Morning, Miss Anita, we can start.

Good morning.

Roll call.

Councilmember King.

Councilmember Morel.

Councilmember Harris.

Councilmember Green.

Councilmember Hughes.

We have two members.

We don't have a quorum.

Councilmember Hughes is present.

We have three members.

We have a quorum.

Thank you.

Make a motion to accept the minutes from last meeting.

Second by Councilmember Harris.

Three A's, no nays.

All right.

Good morning, everyone.

Welcome to April's criminal justice committee meeting.

We're going to start the meeting with a brief introduction.

Well, I'm sorry, with a brief presentation from Mr.

Michael Carum related to the um update with Break Tall Golf Course.

Good morning, Councilmember King.

Councilmember Hughes, Councilmember Harris.

As you all know, the course uh did not open after 2005 and um has sat dormant um for the last 20 years.

Uh it originally was donated to the city in 1931 uh with a restrictive covenant uh to be used as a public municipal park.

Um the Department of Parks and Parkways in the last five years has undertaken the demolition of the clubhouse, um uh over a 40,000 dollar clearing of sections of the hundred acres uh to explore with council member king and others the possibility of using it as a passive green space uh in the absence of a larger funding for uh uh that space.

Um ultimately uh we currently maintain about a third of the hundred acres.

Um there are some larger issues with opening it up to the public uh related to public safety that have prevented us from uh doing that with any interim uh redevelopment plan.

We've also worked with Capital Projects uh to look at uh reusing funding that was allocated for Skelly Rup for uh soccer facility and multi-sport fields.

Uh now understand the capital projects, uh Councilmember King and uh Senator Carter are are looking at the possibility of reviving that possibly at uh the hundred-acre site or back at Skelly Rup.

Uh at present, uh our teams, as I said, maintain about a third of the facility uh with additional funding.

We would want to focus on repairing sections of the fence uh on the perimeter um of the site and possibly extending our maintenance of the site for uh visibility purposes for the most part um and uh possibly opening it up to the public in the future, but funding remains an issue.

In 2026, uh we requested over 700,000 for both Brechtel Park and the golf course uh to reinvest in the park itself and to uh fund a master plan to combine the 120-acre park and the 100-acre uh former golf course.

Uh we did not receive that funding, and we plan to submit uh that funding request in this year's capital improvement plan.

Um that's all I have, Councilmember King.

Uh if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

Just wanted to make the public aware of what's happening, and if you can tell us the anticipated next step of action, the next step and when that may happen.

Uh at this time we don't have any plans to open the the site to the public.

Um as we've seen for some fencing repairs around Brechtel Park.

But at this time it remains closed to the public and will continue to make uh maintain the sections that we do maintain and the tree canopy around it.

All right.

Well, that's the update.

Um I appreciate the time, Mr.

Carroll thank you.

We'll see you next month for another update.

Are you ready?

All right.

All right.

Before we get started on our next presentation, want to just read this statement.

We're here today because of because public safety and economic opportunity are not separate.

They are deeply connected.

In New Orleans and across Louisiana, we face serious structural economic challenges.

The state ranks near the bottom in household income and near the top in poverty, income, and poverty and income inequality.

In many New Orleans neighborhoods, poverty is deeply concentrated, and access to upward mobility is limited.

These realities shape every life, everyday life.

Families working full-time, but still struggling, young people without clear career path paths, returning citizens facing barriers to employment in neighborhoods cut off from investment.

When legitimate opportunities are s are are scarce, informal economies grow.

When stability is out of reach, crime becomes more likely.

Not inevitable, but more probable.

The evidence is clear.

Expanding access to real economic opportunity is one of the most effective ways to improve public safety.

Workforce development, job access, and income stability are not just economic priorities, they are public safety strategies.

Today's conversation is about how we do that intentionally, urgently, and at scale.

So with that, we're going to ask for the administration to come forward with a presentation or I'm sorry, but the update on the Gaul Manor.

Whoever that may be.

Council McKean, good morning, sir.

Rest of the city council.

So we are uh the current status of where we are with the Gaul main, as you know that we had to suspend operations at the end of last year due to the fiscal collapse to the city.

Uh we reached a settlement agreement with the current contractor of Robert Wolf construction, and the portion that was still left undone on that settlement agreement uh included the demolition of two and a half buildings that still are yet to be done, and the 10% of the rest of the abatement of the tile and masters at the site.

So as it stands right now, uh we do know and have confirmed that the current contractor does not have a DBE, so we're going to work through the law department to figure out the legality of the rest of this contract going forward, knowing that the primary contractor doesn't have a DBE.

Unfortunately, and as you also are very aware, we've had a couple of uh start and stops with the Gallman uh, primarily due to some contracting issues, and and now with the city facing the this uh circumstances that it's in, I do know that the administration will continue to work with your office on a sustainable path as we continue to try to move forward in the future.

Subject to your question, sir, that's all I have.

One moment.

Um so this project started with about three million dollars on hand to do the demolitions.

Demolition started.

Um there was some legal issues and it stopped.

Yes, sir.

I believe and correct well, some monies were spent to do the demolition.

Once the legal issues created a reason for us to stop demolition, everything paused.

Yes, sir.

About 18 months, give or take a few months.

Then the demolition, the legal issues were squared away, and demolition was set to be resumed.

Yes, sir.

But the money was gone.

Yes, sir.

Um to this day, do we know who authorized the money to be taken or where it went?

No, sir.

I I can't answer that question.

Uh I do have the CAO of city services who's with me, and uh, we'll ask him to come up now to address that issue.

Sorry, do you mind repeating your question, Council?

Yes.

Do we know who authorized the remaining funds for the demolition of the gall manor to be moved or where the money was moved to?

Just so just so I understand your question.

Um we're talking about the money that was um the original money that I think there was some confusion uh between the department and the council office at the time about whether the money actually moved through an emergency motion, which was the process they went through at the time, and in fact, I think there was a budget ordinance that was required.

I don't want to get too out of Rebuskies uh talking finance or budget, but um that that's my understanding of what happened at the time.

So my understanding is there was roughly three million dollars set aside for the De Gaulle manner demolition.

The the demolition started, large press conference.

Um back to do the demolition, but the money was gone, and no one knew where the money went, no one knew who authorized the funds to be moved.

I'm just asking, has it ever been determined?

I know it was a past administration, but have we ever determined who authorized the money and where did it go?

Not to my knowledge.

Not to my knowledge.

Okay, that's that's all I needed.

That's all I needed.

Understood.

Uh Mr.

Mills, are those pictures ready?

No, sir, I'm still recommending it.

All right.

You know how much time would it take?

I think that's it, Mr.

Wilson.

So this morning, myself, along with members of the administration, the CAO, Mr.

Joe Girusso went and we did a walkthrough of the Gall Manor.

Um once those pictures come up, just want to show everybody what it looks like.

And you have people who live next to this.

Um there are two nurseries within 20 feet of this property.

Um you have homes.

People live in this area.

Children walk to school in this area, children wait for the bus to go to school in this area.

People walk, walk to get to and from work in this area.

I just want to show people what they walk through and see every day.

Can you make them bigger or that's as big as it goes?

Okay, okay.

Well, just keep keep keep scrolling through it, like on a repeat.

I just want to get people a good idea.

Now, none of us live in that area.

I might drive it multiple times every day, but think about the people who do live in that area.

Um, and right on a side of where um CAO Jerusal is is a nursery.

And I don't think anyone in this room will want their children going to a nursery or the grass.

I'm six feet one and one-fourth.

That grass is taller than me.

