all this top of your head.

This is not a test, but I just wanted to let you know and just say and just make my case.

Thank you so much.

Good to see you.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

I am done.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh member Benson.

All right, thank you.

Uh thank you all for being here today.

So just want to say thank you for your support and continued support for dining with confidence.

We had our first course this past Monday, well attended.

Uh, we've been working on this for a number of years now.

Finally glad to see it getting off the ground to a number of 15 stars.

But this is like any other small business, you need to stick with it, and you have your challenges, and finally glad to see it come to fruition.

So I see we have I believe we have about 20,000 budgeted for the right.

Okay, what do we need to provide you to provide a robust longevity for the program?

If we want to see this expand, we want to see it grow.

And I know you also have internal metrics you all need to meet when it comes to the type of jobs that are being provided or people being trained for, what do we need to do and what can I do at this table to support the growth, expansion, and the creation of a very robust program moving forward for our restaurant industry.

Yeah, if I might through the chair, um, thank you for that.

Uh, I think we need to see how this goes.

I'm really excited by what we've seen so far.

I think if we could partner with your office to engage more businesses, uh, that would be really, really helpful.

Um, I think if we could ask our restaurant owners to um, you know, encourage and follow up with their employees on attendance, I think that that would go a long way.

Okay.

And just knowing that we have our business liaisons over at the EGC, there were this program, the health department, which has direct contact with 1,900 restaurants that are inspected by the city of Detroit, and so they have the eyes and errors of the industry directly on a regular basis.

They've gone through customer service training themselves to make themselves less of the um and and an antagonistic or antagonizer to more of a support staff.

And so we can get everybody pulling in the same direction, rowing in the same direction, we think it will be very helpful to this program and to the industry.

We want to make sure that we become the focal point for the dining experience in the region and on the planet.

If we can help our restaurant industry grow, that means those salaries grow, that means we can have people who can see this industry as a viable career path where they can make money, support their families, and start a business.

So this can be the start of it, but I want to make sure that we're properly investing.

And so $20,000 gets us a pilot program.

What gets us a program for 18 months that we can actually get data points and look for signs of success in the program.

I don't have an answer.

Oh, through the chair, I don't have an answer for you just yet on that, but I will I will come back to you.

Okay.

Motion to place into the executive session five hundred thousand dollars for a dining with confidence program expansion to eighteen months.

Colleagues, there's a motion on the floor.

Any objections?

Seeing none, then action shall be taken.

Thank you.

And so looking at some of the other items, these are more statements.

I have concerns with the commitment to the east side when it comes to our career centers.

Fought in the past, actually get a career center in the third district.

And what I'm seeing on your map is more and less instead of an expansion of career centers on the east side.

I'm seeing a contraction.

And so very robust performance as per your map, but then just looking at the 48205, that support reduces from dedicated centers to flex locations, despite the fact that they were strong swimmers and very high performers in the past.

Fought for that location in the past because when we first revealed these, we had nothing on the northeast side of Detroit.

And so just looking at permanent supportive locations, we're seeing a contraction, not an expansion.

I see the same when it comes to the southwest portion and the downtown portion of the city as well.

So really concerned about that.

Love the fact that my colleagues have been very vocal and very successful in getting the adoption of more support for our skilled trades.

Love the fact that we got our apprentices in there.

What I'm looking for is journeymen.

Apprenticeship is great, journeymen is better.

And then looking at national numbers, you look at about a 37% attrition rate from apprentice to journeymen.

What are we doing to ensure that we're not just doing this for site alone?

Looks good to have the apprentices.

What's better is to have journeymen longevity and kind of like tenure in that industry.

That's what we really need.

So I want to make sure that we're actually working towards that, and we're seeing success in that we're measuring.

And if we're not seeing the numbers we want, if we don't have goals yet, we should establish them, and then we should push back if we're not seeing that type of support from our partners.

Right.

Uh through the chair, we do uh one of the big pieces that we're using the investment for is for support services.

A lot of the attrition is caused because uh individuals don't have cars, they don't have stable housing, they don't have stable uh support.

And we are investing in support services where we're actually buying cars, repairing cars.

