Three Detroit-based nonprofits have received $510,000 to expand their support for unemployed Detroit residents, in a push to arm them with the skills to secure positions in growing employment sectors.
The Citi Foundation, which focuses on economic progress, and New York City-based community development nonprofit Local Initiatives Support Corp. awarded the grant and technical support to Focus: Hope, Operation Able, and SER Metro-Detroit through the Bridges to Career Opportunities program, according to a news release.
The funding stems from a broader $10 million effort, spanning three years, led by Citi Foundation and LISC to deepen the Bridges program’s reach across the country.
“In Detroit, we are committed to creating job opportunities for everyone, so I am excited that the Citi Foundation and LISC are investing in these organizations that do important work in our city,” Mayor Mike Duggan said in a written statement. “Focus: HOPE, Operation ABLE and SER Metro-Detroit are important Detroit at Work partners who are critical to achieving our goal of providing opportunities for all.”
Focus: Hope will use the funding will build out services centered on robotics training to help people enter into positions in automation, manufacturing, and information technology, the release says, while employment nonprofit Operation Able will bolster its occupational training and will create a program tailored to entrepreneurship in the hospitality industry.
SER-Metro-Detroit will zero in on education and skills training in the building trades, and helping the unemployed and underemployed land apprenticeships and jobs.
The nonprofits are among 40 community-based nonprofits to be awarded funding through the Bridges program.
“The demands of today’s U.S. job market are playing out in different ways for American workers and we need to support those who are being negatively impacted by the forces that are shaping the modern economy,” Ed Skyler, executive vice president for global public affairs at Citi and chair of the Citi Foundation, said in a written statement. “By connecting programs that provide not only education and skills building, but support services for family and housing needs, we’re helping American workers who have been or are in danger of being displaced achieve success and contribute to their communities.”
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