And the summertime hasn't even hit.

So you have children who have to go to that nursery every day and look at this building behind them and that tall grass next to them.

And this is a rhetorical question.

Um, but would anyone want their child to go to a nursery in that area?

Or would it anyone feel comfortable living next to this?

Of course the answer is no.

My next question is why should the people of Algiers and in his community have to face this every day?

And it's been like this for over a decade.

Now granted Mr.

Wilte, um, that was two administrations ago this started.

And I know we we've turned the page to the Moreno administration, and they have reassured me of their commitment to knock this property down.

And I I believe in that, um, but this is just a gentle reminder of what people live by every day.

And I wish Mr.

Torrey was here, he can attest to how this place has become a de facto dump site where the trash is so such a problem, the streets aren't drivable.

Cars, mattresses, crawfish, sofas, love seats, um, concrete, you name it, clogs the streets so badly, the streets become undrivable.

Now, again, the amino the Moreno administration uh has committed to getting this done.

CAO Jerusalem and now walked this property for about a half hour this morning, and I believe that they plan on getting this done.

However, this is just a gentle reminder of what the people have to deal with, and we're gonna have this gentle reminder every month at the criminal justice committee meeting until it gets down, and the reminders will stop being gentle and be more aggressive until this property is removed because it is unacceptable for anybody in 2026 to have to ride down, walk near, live near this.

Um this is not in other parts of the cities, not in other parts of Algiers.

This is not in other parts of the cities in other parts of Algiers, is a part that is that has a certain demographic that lives in and around it.

Councilmember Hughes.

Certainly appreciate you sounding the alarm on this.

Obviously, you know I represent forgotten city, so parts of my district, my residence deal with every day.

But while we're talking about gentle reminders, uh Director Davis, uh I know you're very busy.

Um last week I requested some data around demolitions, and uh I just want to give a gentle reminder that uh I'm still awaiting that data.

So if you could get that to my office, I'd appreciate it.

Uh good morning, Councilman Hughes.

So I sent that data to your chief of staff, sir.

Okay.

Thank you.

It's in your possession.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

All right, Mr.

Bozo, Mr.

Davis, thank you.

Once again, uh thank CEO Jerusalem for being the first CEO that I know of to walk the Gall Manor, and thank Mayor Moreno for her commitment.

But once again, we're going to continue to put this on everyone's radar every month until this property is no longer there.

All right.

Um other comments or see no other request to speak, no public comments.

We're going to go to item number four.

Good morning, council members.

Amy Tripigny, civil service director, and I have with me today Robert Hagman on my team.

He's our compensation director.

Thank you, Councilmember King for having us here today.

Thank you.

Uh, today we're here to uh talk to you all about uh living wage for city employees and how that ties into uh the criminal justice committee meeting.

Um so just a quote that uh Rob found in the city of Santa Fe, and we've sort of adapted to the city of New Orleans.

City of New Orleans strength lies in its people, and a city prospers when everyone who works here can afford to build their lives here.

So, what is a living wage?

A living wage is the amount of income a person needs to earn to cover basic needs without relying on public assistance.

It goes beyond the legal minimum wage and reflects the actual cost of living in a specific place.

So in 2003, um, some professors at MIT uh came up with something called the living wage calculator, and um it puts together uh data from various sources, both federal and private foundations, and calculates a living wage, a basic uh minimum living wage for different uh regions and areas in America.

Um it's data from the Department of Labor, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, HUD, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the calculator basically takes the information in from eight different areas of cost in the location for child care, uh civic engagement, food, health care, housing, internet and mobile, transportation, and other necessities.

And then what it does, it comes up with actually what a person needs to earn per hour with different family groupings, so family groupings with two adults in the household, with one adult in the household with no children, with various number of um children, and it comes up with exactly what that minimum rate needs to look like for somebody to be self-sufficient and not rely on public assistance as a supplement to their wages that they're earning.

So Rob's gonna go over what the data looks like, and they they calculate the data every year for the year prior, and it's pretty fresh data.

They came up with this in February of 2026.

Um the data they come up with is associated with this particular metropolitan area, and for New Orleans area, that living wage was calculated to be 2049 an hour.

And if you say, like if you just compare it, say with San Francisco, that rate would uh go up to 33 and 71 cents an hour.

Remember, the living wage is basically in effect a indicator of what actually is the cost of a basic need.

The city's current city hourly minimum is 1673 an hour, and for 35-hour positions, it would be 1667 an hour.

So it gives you a perspective that uh we're uh we're a bit below the uh living wage with our current minimum.

Um the poverty wage is calculated as well as by a a federal uh a poverty guideline, and that comes out to be 767 an hour.

Uh right now the FLSA hourly minimum wage is 725 an hour, and that amount has not changed since 2009.

Okay.

And obviously the cost of everything have gone up since then.

And basically, in effect, as you have a an adult with children, in essence, in effect, those rates will basically go up because it costs more in effect to operate a family's uh basic uh living wage.

Uh the next page basically just annualizes that hourly rate.

So it's gonna be so it's a it it it basically says this is what it is with a based upon uh 2,080 hours, which is basically a 40 hour work week for 52 weeks.

The living wage then would be 42,000 a year.

The current city minimum wage for a 40 hour work week would be 34,000 a year, and with a 35 hour work week because there's less hours associated with it, comes out to be 30,000 a year.

Uh once again, the poverty wage index would be 15,954 a year, and a person in effect who only made the FLSA minimum wage would amount to 15,080 a year.

And then once again, basically the more children you have, the more, the more it's gonna, it's the more in effect that living wage is needs to be.

Where there's two adults where you have one with one adult working, it's calculated the living wage would be 2898 an hour.

Right now, once again, in effect, as you see the minimum wage for both 40 and 35 hour positions stay the same, it's still at 1673 and 1667 an hour.

Uh the power the poverty wage would be 1040 an hour, and once again, the FLSA minimum wage sticks at 725 an hour.

Um the next uh slide essentially just annualizes those amounts.

And I guess that we can discuss why are the living wages so important.

Okay.

So why is this important?

Um, there's a growing gap between income and housing costs.

There's an increased risk of displacement concentrated in certain neighborhoods because of gentrification.

Uh earlier this year, the Times Picky Union uh had in an article that uh it indicated via U.S.

Census data that New Orleans is the fastest shrinking metropolitan area, losing 39,000 people from 2020 to 2024.

Um we looked at the CPI inflation uh calculator through the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and basically a dollar in 2020 is equivalent to purchasing power of a dollar twenty-eight today, so that's a loss of twenty-eight percent.

And uh since 2020, city employees have recouped about 10 percent through those steady uh pay increases that the council has approved in the past.

Um, but obviously when as time goes on, we're gonna lose ground again.

Um so Rob's gonna talk to you about a proposed uh strategy.

You know, obviously we're we're not tone deaf to the current city's current fiscal crisis, but you know, I look at it as if you started to train tomorrow for a race.

You need to know are you gonna run a 5K or you run an a marathon, right?

We need to know what that gap is, so that we need to know what the needed resources will ultimately be to bridge that gap so we can plan for it in the future, and then also be ready with a plan for um when the timing is right and on how exactly to effectuate that.

So the two strategies uh that we have in mind would be first in effect to increase city minimum uh pay increases from 1667 hourly to 1936 hourly.

That is essentially in effect, a change would be a change in base pay.

Strategy number two would be basically to allow for a housing allowance of 2600 annually for employees who are Orleans parish residents, which would be prorated over a year.

So 2600 a year equates to 100 per biweekly.