When we look at the attrition, a lot of it has to do with the lack of burial removal support.

So that's one of the things that we're making sure that we do.

Our partnership with the Confederate Mills rights union allows us to track.

So we do have data, we have metric, and so as individuals matriculate through the program, we are tracking them year by year.

And you know, to become a journeyman, it is it is rigorous, and it takes several four or five years.

Absolutely a thousand hours.

So we want to make sure that we track and support individuals who are in the program.

So supportive service is huge.

Barrier removal is huge.

They don't have driver's license, and you know everybody knows the challenges.

But we support and pay for and ensure that they're able to stay.

And then we case manage.

So when they run into a challenge, give somebody a call.

There's mentorships, there's career coaches, people in place to help and support retention.

So we understand your concern.

We know that's legitimate, and that's why we're building the support around those individuals so they can last and become genuine, make real money.

Okay, so I'm hoping that we see metrics on that the next time you're here.

And then when we talk about those barriers and how to overcome them, we've had conversations with the Carpenters Union.

We've had conversations with IBW when it comes to the transit.

And we know transit is a huge challenge for our adults, let alone our young adults and youth who are trying to get into the trades.

And so you have to have a driver's license, you have to have a car.

And so we need to look at removing those barriers, which is why I'm a big advocate for workforce housing.

Not everybody's going to qualify, and we have those who are Alice, asset limited, income constrained, employed, but they're not out of stability, which I also advocate for $32 an hour.

It makes you out of stability that gives you 5% savings as well as a nice modest vacation every year.

Everybody needs those things.

But when it comes to transit barrier removal, we've offered B for E, bikes for employees, which is something that we have adopted on the city side.

I hope that you all will consider adopting this as well.

We've talked to Car Carpenter's Union, they like it.

We're in negotiations now with them.

We've talked to electricians, they like or also negotiations about e-bikes.

It wouldn't be a permanent solution, but it can get you somewhere with your tools at a reasonable rate.

It won't be sexy, it won't be glamorous, but it can get you to work until you can get on your feet and get enough money to buy a reliable piece of transportation.

So is it six months?

Is it a year to get you there and to meet the needs of your employer?

Doesn't get you to Rochester Hills from downtown Detroit, but it can get you within a reasonable commuting distance on an e-bike with your tools.

So hopefully you all will take a look at that as well as a way to remove barriers when it comes to transportation.

We love to have a conversation with you.

B for E has now been adopted by Major Taylor Michigan, which is a nonprofit.

I sit on the board.

There's no financial uh gain for me.

What I gain is the ability to make sure people have transit, reliable transit to work, and obviously I'm a cycling advocate, and it gets people out of cars, off the bus to reliable transit.

And the number one way we get people out of the bus when we had the uh we had COVID, we've got them on bicycles, and it got them to work in a responsible and reliable way.

And it helped their help as well.

So hopefully you guys will take a look at that.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you.

All right, so um thank you for the assistance that you provided thus far as it relates to the B Next program.

I'm very excited about it.

Had an opportunity, uh, as you noted, to uh join the uh cohort or potential cohort, which it sounds like they actually transitioned many of them.

Um in addition to them signing up for uh be next.

They also uh worked with my office and we found out a whole host of issues that they had in their neighborhoods and communities, and it was a packed house.

So when that whenever we hear people don't want to work, that certainly is the case for some.

There's a lot of folks who are looking for opportunities for employment, but they absolutely want employment that will uh satisfy the needs of their families.

Uh of course go above and beyond, as member Benson said, you know, vacation is nice every once in a while and and needed uh and gives you an opportunity recharge.

Um for the last number of years, I have been just plugging away at at Brightmore, trying to uh identify ways to transform it with the neighbors, and we've got the Brightmore framework over the last number of years uh that is looking to revision that area.

I've lived in District One my entire life.

My wife is from Brightmore, my sister lives in Brightmore.

My other sister just moved away from Brightmore, but still has a home there.

Um we had to move my mother-in-law from Brightmore because of health issues, so I am deeply engaged and involved.

I got friends over there that I've built over a number of years with this framework uh project.

