Oct. 11 – Workforce, Education, Training and Youth Development Committee, Cleveland City Council
Covered by Documenter Nina Awal

Michelle Rose, Executive Director of the local OhioMeansJobs office, addresses the committee (screenshot of video on YouTube by Documenter Nina Awal).
Michelle Rose, Executive Director of the local OhioMeansJobs office, addresses the committee.

What happened: Michelle Rose, the new Executive Director of OhioMeansJobs Cleveland-Cuyahoga County, discussed her organization’s plans for supporting the local workforce. Focus sectors include healthcare, manufacturing, technology, construction and hospitality, Rose said. She said mental health and childcare are two “high-need sectors.”

Unemployment update: The unemployment rate is generally low in Ohio and across the country, Rose said. But there are other challenges related to employment. One persistent challenge is a lack of wage growth for Black men and women, according to Rose.

February summit: City Council is planning a youth summit for February 2023, according to Committee Chair Jasmin Santana. One focus of the summit will be  options for high school students who prefer trade programs to college.

Left wondering: Documenter Nina Awal asked, “Why are most of the training and vocational programs geared to manual-labor jobs?”

Cleveland Documenters pays and trains people to cover public meetings where government officials discuss important issues and decide how to spend taxpayer money.