Employees whose whose annual pay without overtime is greater than 71,926 annually, which is the living wage with one dependent, or whose total W-2 compensation meets a pay threshold of 100,000 per year, would be exempted from this particular benefit.

So I do have a quick question.

So you you're saying one of the strategies is to increase the city's minimum wage from 1676 an hour to 1936 an hour?

Yes.

That would still make us a dollar thirteen one one dollar and thirteen cents shorter than your suggested living wage.

So then that's what the second the strategy two that supplements it with given that um that housing allowance.

Yep.

That bridges that gap.

Uh Councilmember Harris.

Do we know currently how many employees make 1667 an hour?

Do you know that, Rob?

Um we have like 560, I think it's 280 people.

280 people.

It's a total of 563 people, I think would be impacted by the this this show.

But who make the bare minimum?

Yeah, who make the bare minimum.

So right now, what happens too is people come in at the bare minimum, and then after they're here for a year, they get a two and a half percent uh increase for a longevity.

And then also those positions are usually entries in the rungs of a career series, and so at some point they do start to move up.

So you know, our system always tries to promote where people are not stuck at that at that base rate.

And so that's why you'll see later some of the the things that we would need to do to um to put this in would be to consolidate some of those job classes in the career wrongs.

So instead of coming in at the base and then moving up two rungs to get to a better wage, you just come in at that rate, but there's not as many rungs to move up after you're in.

So yeah, I I guess my question is, and I think you have this um on slide 16.

How much would it cost?

Yes.

So you're you're looking at 582 employees who would be impacted by this.

Yes, because remember it's gonna be the employees at the at the very bottom, and then because of pay compression, if you raise the person at the very bottoms, that they're not gonna be able to make more than their boss.

So you'd have to push, I mean, they're first level supervisor.

So you have to sort of work it up the ladder, which is exactly what we did when the council approved our $15 an hour minimum wage, is that you put it in at the bottom, and then you have to sort of push everything up until you get to a healthy enough gap to where you can stop so that people don't make more than their supervisor.

So and these are classified and unclassified positions?

We just looked at the classified position.

So you don't know what the unclassified numbers would be?

No, but we can get that for you.

Yeah, I mean, I think it's important if we're doing the math to figure out how many people would actually be impacted and what the fiscal impact is.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

You good the current uh city minimum wage is 1667 an hour.

So on the next slide, it shows you in essence in effect what how this would impact a 35 hour position.

So the proposed minimum wage would be 1936 an hour, and with the proposed how housing allowance of $1.43 hourly, that would bring in effect the hourly rate to 27, 2079 hourly.

Uh for the 40 hour position, the minimum wage is 1673.

And basically, in effect, a new the new minimum wage would be 1942, and with a housing allowance of a dollar twenty-five hourly, that would bring it up to twenty sixty-seven hourly.

So the 35 hour position would see a 24% increase in minimum hourly pay.

In the 40-hour position, we see a 23% increase in minimum hourly pay.

The next slide basically just breaks it down the using the living wage uh with the housing allowance.

So once again, we see the the living wage at 2049 with the 35 hour position, it would be to bring it up to 2079 with the 40 hour position, it would be it would bring it up to 2067 an hour, so it would be both with both of these in effect adjustments or strategies would bring it above the living wage slightly.

So again, like we said, the living wage proposal could be phased in gradually as funding becomes available.

Um we would accomplish that through class consolidations, reallocations to new classes as well as grade and step changes.

And then uh, like I said, the changes need to be made cautiously to avoid pay compression issues, and again, pay compressions where there are smaller differences in pay that ignore experience, skill level, or seniority.

So, for example, if you raise an entry level employees pay by 15%, but his supervisor only made 10% more than him, then that would cause a compression issue because basically the entry-level person leapfrogged the supervisor.

So just something to consider uh when we're putting that in.

Um and again, when the council put in the $15 minimum wage, those are the sorts of things that we had to do to work it into the to the pay system.

But at that time, it was right before COVID hit.

It was so fortuitous that the council put that in because it positioned us to where we weren't so far behind the market when those entry level rates just shot up because labor was scarce, we were already in a in a much better position uh because of that at that time.

So again, uh what we estimated with just the classified employees, it's approximately 4.1 million increase the city's minimum wage for approximately 582 employees, and then another 5.2 for that housing allowance for about 2,000 employees.

And again, anytime you talk about this, there are additional factors that impact the cost.

For example, its impact on overtime rates when you're raising the base pay and then pension contributions.

So the city should advance it because city workers are also consumers and price and prices for basic needs have increased.

Approximately 32% of city employees live outside of Orleans parish currently, and we would hope that the proposal would encourage new employees to reside in the parish and current employees to return to the parish.

The minimum wage increases would impact about 14% of the classified workforce, again, about 582 employees, an average of about 10% pay, 258 employees, and I think that's what you were referencing.

The very entry level positions would receive about 15%.

And again, the housing allowance increases are estimated to help about 50% of the workforce.

So why does this matter?

And how does this translate into fiscal savings on the back end?

So if we pay our employees a living wage, there's going to be reduced reliance on public assistance.

So when wages increase to a live to way behind on the uh there we go.

When wages increase to a living uh level, fewer workers qualify for programs and benefit levels decrease for those who still qualify.

So lower direct government spending on safety net programs.

Um it's lower health care and emergency system costs.

People earning a living wage are more likely to access preventative care instead of emergency care to afford medications and manage chronic uh conditions, and that equals less strain on publicly funded health care systems, including ambulance services, which I know we struggled with.

Um lower costs are related to poverty-driven outcomes, so chronic low income is linked to higher public spending in areas like homeless services, criminal justice involvement, child welfare systems.

So living wage can reduce financial instability, which in turn lowers demand for shelters and housing interventions, and it reduces certain types of low-level crime tied to economic stress.

So it's indirect but often significant long-term savings.

And then, of course, selfishly in terms of the city being employer, uh reduced employee turnover in public sector jobs, uh, lower wages often lead to higher turnovers people seek out employment that pays more.

Um, so if you do if we do better in terms of our entry-level pay, um, it'll help with our recruiting and training costs and then overtime spending to cover vacancies that are related to high turnover, which translates to operational savings, especially in high turnover roles.

Um, again, we're always seeking to make the city of New Orleans an employer of choice for entry-level positions, and right now a lot of the other larger employees in the city pay about $15 an hour, and so it would help us to uh attract and retain employees that might otherwise uh seek employment there.

Uh again, improved the pipeline for city jobs, and importantly, it sets an example for other private sector employers in the New Orleans area.

And one of the things that the the city does well is that uh we do look at the total uh compensation perspective.

So living wage philosophies recognize that wages alone may not be enough, so they emphasize total uh compensation, which includes affordable health care, right?

If you're a city employee, you have access to the health insurance for you and your family, uh retirement benefits, so that you know a person that's a laborer or a plumber or carpenter doesn't have to do that work when they're 70 years old.

They can retire on the city's pension.

Um, paid leave, especially sick and family leave.

I think that the city's been a leader in parental leave, and uh the commission has extended um and sort of uh liberalize the use of sick leave to care for your immediate family members to take your kids to doctor's appointments, things like that.

Um, and again, child care or transportation support.

Uh the city has programs that allow employees uh to have some tax benefits to doing some pre-tax actions with uh child care and transportation costs.

And so that total compensation perspective, um, it really the goal is to ensure the overall economic security, um not just hourly wage levels, right?

So if I have a child that gets sick for a week or two weeks, I can take that time off as paid time, and I don't have to worry about missing a check or half a check because I'm able to use my sick leave to take care of my child.