Um we're we're we're we're at the point where we're looking to redevelop that neighborhood, has no commercial corridor, um, a viable commercial corridor.

There's a 16-acre uh GSI uh project that is uh going to begin uh work this year, it's slated to end in uh 2031.

And so the goal has always been to get ahead of all of these things.

As we start talking about transforming that neighborhood that historically has been the butt of jokes, I'm tired of it being the butt of jokes.

Uh and it's time for that neighborhood to rise, rise higher as we say, right?

Uh it is time for that.

Uh and I'm thankful that we've had the support thus far and looking for that support to continue uh as we move forward.

Um as I mentioned, we have this um 16-acre GSI project and this redevelopment that's going to happen.

If we don't get our uh residents um fiscally or financially more resilient, they will get moved out.

We've got 800 vacant lots in Brightmore that was were just released uh over the last I want to say four or five, maybe six months now, um in Brightmore.

That's a lot of opportunity, and that's what a lot of folks are seeing opportunity, but the folks in Brightmore aren't necessarily seeing it that way because that just means more challenges for them.

So I say all that to say that's the importance of this B Next program.

We got to get ahead of all the transformation that's happening while we're working on development.

Um how would you classify, and just for the folks who are watching, as I got folks from Brightmore who are watching right now, how would you classify the um uh process uh thus far of B Next?

Um how are you um uh identifying uh goals being met outside of folks coming into the the room and signing up?

I mean it's about jobs and employment and uh employment that actually allows for them again to live a sustainable lifestyle.

Um how are we defining success um and what are those metrics uh first of all, and then what would it take uh in your opinion for us to continue to have B Next V point two?

Do you want to start?

Maybe start with Um Our measure of success is a job at a livable wage.

That's what we're tracking for Brightmore.

And so far we've got a few really good examples of people who have you know had some great success.

Um that's our expectation for everyone who is in the program.

Um what I'm excited by is the level of energy that I see in some of the partners.

Uh we've gotten some feedback that um we don't have that same level of engagement with at least one of our partners, and so we're making some course corrections for that in introducing a new partner uh who we think is going to really help to invigorate.

What we notice is that when you have this sort of mentorship model, people stick with it.

Uh they last longer and they persevere more greatly than they do when they don't have this mentorship arrangement.

So I'm really relying on that.

Um, and that's what we're also gonna measure is the difference between that model and our regular career coaching sort of model.

So those will be the two biggest areas where I'm gonna be looking for success.

Jobs, wage, and um uh a comparison of this um rate versus what we do in our regular career center, similar to jumpstart.

Jump start, we notice a significantly higher uh level of stick with itness, uh a significantly higher number of uh economically disadvantaged and chronically unemployed individuals receiving uh uh job placement.

And so that's what we're continuing to measure.

So when when when is that uh time frame where you're gonna start with so I'll be honest with those outcomes?

We're measuring them now, uh, but because people started late, those measures are gonna come out later.

So it it usually takes a few months for a person to get the career readiness training, get their barriers removed, um, develop that trust, and then they move on.

Often it's three or four months later into employment.

So if I were to uh add additional funding to this particular program, what would it do for uh B next and what would be a reasonable amount?

Uh that's a good question.

It depends on the number of people that you'd like to support.

Just we'll double up.

We'll double up what we had last year.

Then we could probably support another hundred folks in the program, a hundred plus.

What we found is that we do have some additional funding, other funding that supports this population that we're leveraging, and so that's why we think we may be able to do something uh more in other targeted areas.

Um what I think would be helpful is an extension of the time to reflect that the people who started in the program started later than we would have liked.

I think that is gonna be most helpful for the people that are currently in the program.

But you don't need that from me from from us, do you?

I don't know the answer to that, I'll be honest with you.

Perhaps perhaps perhaps a no-cost extension might be required.

I think that might have to come back to this body.

Okay looking forward to that before this budget process is over but I I do want to ask for a motion colleagues for another million dollars to go into the B next program and we can have conversations discussions um to identify what that looks like as we move forward motion executive session.

Thank you.

