Mayor Duggan's citywide meeting to focus on job training for Detroiters: How to watch

Dana Afana, Detroit Free Press
·2 min read
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Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan will kick off a citywide, charter-mandated meeting Monday, focusing on the city's economic growth and job opportunities for residents.

Duggan will highlight the city's use of $100 million of federal funding through the American Rescue Plan Act to provide Detroiters with scholarships for job training opportunities, said Nicole Sherard-Freeman, group executive for jobs, economy and Detroit at Work. Sherard-Freeman is expected to delve into the program details at the meeting at 7 p.m. in the 13th floor auditorium at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center.

"The mayor has really been bringing focus to how Detroiters can get themselves ready to participate in what has been a real stretch of economic growth in the city," Sherard-Freeman said. "Whether you have been out of the workforce for a while and you need to brush up on basic skills, whether that's literacy or numeracy or digital skills … or maybe you're in a job where you are not making ends meet and you want a better job, no matter where you are on that spectrum, there is a place for you and an opportunity for you, and a scholarship for you in Detroit."

Some Detroiters have a hard time knowing or accessing various opportunities through programs like Detroit at Work, Sherard-Freeman added.

"They're not paying attention to press conferences. They're not reading all the publications where we talk about these programs. They're not on the website watching for the program that's right for them," Sherard-Freeman said. "The purpose of Monday is to hang all of this together and talk about the ways that the city of Detroit is going to use American Rescue Plan Act funding to come alongside Detroiters who are the most deeply disconnected to create opportunities."

Duggan will also tout a multitude of training programs for various career paths where Detroiters can be paid while developing skills or earning a GED. The mayor will also delve into the JumpStart program, which he announced in October 2022, to help unemployed Detroiters reenter the workforce.

More:Detroiters can fight blight for $15 an hour and get job training in new $75M program

More:Detroit launches JumpStart program to lure unemployed residents into workforce

Residents can expect to hear about "one of the most creative innovative approaches" seen in the city to package the various scholarship and program opportunities for easier access among Detroiters, she said.

"There's definitely going to be an approach that is more personal than a website or a flyer," Sherard-Freeman said. "The city is here to make it easy for you."

The meeting will also be streamed online:

Dana Afana is the Detroit city hall reporter for the Free Press. Contact: dafana@freepress.com or 313-635-3491. Follow her on Twitter: @DanaAfana

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Mike Duggan's charter address to focus on job training for Detroiters