So other things to consider, um we would need to consider routinely updating salaries to keep pace.

So it's not just enough to raise it up to what the current living wage is.

We also have to have an eye towards what that looks like you know in the future.

Um, the council put in, I think the year before last an ordinance that does require us to look at our compensation overall for city government every three years, and so in conjunction with that, we would routinely look at salaries and see, make sure that there are mechanisms to keep pace as the cost of things go up, or is that calculator the rates in the calculator change?

And so in conjunction with that, we would routinely look at salaries and see, make sure that there are mechanisms to keep pace as the cost of things go up, or is that calculator, the rates in the calculator change?

Again, we need to take into consideration the city's fiscal position and priorities, and then uh set a strategy and develop how the plan will be implemented with more details and uh more cost estimates.

Thank you.

Um Councilmember Hughes.

Well, thank you, Mr.

Chair, uh, good morning.

Thank you both uh for uh this great presentation.

And and before I make my comments, let me acknowledge the previous counsel, uh Councilmember King, Council Member Harris, uh, our mayor, um, and and the returning members because I know that you know they had a laser focus on a living wage and got a lot of this work started, which is really great.

I guess for the public at large, would you know we we need to understand?

You know, my grandmother used to say you'll either pay me now or pay me later.

Right, right.

And so the more we can invest in our people up front, it it might look like a big cost, but when you take into account the cost savings on the back end, potentially lowering health care costs, reversing that population decline, now allowing residents who may live in surrounding parishes to be able to move back into our parish.

Chances are if you live in Jefferson Parish, you're probably grocery shopping and doing a whole lot of things in Jefferson Parish.

So we're losing sales tax and you know, so if if if if we if we look at the big picture, investing in our people on the front end, the the ROI uh would no doubt pay extraordinary dividends for our city.

Um so I just want to thank you all for this data, and thank you, uh Mr.

Chairman, for uh putting us on the agenda and certainly tying the economic uh benefits uh to our criminal justice system.

So thank you.

Councilmember Harris.

Yeah, just I I can you maybe give me a guesstimate about what you think the unclassified number might be the amount of employees.

Does it match the 563?

No, it'll be much smaller because that's we only have about 600 unclassified.

Most of them are already in much higher level positions, and so um there's only a handful maybe at the courts and some other places that would be impacted by this.

I would say it would probably be fewer than a hundred people.

And does this include part-time employees?

The rate would affect their rate of compensation.

So, for example, if you're a part-time employee, council members or part-time technically, um, would we get the housing stipend?

Oh, I see what you see what yes, yeah.

So I think we need to just really refine the details.

Refine the details, maybe do a pivot table where you literally have this is where it would be, this would exclude part-time people so that we can get a sense of really as we control the budget, how much this really would cost.

That makes good sense.

Yeah, typically like with a part-time employees, it's prorated.

So I can say I work a half a half of the work week basically, my benefit would be cut in half, but the hourly rate would be increased, but like say the say the housing stipend in essence that would be cut.

You'd only get 50% of that housing alone.

Yeah, if you could just do the calculations so that we all are on the same page.

I think that's where maybe in the past we've gotten uh shaken a little bit, so we can all just know what number we're actually working with.

That makes sense.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember King.

You're welcome.

Um Councilmember Hughes, I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna see your grandmother's comment of pay me now, pay me late.

I'm I'm gonna raise you one that I heard it's uh I'm gonna either get you in the rents or get you in the wash.

So if we don't take care of our citizens early, um we'll be taking care of them on the back end in the wash.

And I'm I'm looking for the the slide.

Here it is.

Um things that we could that we could not spend as much money in or on if we invest in our residents early, and that is homeless services, criminal justice involvement.

We see right now we spend a lot of money, at least that's the reason we're here from the state to shake things up in the city because we spend a lot of money on criminal justice um child welfare system.

So we can give people a living wage and spend that money now.

We're saving money and lives in the end um in improving families.

So I think it's just a no-brainer um that we increase this.

The question is how and when.

Um, but uh again, I think it's a no-ranted that we do this now because we're gonna need to be going to pay for it, we're gonna need to pay for it today or pay for it tomorrow.

Um, as far as the five million dollar housing stipend if that's the correct term, could could any of the um housing trust fund be used for that?

I don't I don't know offhand.

I don't know if that yeah.

Okay.

All right, just just uh just a thought.

All right, uh there's no other questions.

We are going to go to public comments first from Tony Jones.

And and next, after that would be Ms.

Scott.

Two minutes, please.

Hi, my name is Tony.

Um I'm uh uh resident.

I live at 211 Dumain Street.

Uh I want to thank you for this presentation.

Uh I do think city employees should be paid more, and this is a great argument for how we can save money if you start funding this sooner uh then rather than later.

Um I think taking action soon is uh important, and which means there's a this funding issue with uh getting the hype uh housing stipend and for increasing these wages as soon as possible.

Um a lot of these workers uh who are city workers are black, they may not uh have the opportunities of overtime, such as other uh workers for the city, uh such as like you know, police who I'm just speaking of my personal experience, police who actually have that uh time to get overtime and get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Um I know that that uh can be a burden of cost uh to the city because I know as an organizer who organized the last uh No Kings protest, uh, that uh the the cost that the city was quoting was in like you know, the tens of thousands for just one protest.

And as an organizer in my community, we're organizing a lot of protests.

So I think um the only thing I have to add to this is to fund this, we should look at uh where we are experiencing um money leaving the city when it's unnecessary.

And I think if we look at um this corruption and the office of secondary employment with officers like Victor Gantt, who have been this is a public record if this man has been on the newsing the uh office of pregnancy.

All right.

If you want favor black families, then I will have to comment and say that I'm gonna do it.

No, you got you got 15 seconds, so I'm gonna let you finish.

I'm just talking about funding you have nine seconds.

I was trying to go out.

I didn't I didn't for comment.

All right.

So that's it.

I didn't I first of all I didn't cut your mic.

I didn't cut it this time or last time.

So uh you're two minutes are up, your two minutes are up.

So if you're gonna continue to be disruptive, you're gonna be actually beginning.

Oh, so I'm disrupting my own.

Next is Ms.

Scott.

Ms.

Scott is up next.

I have to say, because I actually criticize I didn't cut your, I didn't cut your mic.

Um I didn't cut it, so I can't put it back on.

We we've heard you.

We've heard you.

I'm gonna keep putting back these meetings, but Scott's gonna put it.

Scott How y'all doing?

Good morning, members of the criminal justice committee.

My name is Shantae Scott.

I am the mother of JC Lee Scott.

As you discuss the economy and employment and sustainability of our city, I want to remind you that true stability goes beyond economics.

A city cannot be sustainable if its people do not trust the systems meant to protect them.

My son, JC Lee Scott, was murdered in 2019, and for six years, my family has been seeking answers.

That is not stability.

That is not sustainability, because sustainability is not just about jobs, it's about trust.

It's about knowing that when something happens, the system will respond fairly, honestly, and with integrity.

If we are serious about building a stronger New Orleans, then we must also be serious about ensuring that justice is a part of that foundation.

My son, J Slee Scott Life Matter, and a truly sustainable city must reflect justice for all families.

A city cannot move forward if families are still fighting for the truth.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Scott.

Next agenda item.

Um agenda item number five, City of New Orleans.

Oh, thank you.

Do we have anybody for number five here?

Okay.

Once you get the technical difficulties to the side, the floor is yours.

All right.

I didn't know.

Good morning.

I'm Tammy Washington, the deputy director with the mayor's office of workforce development.