Any objections see none that action shall be taken and we talk about the um signs that was one of the things that we have talked about before you know some of our folks don't necessarily go on social media for this kind of stuff they don't um see the billboards they're not walking into the spaces there an opportunity to increase the numbers of lawn signs that we have that's advertising the opportunities that we're providing through be next and other programs.

Yes absolutely we can do that and we can likely do that within the budget that we have okay all right we've got a few more questions as well but again all in on the be next program in Braggmore.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Member McCampbell thank you Mr Chair good morning or yeah good afternoon now to you all um and thank you for all the work that you are doing and it's definitely essential and important work.

I wanted to touch on as you're talking about the the youth focus as well and bringing up the survey as mentioned a lot of good things there.

I was I looked at the ones that of folks leaving um and definitely on the you know folks want to go young people want to see other opportunities but there was one comment that you included that folks are saying uh one person said that they don't want to raise their kids here um so and that's interesting coming from someone who is this is from youth right saying that they want and I I would imagine that that's a reflection of how they feel of like how they've been invested in the attention that has been paid to them.

So I say that to say like this intentional focus on youth is key um to making sure that our young folks feel that okay this is a place that I've been supported and I want to stay here and build a f and have a family and build a life here as well.

So that that leads into my question around when we're thinking about and just last last evening yesterday evening um the Joy Road retail study um in District 7 we were there for a meeting and there was a um a few business owners there talking about the need to have more businesses owned by Detroiters but also uh folks who from Detroit to work on those businesses especially young people and brought up the need around programming on skills for our young folks not just necessarily on um career in tech but just life skills right and and how to um whether I know financial literacy comes up but also just how to be in the workplace and such in that way um in our schools as well and I brought up I brought up Breithoff and such but a question for you all um how would that need for our young folks how are you thinking about that in this youth programming and also how are you tracking the impact of our um Detroit youth at work so uh uh look into those programs beyond just training for a specific job but just being an adult and in in the workplace as well um I can maybe start through the chair and then um Stephanie if you could um address as well so we we hear this too um employers tell us in national surveys tell us that um employers are hesitant to hire high schoolers because they lack um social skills uh primarily how to how to show up at work um in fact the college board recently started an AP class on that you can earn AP credit in high school now uh for yeah I was pretty pleased to to to see that and I'm I'm trying to get more of that in embedded into our high school because it's a it's a problem which is why we're adding this more intensive career readiness component to the GDYT program so that at least annually 8,000 of our young people can you know understand how to show up for work how to address conflict properly how to show up on time how to communicate with your boss how to communicate with your peers those are really life skills.

So we're addressing that with the career readiness component of the GDYT program.

In addition I believe firmly as Stephanie said that you know every child should leave high school with a plan.

And part of that plan is going to be for me, and I know DPSCD is moving in this direction in reimagining high school where in your second semester of high school, um, as a senior, frankly, it's um it could be more productive, especially for young people who um are going to college or uh who have a plan.

So if if if if we know that we want kids to have a plan, they should be working on that plan in their second semester of high school.

That means they could work and come out of high school all together and just be working.

Um that's the pilot that we're doing right now with Urban Alliance for high school seniors, they should be out in the field working towards you know something that they plan to do post-high school.

And so give them an opportunity to, you know, learn what it means to be a nurse or in a skill trade or whatever the case may be, so that they build up those employment skills and are ready and prepared to go into work or go to community college or go into uh a four-year degree college or a training.

Um so that's what we're working toward uh because we think it's important for young people to get those skills to be to be employable and to progress in in in terms of wage progression.

Thank you.

And uh we'll love to uh as that pilot goes on, we'll love to see the results of that um because I think that's something that is worth investing in further for our youth.

And I know a lot of that, as you mentioned, does fall within DPS CD.

So I'll be working with my colleague member Johnson to see um about conversation with the district as well.

Uh and I just one thing that I wanted to know for the Detroit youth at work.

I know it's been a conversation about the expanded footprint on the west side, but I also want to make sure that uh we pay attention to 4827 and folks in that zip code.