And I have with me Miss Priscilla Cheatham.

She's the business services manager for the Job One Business and Career Solutions.

Can you bring your microphone closer?

Good morning.

I'm Tammy Washington, and I'm the deputy director with the Mayor's Office of Workforce Development.

And I have with me Miss Priscilla, Miss Priscilla Cheatham.

She's the Business Services Manager with the Job One Business and Career Solutions Center.

And Mr.

Jason DeGru, he's the project director for Job One.

The Office of Workforce Development focuses on connecting job seekers to sustainable career pathways and providing employers with the skilled workforce.

Pathways we look for are in high growth, high demand industries, such as health care, technology, blue and green infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, and hospitality.

We connect individuals by providing career readiness training, training services, support services, and job placement assistance.

The Office of Workforce Development oversees the Job One Business and Career Solution Center and also the Mayor Summer Youth Employment Program.

Job One administers the Federal Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act, employment and training program, which provides residents access to training, career services, career development and job placement services.

The program serves unemployed and underemployed adults 18 and over, youth 14 to 24, and dislocated workers who are individuals who have been laid off for employment due to no fault of their own.

Our target populations include individuals who are low-income, veterans, individuals with disabilities, and individuals that have been engaged with the criminal justice system.

Just to provide an overview of the services that we offer at Job One directly to our job seekers client, City of New Orleans, as well as employers and vendors.

We assist with resumes and cover letters, support of services and follow-up, and what supportive services looks like if you're directly connected to an employment opportunity, we step in and assist with removing those barriers.

So let's say, for instance, if you were to get connected with an employment opportunity with one of the employers out here, you're already directly enrolled in the WIOA, which is the workforce innovation opportunity act grant.

Job one can provide transportation to you under the amount of $750, which can be Uber, ride share, and or public transportation.

Now we know which public transportation they'll probably be able to ride for the entire year.

Um with Uber, they'll get a couple of rides depending on the distance.

There's technology access, tutoring, high set for individuals that may not have completed school or finished school, work readiness opportunities, and the biggest one for me to piggyback off of the pay for it today or pay for it tomorrow.

Job one is paying for it now.

There are scholarship and tuition assistance where individuals that may qualify under the WIOA grant can receive up to $8,000 for training scholarship assistance.

With me working directly with employers a lot of the times when it comes to pay that was previously stated by the department prior to us, it's always DOE.

It depends on its experience.

And or it depends on skill set.

So we step in to assist and ensuring that our clients are one receiving the training that they need to walk into those jobs to receive that 1676 per hour.

Trainings like CDL, trainings like phlebotomy, IT.

And if we're currently connected with where we are today, we know IT can start off at $36 per hour.

That's benefiting the community of New Orleans as well as our employers by job one, stepping in to pay for those services for you to get those clients and those individuals that you need.

These are additional workforce initiatives that we have in place.

NOLA Connects, I'm very passionate about NOLA Connects because what it does is it uproots job one and it places us directly within the center of the community.

What we did was run a logistics database, and what we came to is that we found that a couple of the cities within the city of New Orleans were still struggling with the unemployment rate as well as undereducated individuals.

Unfortunately, those top cities were LGRs.

We just hosted a NOLA Connects events last month where we directly connected with well over 200 individuals, 30 vendors, and a lot of those job seekers left out with employment opportunities directly on the spot.

So we do appreciate you allowing job one to come into the city of LGS.

We also did one in New Orleans East where we partner with Goodwill.

That event brought in a well over 300 individuals, and we're looking to go to on May 20th shameless plug.

So if we have any vendors here, please feel free to directly connect with myself.

We will be in the Lower Night Ward at the Stallings New Orleans Recreational Department to directly connect with those job seekers.

As I stated earlier, we understand that everyone doesn't have the means to come to our center.

So what we do is we go to them to correct connect them to employment opportunities.

Walk in Wednesdays, we have Wednesdays allocated to our job seekers, 10 a.m.

to 1 p.m.

where they can come into our center.

There's no appointment needed.

10 a.m.

to one to directly speak with employers.

Ask those questions that they need to ensure that they are getting those jobs that they um desire.

And our committed to change, which is our CTC.

It's a four-week intensive work readiness program to provide workforce preparation, excuse me, and career exploration to our justice impact individuals.

And during that CTC course, they can directly sign up for earn and learn.

What is earn and learn?

You're in the class receiving those soft skills that you need by understanding that depending on your stint and separation from the community.

We provide you with those work skills to build you up to be the employee that those employees are directly looking for.

And during that time, you can receive a stipend for attending those classes and or be connected to employers like QLM that offer up OSHA, OSHA 40, CPR, forklift training to ensure that we are creating model citizens to get back into the workforce.

As previously mentioned, Miss Tammy, the Mayor Summer Youth Program offers opportunities for our young adults.

We directly connect them to employment opportunities that they may be looking to go into for their future.

So if your young adult is looking to go into the hospital, we have those connections with LCMC auctioner under the Mayor Summer U Employment Program.

Already spoke, mental health, and emotional wellness.

We have wellness Wednesdays where you can directly sit down with someone, a therapist, a licensed social worker, at no cost to yourself.

This is an hour-long class where you can have one-on-one time to speak with someone to assist you, and you can do this as many times as you like at our center.

And as already previously stated, we're located at 1307, Arenta Castle here, Lee Balabard.

Tammy.

The Mayor Summer Youth Employment Program is another program that the Office of Workforce Development oversees.

We serve in youth ages 16 to 24.

The goal for this year is to place 1,000 youth into meaningful work experiences this summer.

And we focus on two tracks.

We have the traditional, which is youth 16 to 24.

They are placed in friendly work environments, focused on learning the workforce norms and customer service skills.

And then we also have intern NOLA, which is college students with at least 30 hours of credit hours, and we try to um place them based on their career interests and what they're focusing on in college.

The registration for the program for Mayor Summer Youth Employment Program started in early March and it actually ended on April 23rd.

The last slide just give our contact information.

As we say, we're located on 1307 Aretha Castle Haley.

Our phone number 504 658 4500.

And for more information, go to the website at job1A.org or email us at job one at NOLA.gov.

Thank you very much, Councilmember Hughes, followed by Councilmember Harris.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Good morning, everyone.

Let me thank you all for uh your great work and your dedication to our city.

Uh just a couple quick questions.

So tell me how you're your measuring outcome.

So are we tracking an individual who comes through job one?

Uh if they're placed at a job, how how long they stay at that job, how much they they start out making, do they do they make more money?

Are we how are we tracking the outcomes?

I guess is my simple question.

Um since it's a federal program, we do have negotiated federal performance, which track wages, employment.

Our first is um sixth second quarter after exit from the program, which is six months after exit, and then also we have a performance measure for the fourth quarter after exit, which is like a year after exit to make sure individuals are staying employed.

We also um track average earnings.

We have a performance measure for that, and also looking at credentials if the individuals actually contain the credentials or um upgrading skills.

What what is the average wage?

And if you don't know offhand, that's fine.

But a individual who comes through job one, what is the average earning?

And if you don't know it offhand, you can get back to me.

Yeah, I can get back with you.

Um our board has set anybody who we put in training.

If we look at going four times um that training costs, for instance, if the person made um, if that we paid $8,000 for a scholarship, they have to at least be making $32,000 for us to pay up to that $8,000 in training.

Gotcha.

Um over the past two weeks, and you know, I'm trying to track what are the high demand jobs in our city.

Um, but I I've had a lot of um construction companies, for example, meet with me directly in my office over the last two weeks.

Uh I've also met with the aerospace industry, as you all may know.

I have NASA anchored in in New Orleans East, and and they all had the same theme.

They said that they struggle to find skilled labor in the city of New Orleans.

Uh, welders, for example.

Uh, every company has told me they are just struggling to find welders.

So, what what are you all doing to meet the needs of these high demand jobs, getting folks those welding certifications, etc.?

So, as customers come into our center, we do tell them about the high growth um jobs because um we do have work with a lot of employers that are looking for welders and um working with the training providers to make sure they have those curriculums available and trying to get individuals to select those trainings and go into it.

Um, we do try to tell them a lot of the customers, it is customer choice when they come in.

They're not selecting welding as they should, but we do try to push welding because we do work with a lot of employers that are looking for welders, pipe fitters and um I uh I met with uh director uh Maines and Director Schwartz last week in my office, and it seems in the city of New Orleans we have a lot of programs doing extraordinary work around workforce.

It just seems like folks are operating in silos.

So, how are you all working with the career center?

And I know they're up next.

Uh and all of the the various workforce programs, I guess.

Do you all work together at all?

Or tell me how you work together.

Yes, we do work closely with the New Orleans Career Center.

Claire Jacklin's actually on our workforce board.

Great.

Um Youth Force NOLA, we work with them as well.

So we try to be that hub with the workforce board who kind of kind of oversees our work.

We try to be that hub of workforce partners and a lot of the grants, if they're applying for a federal grant, they have to come to the board because the um any federal workforce grant wanna see coordinated services and how they are working with the local board and the local American job center, which is job one.

Great.

Uh let me now shift to the youth uh summer jobs program, and and this is a serious question.

I'm I'm genuinely not trying to take a jab at anyone.

Um, but we know in previous years um it it was public, and I don't know if this was through your program, but it was certainly through a city program where many of our youth did not get paid on time.

Uh and the response was well, the the the skills that they took from the job is far more valuable than a paycheck.

Let me be quite honest.

Um we're in a criminal justice committee meeting.

Um, and I've never heard entergy say your your job skills is gonna pay your energy bill.

Uh I don't think anybody can go in the grocery store and say your job skills are gonna pay for your groceries.

So, do we have the assurance that our youth are going to be paid on time that are participating in the summer jobs program?

Yes, there's one thing that we've worked toward the last um two summers.

The summer that they didn't get paid, um we tried to do direct deposit, and that brought a lot a lot of errors when processing payrolls.

Um, the last two summers we went back to paper checks, and we have not had any issues, and that's one thing Ma'am Moreno is staying on top of also.

She's having meetings and asking questions about that almost every week.

So that's when we're working closely with our city finance department.

Um, and that's why we we work um to set our deadlines of when we need to have everybody enrolled.

Um like I say, registration ended on April 23rd, so now the staff is trying to make sure we get all of our files uploaded into the system and make sure that they all go through ADP.

And so making sure everybody is in ADP and able to get paid on time before they start on June, I think it's June 2nd.

Okay, June 2nd, making sure everybody is in that system and gonna get paid on time.

So anybody like if we don't if we don't make our numbers the thousand now after we up finish uploading everybody, we have to do any extra.

We'll let people know at that time if we do any late enrollments that they will not get paid that first payroll, they'll get paid that next payroll, they'll still get paid all their money.

But anybody who we have applications for now, we're making sure everybody is uploading into the system.

Great.

And and you know, I don't I I think you all are on top of this, but I I know it's not lost on you all, and it's not lost on me.

You know, when we talk about paying our youth, we have to tear down every barrier.

I know we live in a very technology driven era, but we can't assume that everybody has a bank account.

We just can't.

Um, and so youth that don't have a bank account, and look, that there's reasons certain youth may not have a bank account.

If you live in the lower ninth ward, for example, tell me what bank or credit union they have in the lower ninth ward.

Right.

Okay, so a paper check might be what some youth need, and they might have to go to a Walmart or or a corner store to cash that check because it it comes down to access.

So we really have to take that into consideration.

And the last thing I say, uh appreciate your presentation and identifying Algiers, New Orleans, East Lower Ninth Ward.

Uh I have to correct the record.

Stalins is not in the Lower Nine, it's in the upper nine.

And so uh if you ever want to partner with my office and and and bring something to the Lower Nine, I'm I'm definitely happy to partner with you.

Um, you know, we we do have facilities that could host that.

So with that, I appreciate your work and look forward to working with you all moving forward.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Councilmember Harris.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember King.

Um and Councilmember Hughes, you're exactly right.

We need to make sure these kids get paid on time.

So that was one of my questions.

So are you planning on paying everyone with paper checks again this year?

Yes.

Okay, and have you thought about partnering with any financial institutions like Liberty Bank and I hope credit union is right there to get some of our younger people set up with a bank account?

Um, yes, and we have doing our events we invited the youth out and we had banking institutions there to provide information um to youth.

So we are trying to do that also.

Okay, great.

And are we at the thousand um mark?

The goal is a thousand child kids, not church, not children, thousand young people signed up for this.

Are we at that mark yet?

Well, as of last week, we had 801 youth that were fully enrolled and had all their paperwork in, and we were working on some partner applications this week.

We do have some partners like job core, youth force NOLA, the youth that they could not take in their program.

We'll working with them to get other youth enrolled, and we do know that sometimes too, we're trying to go over a thousand with registration because some youth drop out because of summer school or other activities that they might have.

So make sure that we get as close as the thousand that we can.

And how are you promoting this?

I just went on your social media on Instagram.

I know you have some posts up, but how else are you promoting the summer youth program?

Um through our partners and through schools, letting everybody know that we were taking applications.

And just generally, how are you promoting the programs that you offer?

Through the social media.

Um we have had some radio ads in the past.

We did some TV ads with uh with the regular job one in the past, but as funding decreased, um, you know, we couldn't do as much of that, but we do a lot of remoting through our social media.

I would encourage you to use all of all seven of us to help promote and cross-promote the programming that you have.

We have a housing affair that we have every year, and I would encourage you to table so that people can access the services that you have.

I'm happy to repost any social media that you have going out, and I'm sure the other council members are as well.

Okay, thank you.

And I think that's all I have.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Any other comments?

None.

Thank you for your presentation.

Next, we're going to move on to NOLA Public Schools and the New Orleans Career Center.

All right.

Um we're going to Councilman Hughes is leaving.

We're going to be quorum challenge.

So if you could uh kind of give us a cliff note version of your meeting of your presentations.

So it's just not me up here.

Because thank you.

I want to thank Mr.

Brian Egander, who's in the audience for helping coordinate all of this and every time we need our partners from public school, Mr.

Ghana is right there, John on the spot connected to Dutch.

So thank you.

Mr.

Gannon, thank you, Dr.

Petiman.

The floor is yours.

Okay.

Hey, good morning, um, Councilmember King and members of the Criminal Justice Committee.

Thank you for inviting us to speak with you today.

I'm Dr.

Fatima Fulmore, Superintendent of NOLA Public Schools, and this is Claire Jeklin, the founding executive director of the New Orleans Career Center in LCC.

And I'm also joined here by Julianne Lund with our governmental affairs for the district.

This month's committee theme, workforce development, is perfectly aligned with the work we are doing to give our young people real pathways to success through career and technical education.

CTE is workforce development in action.

It equips students with the exact skills, credentials, and experiences our city's employers need right now.

At NOLA PS, we believe every student deserves to graduate with more than just a diploma.

We want them to be ready for life.

And therefore, they need skills, confidence, and a clear plan for what comes next.