Uh I feel especially now um it has been some intentional uh work around our youth there with Emoja Village and such, uh, but just want to lift that up as well because um I don't see any in that area in that expanded footprint.

Um there is some in the uh extended service and extended partners, but would love to see some more intentionality there as well.

Uh I I also had a question around um folks who are uh justice impacted.

You talked about a little bit around the community violence um work as well, and I again kudos to the connectivity there because I think that is where CVI needs to go and expand in that that uh reach around those various areas that we know leads to harm and violence as well, including employment.

Um, one thing that I noted though, and hopefully uh I know that that there the wage uh is a bit low in the folks that were connecting jobs there.

I would say uh on Wednesday with the skilled trades task force, and we heard from uh a gentleman that um is justice impact and had had trouble um getting into uh work as well.

Um, and I think the city of Detroit with the positions that we have is a great place for those folks.

So, in that connectivity of hope to see that in that.

But I I had a question on how are we um being intentional around further around folks who um are just as impacted or formally incarcerated uh in the work in the workforce.

Let me speak to yes, through the chair.

We have a we have a grant, it's a growth opportunities grant, and it's really targeting um young people 18 to 24 that are just as involved.

So it's a really intensive program that deals not only with work readiness and and those kinds of it deals with how do you assimilate back into the community if you've been incarcerated.

We actually work at the uh inside the county facility, the new county facility, and work with incarcerated individuals who will be returning back into the city of Detroit.

We work with them there to prepare them for assimilation back to their families, back to the community.

Um we understand they have barriers that are unique because of their backgrounds.

So uh we we look at how do we how do you think differently, you know, so mental health services, housing, um, so those are the kinds of things that we think about in terms of stabilizing them.

But to your what what we found is those that have been long-term incarcerated come out ready to take care of business.

They've been locked up, they don't have time to play around anymore, and they're really serious, and those are the ones that do well.

Um the younger ones take a little more time, but we have mentorship.

We're working with Goodwill Industries, they're flip the script program that is noted for doing good work with that population, education and training.

So engaging them in education and training, the support services, assimilating to the community and to their families, those are big pieces.

We don't see that in our general population, but we definitely see it with justice involved.

So as we learn and we interview and we assess the needs, we're designing programs to custom customize to the needs of that population in particular.

And we'd be um happy.

The new the growth growth opportunities grant is the Department of Labor grant that specifically targets.

So we'll be willing to share some outcomes related to that particular program that's in partnership with Goodwill.

Um at your request.

Oh, thank you.

Uh I would love to see that.

And um definitely hear you on uh the folks who are under 24.

Uh does this gentleman was over, he was uh uh over 25 and um just still face some issues.

So I just would love to see um some efforts around uh again, like I think the city of Detroit, where our employment does this well, so like connecting in the areas that we have our uh openness that we have at the city, but also working with employers around the city to make sure that they are um hiring folks who are just as involved and may um are formally incarcerated as well.

So um I will follow up with you on that.

I I don't have a motion on that one, but um Mr.

Chair, there was a conversation before, and maybe your motion covers this, but we uh to that sort of point of information around the conversation around B next, but also expanded uh uh outreach or expanded programming.

I'm not sure if your motion would cover that.

It seemed like it may.

Okay, well, I'll make a motion um to put into executive session the conversation around program B next and similar programming um to uh to expand uh to targeted areas across the city.

Thank you, sir.

There's a motion on the floor, colleagues.

Any objections?

See none, that action shall be taken.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair, and again, thank you all so much for being here and for all your work.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Chair discussion.

Yep.

Uh any further discussion motions.

Um member uh well, actually had pro Tim Young first and member Benson.

Thank you.

Yes, I would like to make a motion to for a 70,000 special infusion that I made earlier, or just increasing it to 70,000.

And it was, I believe it was the increased pipeline to trades prioritized the training in Randolph.

I believe that was the last time I did that.

So I just want to make the same one, but just increase it from 50,000 to 70,000.

College, there's a motion on the floor.

Any objections?

See none, that action shall be taken.

All right.

Member Benson.

All right, thank you.

I'd like to make a motion to the closing resolution to encourage um growing Detroit's young talent to ensure all of its members are banked.