So in our schools, we are excited to talk about the offerings that we provide, whether it's through dual enrollment, work-based learning, and targeted programs at the Career Center.

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to celebrate a special milestone at the Career Center when we close our capital campaign.

And so we were excited to have so many supporters there champion the work that we do for career education.

We know by connecting students to high-quality training and fields that match the needs of our growing economy.

CTE gives them a tangible stake in the future and in their future and in our city.

So I am delighted to have Claire talk about the work that's happening at the Career Center.

Claire, you want to take us away?

Sure.

Good morning, council members and uh community.

Um, so the mission of New Orleans Career Center is to serve as our city's hub for high-quality technical training, training skilled and prepared graduates.

We aspire to the day when every NOCC graduate has the power to shape the future and the future of New Orleans.

Our history is here, but in brief, we opened our doors in 2018 with 120 high school students, and this year we serve 880 students, a 550% increase over seven years.

Over time we added training for opportunity youth, and we partner with Clover to train Head Start parents in the evening.

In partnership with NOLA PS, we moved to our long-term renovated home at the Old McDonough 35 High School.

And I want to thank the council and the city for a $2 million ARPA investment in order to equip the building, which is something that is very expensive to put together at scale.

Particularly a welding lab, healthcare simulation, and that really drove our enrollment and our ability to meet demand.

Great.

So as you can see, we have high school, we have Extension Academy, which is an optional fifth year of high school funded by the state, which is a really growing population of students that we can serve as part of their high school career, and then we do have the post-high school training.

We are one of the largest opportunity youth training providers in the city, as well as the largest high school training provider.

As you can see, we offer pre-nursing, medical assisting, EMS, licensed practical nursing, pharmacy tech, carpentry, electrical, HVAC, and welding.

I will be reaching out to Representative Hughes.

We have a lot of employer partners, but we always need more.

Culinary arts and engineering.

I just want to highlight that there are a variety of depth and breadth of programs here and registered apprenticeships, union and non-union are a part of what we do.

We're responsive to the jobs.

So we're looking at how do we expand into plumbing, cybersecurity, and other areas that align with family sustaining wages.

Slide.

These are all the open enrollment high schools in New Orleans, and they all send students to the career center for half-day programming.

As you can see, we provide a robust experience in addition to supports and barrier reduction services and case management.

Students attend for five days a week for one to two years of high school, which is a significant investment and high quality training.

And it's aligned to both the goals of academic readiness and the credits and the high school diploma.

It's not just right to work.

We want young people to have an opportunity to advance in the workplace, whether it's on the job, earn and learn, direct to work, or continuing education, whether it be right away or as part of their career journey.

Highlights from last year, and I'm excited to be able to talk about future years.

This year we're just finishing up our school year, but you can see that 90% of students earned the industry valued credentials.

So timely presentation.

As you can see, we have a robust set of employers who are engaged in the Career Center.

There are a few of them.

Shout out to our employer partners.

We have four different hiring days this year that are coming up, which are super exciting.

As you can see, we work at the center of a lot of different partnerships, both job one, both directly with the city, in partnership with others, economic development.

It's all a part of quality career training.

We have some co-located mission-aligned partners.

Operation Restoration has a lab tech program in the evening, Thrive New Orleans, and the Trombow and Shorty Foundation all provide programming and or are located in our building.

We also host a lot of community gatherings because we have the space and because we are also a part of this work.

So in particular, the citywide youth master plan, the city children's and youth planning board, we host Fernola PS, NSNO, you name it.

We probably hosted some sort of meeting in that ecosystem.

I also want to shout out that we host a Claiborne Corridor Business Development Cohort that's in partnership with the City of New Orleans as well, and that's been really a rewarding.

There are six parts of the youth master plan.

Obviously, the one that the New Orleans Career Center has been working on as part of the 30 solutions is economic stability.

Slide.

Thanks.

Okay.

So obviously these goals are our goals and your goals.

Decreased percent of families who live at or below of the ALES threshold, asset limited, income constrained, and employed individuals through an increase in wages, increasing the percent of young people who are connected.

And then when we look at the solutions, advocacy for increased minimum wage.

Hey, we're with it and excited.

Early exposure to career options and training, workforce training, and community-based job training sites.

So we're very excited to both lean in and work with others in the community to really measure these results and to discuss them.

Finally, I think we also uh you may know we're part of and hosted the NOLA EMS Recruit Academy.

Um it was an effort to meet increased staffing challenges by bringing EMS on par with public safety partners at NOPD and NOFD.

I know this has been a hot topic.

I think the other part of this is that uh there was a creation of a recruit path that allowed us to intentionally fill um aligned with the civil service requirement of matching the population and the current residents of New Orleans.

Um it's a five-month pay training with low barrier entrance requirements with a high success rate of 90% in each cohort.

Um it was an ARPA program, so the question is really where it fits as we move forward.

Um, but I want to call out that in the current lateral recruit process, uh, four people are from out of state and a variety of folks um are um are on a wait list to try to be a part of this.

So, you know, looking for funding collectively together as a solution, but really excited um to continue to work to prepare young people.

Um and I'll be sending some follow-up information to each of you, both about uh the high wage jobs question um uh for employers and uh also a link for those who want to apply.

Thank you.

So as you can see, our young people are involved in a number of opportunities towards post-secondary readiness.

So, in short, um invest in a workforce development today is one of the most effective ways we can reduce um youth involvement in a justice system.

So thank you for highlighting that opportunity today.

And with that, we'll take your question.

Thank you.

Um I have no questions, Councilman Harris doesn't have any.

Great job, great presentation, we appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next we have Delgado Community College.

Good morning.

Good morning.

My name is Ernest Frazier.

I'm with Delgado Community College.

I'm coming to talk about our program that we're working with those individuals who have been formally incarcerated.

Right now, we're offering a training that covers CPR, OSHA 10, and Falklift certifications.

It's a four-day program offered Wednesday through Saturday.

The first portion of the program is offered at the City Park campus, which is the OSHA 10 and the CPR.

After that, they go to the River City campus, which is in Avondale to take the Falkland training.

All these classes are done from nine to four.

At that point, the individuals complete the individual who receive three certifications.

The CPR, the forklift, and the OSHA tin.

And it's at no cost to those individuals who are formally incarcerated.

Wow, that's and today we're outside at the job fair where my colleague is passing out information and explaining to them what they need to do to register.

Well, look, since um you know this is being recorded, can you quickly give us what it put up for the the public for the record any contact information how else wants to touch with you?

Um for those individuals also earlier I think councilman mentioned that they were looking for welding.

Our River City campus is very strong in welding.

Um if they were to call the River City campus at 504 342, 3402, and mention that they were interested in welding.

Um Miss Patricia Marshall will take care of that for them and line them up with the um registration process.

Um for the individuals who are looking to get into the justice involved portion of our course that we're doing with the uh those individuals who are formerly incarcerated, they would contact Terry Jordan at TJ.

J-O-R-D-A at DCC.edu.

I'm gonna do that again because I jumbled it a little bit.

It's T-J-O-R-D-A at DCC.edu.

Or she can be reached at 504 671 6487.

All right.

Oh, thank you, Mr.

Frazier.

Uh very important information.

And I'm glad that you all have a a station outside for those walking up to the job fair.

I appreciate it.

And I will send some information to the council so that you can put it out as well.

That sounds good.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Next we have the pillars of a thriving communities.

Mr.

Mr.

Vill's here, Mr.

Mark Vill.

Miss Nina, can you play that video?

Oh.

Oh, I didn't see you the down.