I know that we use bank cards, but I know that a number are not banked.

Work to establish relationships with local banks to ensure all of the youth are banked.

Yes, through the chair.

We definitely have a financial literacy training, and a lot of our young people are banked.

We request and we we don't require because it's not mandatory, but we're really encouraging them to bank and to ensure that they know savings because when we speak about readying yourself to take care of your family, being fine financially and fiscally responsible is important.

So financial literacy is important.

But banking is a part of what we we do in GDYT.

Before we go forward, there's a motion on the floor.

Oh, I'm sorry.

No, no problem.

Further discussion, uh Director Williams.

Um I don't have the number here, and I don't want to overly exaggerate, but I I want to say over the years, we've gotten thousands of young people banked.

We we we do track it, the number of young people that were not banked versus who become banked as a result of you know, um, our financial literacy training and the way we encourage them.

I mean, it's easier to get your pay card if you have a bank account.

Uh so we we make it, you know, uh we we strongly encouraged.

Um so thank you for that.

Okay, colleagues.

Still moving forward, right?

Yep, there's a motion on the floor.

Any objections see none, that action shall be taken.

Mr.

Chair, another motion as well.

Motion to for the closing resolution to strongly encourage growing choice young talent to also, as part of its financial literacy, is to strongly encourage the youth to invest.

There are opportunities for micro investing.

We've had these conversations with your team in the past.

We don't have a minor studying a program there, someone like Gail Perry Mason's program focuses on youth literacy, financial literacy, but also focuses on the actual investing and tracking of their investments, the number of apps that do that.

If they are banked, it makes it a whole lot easier, which is where that banking relationship is very important.

But want to ensure that we're also encouraging our young people to learn about investing and growing their money while they sleep.

Colleagues, there's a motion on the floor.

Any objections?

See none, that action shall be taken.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Member Callaway.

Um thank you.

Um, Mr.

Chair, I'd like to join um Scott Benson.

Um, Member Benson on both of those um motions to be added to the closing resolutions.

Yes, I might.

Yep, with some joinage, Mr.

Corley.

Thank you, sir.

You're very welcome, Sky.

Uh, with further discussion, um, pro Timya.

I just wanted to also say involving uh what member Benson uh just brought up involving um being unbanked, also through distributed digital techno a ledger technology.

You can also help people become unbanked as well.

So that might be something you want to look at as well.

So just a more recommendation.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Um any closing remarks?

Um through the chair, we just really appreciate this body.

Thank you all for your support.

Yes, thank you.

Okay, thank you.

All right, this now closes out our uh budget hearing for uh employment solutions.

We shall now go to public comment.

If there's anyone from the public who would like to speak, please raise your hand now.

If there's anyone from the public who would like to speak, please raise your hand now.

Going once, going twice, going three times.

Collection of public comments have now concluded, as I've mentioned uh for the duration of our budget hearings.

We will have abbreviated public comment.

There'll be one minute, uh, noting that there will be a uh public hearing taking place on March 30th at 5 p.m.

to allow for uh public comment on all of the departments and any issue regarding the budget that you have before this body.

All right, team.

Uh how many folks do we have?

How many callers do we have?

And who do we have first?

Good morning.

Good afternoon, Council President.

There are five callers online.

Our first caller is Tyson Gersh.

All right, Tyson Gersh.

The floor is yours.

You have one minute general public comment.

Can you hear me?

Yes, sir.

Thanks.

Um man.

Three hours to get 60 seconds.

Um I guess the the main point I just want to make is these budgets that the public has access to are just so incomplete.

Like these broad categories of like what the the spending and expenses are.

It like this is not enough information.

Um what happened to Open Checkbook Detroit where we could just view all of the stuff online in real time and see every single purchase that was made.

Um I also came across the LPD report from October.

We got a lot of unaccounted for money.

Um, and it appears LPD can't even see the actual details of how stuff is being spent and where things are going.

But the case law they cited is wrong.

And if it's not getting you the departments can't just not spend the money.

There's more recent case law that's ruled on this.

Like they gotta they gotta follow what the thank you so much.

Next caller, please.

Council President, our next caller is Betty A.

Varner.

Ms.

Betty A.

Varner, the floor is yours.

You have one minute general public comment.

Ms.

Reiner, are you there?

Let's put Ms.

Varner at the end of the queue and go to the next, please.

Council President, our next caller is iPhone.

IPhone, the floor is yours.

You have one minute general public comment.

Uh I was at the American integrated supply on Grand River close to Calib and Lauren.

Uh and they said that the city didn't pay them once on on a contract.

So they re don't contract with you anymore.

You can buy one screw, two screws, nails, anchors, drill bits, everything so cheap, and you don't have to get more than you need.

Well, they said that they told the city, well, use your credit cards.

So find out who's got credit cards and what are they putting on it?

I when I worked, I had uh there was an account and at uh AMX relaxation that's where I went.

I didn't I didn't have a credit card.

But anyway, I want to use my building, and I want to contact these people I heard today and see if we can't somehow make this into a training to fix up this building that they're trying to throw me out of.

Today I look at the window they broke my back window on my truck.

The side back window behind.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Sorry to hear about your vehicle.

Our next caller is owner Papa.

All right, caller, the floor is yours.

You have one minute general public comment.

Uh good afternoon, and to the chair, may I be heard?

Yes.

Uh Carolyn Hughes, thank you.

Um, yes, uh, Ms.

Waters, I I'm feeling you.

To be disrespected is really, really, you know, it's tough to sit here and listen to, you know, as the first person indicated.

The you spend our money with all these broad terms like uh targeted and uh district six thinks they need more money and more this and more that when district seven doesn't have a rec center and you're spending 42 million dollars to plug a hole for the income tax of wealthy people when we could build a uh a recreation center and we wouldn't have to be going with our uh hat in hand begging the pistons to do for us what we can do for ourselves if we would just spend our money in a in a in a in a more um deliberate way instead of throwing it away for um uh contractors and other people who really are just benefiting for themselves.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is William M.

Davis.

Mr.

William M.

Davis, the floor is yours.

You have one minute general public comment.

Uh good afternoon, could happy heard.

Yes, sir.

Oh, I just want everybody to know.

I started with the city as a college student in the urban core program and then took a test to become a regular city employee.

You know, so it is possible in HR.

Well, at that time it's called personnel.

You know, so I I ended up going to the water department, becoming a permanent city employee, and uh I had seven different titles while I was there.

And what helped me because I already had a two-year college degree was the college tuition reimbursement and other programs.

They they used to do a number of programs, one of them even included investing and also planning for retirement.

I started planning up for retirement at 22.

You know, so there's a lot of stuff that the city used to do.

I know most of y'all sort of young, y'all may not realize what the city used to do, but I for one knew and benefited from that.

And I think a lot of young people, especially college students, could benefit from that.

And that would also encourage them to stay in the city.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Council President, this will be our last caller as we are now going back to Betty A.

Varner.

Miss Betty A.

Varner, the floor is yours.

You have one minute, general public comment.

Uh, good afternoon.

This is Betty A.

Varner, the president of the Soda Elsewhere Black Association.

Here again, advocating, asking the council to consider allocating monies for uh 501c3s associations and black clubs to pay that land use hearing fee that is required for uh black clubs who are doing projects to beautify their neighborhoods.

We must go in front of the BC department that $1,500 reaps havoc on small black clubs.

We are doing the work.

We have purchased these vacant lots that the city has asked us to do to make them useful and beautified for our neighborhood.

I'm also asking for monies allocated in the budget for quarters.

We need our quarters.

We want to revitalize and redevelop money spent, just like they have been in other corridors, and especially focus on our thank you so much.

I believe that takes us to the end of our public comments.

Uh colleagues, we are set to reconvene very shortly.

Um is there any adjustment in the time that you want to meet?

130, 2 o'clock.

I heard it two o'clock.

I'm saying I'm hearing now.

Here 130.

Nope.

All right.

Sounds like 130 is what I'm hearing more than anything.

All right, so we shall recess uh the uh budget hearings until 1:30.

Wait.