Sorry about that.

Um, so before we go to the next our final presentation, uh I just want to show this quick video of an individual expressing how just and how important a job is, and how if you multiply this by a hundred, how much different and better our community can be.

So we'll let Mr.

Mr.

Myers take it from here.

I'm Darien, very intense.

I'm a garbage truck driver for Ivy Waste.

2009.

I caught my first heroin charge.

That didn't stop me.

I'm on I'm on probation.

I'm still in the streets or whatever.

You know, I wind up getting 90 months in federal prison.

When I came home, you know, I vowed not to never go to go back to jail.

You know, I've been job to job because nothing really was was paying me what I needed to make in order to, you know, to stop me from wanting to go back to the streets.

I called Freddie King, and um I asked him uh if he if if if he can help me get a job.

You he was like, well, I'm gonna reach out to somebody, and you should get a call within like two days or three days or whatever.

So we talked, and um they hired me.

I got hired, uh got some some good word put in from me from through Freddie King, you know.

Um he's trying to do these job fairs, and he's trying to help people who's been in prison, incarcerated, who don't want to go back to prison, who want to work, go out to the job fairs, you know, introduce yourself, you know, meet people, and um nine out of ten times you're gonna find what you're looking for.

At Ivy Waste, we're we're really big on giving people a first chance, second chance, and even even a third chance.

A lot of people coming from prison or whatever, you know, they they be feeling like it's is over because it it'd be a lot of a lot of companies don't feel like you feel, you know.

They look at what you've done and they'll never give you a chance.

You know, you it could have been a mistake.

Everybody make mistakes, you know.

But no, I just want to say at Ivy Waste, you know, we love working with councilmember king.

We love uh being able to be part of the job fair program to give people second chances.

We're all about giving second chances, sometimes even third chances.

And I'm I got I'm gonna thank Councilmember King again for uh referring you to our team.

So thanks again, and we we're happy to have you as part of part of the IV family.

And I appreciate being a part of the family, man.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Thank you, my brother.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you.

That was a real real story.

Um, someone I went to undergrad with who reached out to me saying he needed a job at night.

He's gonna go back in the streets and commit m commit and make money the best way he could.

And that's what we're trying to prevent today and really every day in this city.

Um so if we can just multiply that effort, no telling how how much better we can be.

So uh Dr.

Ishmael, we're gonna ask that you come up for the eighth and final presentation.

We'll have you in the future.

Thank you.

I appreciate you all having me today, and I won't be too long.

My colleagues were unable to make it today, so um they'll be able to join us in our next meeting.

Um of the things I wanted to highlight as part of our criminal justice committee.

I know the focus today was on workforce development.

And um, one of the things that we are doing at um we know the issues with with the living minimum wage and poverty unemployment, which has been highlighted by earlier um presentations, and so one of the shifts, and we know higher education and how um again um costly it is, and so as a university we'll we've also kind of shifted focus to workforce development as well, and uh we've developed a the last two or three years certification programs focused on art and design, business, computer applications, computer science, construction and trades, health and fitness, arts and design, business, computer applications, computer science, uh health and fitness, and more specifically, we have certifications focusing on public health pathways, veterinary assistant, medical administrative assistant, uh pharmacy technician, online freight brokers, paralegal certifications, medical billing, uh registered behavior technician, video gaming design training, uh certified uh administrative professionals, information security manager, and Microsoft office certifications.

And uh as part of this, and we we have a very detailed website on each of these areas.

Not only do we provide certifications and asynchronous courses that in which people can work at their own pace anywhere from six weeks to a year, but they also provide salaries, and we also, as part of the statistics, also show the um the opportunities and the jobs that people are getting once they receive their certification.

And so a lot of folks who are looking for opportunity and may not be able to want to focus in on four or five year degrees, or um, we're trying to kind of start recruiting methods and being able to get funding and stipends as some of my colleagues have mentioned earlier to be able to push forward with certification trainings in areas that are very much needed.

You know, these are very applied areas that do have opportunities out there, but we just need to do a better job of um getting the word out and um and working with uh organizations like job one in goodwill, etc.

and getting information out and trying to get some resources as well to be able or stipends to encourage people to get into these programs.

They're very cost effective, they don't cost very much.

Um, and again, they are they do provide opportunities.

We show the numbers.

Not only are we keeping track of who's getting certifications, but they are getting employment after.

And so that's one of our focuses in terms of um our committee in terms of providing opportunities and getting the word out in terms of these various certifications.

Thank you.

Um Green, any comments?

No, that was pretty concise.

Um, but you do so much, and I just wanted to say that you know, whenever I have a chance to participate in a program in which you're participating, I can feel your enthusiasm and motivation for wanting to do more to enhance the you know quality of life for so many people in our city.

And I'm appreciative that the Dillard University community um supports you in many respects.

That's some of the activities that I've attended.

So we thank you very much for that, and looking forward to continuing working with you and you know how to reach me if there's anything that I can do.

Right.

We appreciate that.

I know uh councilman mentioned using social media that you all have as well.

I think part of it sometimes is branding, getting the information out, but the information is there and resources are there to be able to provide these opportunities for our for our folks.

So Mr.

Nee, I just want to recognize that Councilmember Green, uh Mr.

President at today's meeting.

Um I want to say is we talked about jobs and how important jobs are to a growing community, and um that's for those looking for their first job out of high school or out of college or those re entering society.

Um that's how you that's one of the number one ways to prevent crime in our community and to build a growing community that is to give somebody not just a job, but ultimately a career and a well-paying job.

And we just appreciate the work that you do with our office and throughout the city, Dr.

Ishmael, and I want to thank everyone who came today and made a presentation to stress the importance of employment, gainful employment within our city.

Um, before we adjourn, we're gonna have one comment call from Ms.

Scott, and after that we'll we'll adjourn.

I do want to take an opportunity while Mr.

Scott is coming forward to thank you for the job fair and for your commitment to seeing opportunities available for people.

Today, there was a pretty good announcement that the mayor announced that the of a number of people have been hired to engage in street work.

You know, um that's a good that's a good sign that um the city is in the spite of it in the midst of its challenges, moving forward in a direction that may provide more employment opportunities.

I just want to say to folks that there are employment opportunities, Councilman King's job fair today and job fairs that I've done and participated in, say that the jobs are there.

If there's anything that we can do if you have difficulty in moving past the feeling that you may see out there that stopped you from getting that job you can call a council office such as Councilman King's office and mine because we want those jobs to be filled and we want to provide opportunities for people who are interested in a second chance.

Yeah good morning members of the criminal justice committee my name is Shante Scott I am the mother of JC Lee Scott as you discuss building a thriving community through economic opportunity and meaningful employment I am here to remind you that a thriving community must also be built on justice, accountability and trust my son Jott was a young man with a future he was a part of the very population you are discussing today young people who deserve opportunity growth and protection but my son was murdered in 2019 and for six years my family has been seeking answers.

You cannot talk about stabilizing communities and reducing crime without also addressing how the justice system responds when lives are lost because when families are left without answers when transparency is lacking and when accountability is unclear that affects trust in the entire system and without trust no community can truly thrive economic opportunity builds communities builds accountability and stains them sustains them if we are serious about building a safer and stronger New Orleans then we must also be serious about ensuring that every case is handled with fairness transparency and integrity.

And a thriving community must reflect that no justice no peace justice for J Slee Scott I again demand the firing of NOPD officer Victor his economic okay thank you Ms Scott I demand thank you for the meeting thank you Ms.

Scott there is no uh forum so meeting is perpetually continue