In an exciting move for the city’s economic future, the La Porte Urban Enterprise Association (UEA) announced they are matching a $25,000 grant from the City of La Porte to help establish courses at the Ivy Tech La Porte campus that are designed to create jobs in industries where help in the area is needed the most.
This $50,000 grant, along with an additional $60,000 from Alcoa Howmet, will allow Ivy Tech to provide classes for three specific trades: Certified Product Technician for manufacturing; CDL (Commercial Drivers Licensing) for the booming trucking and logistics market; and specialized training for Alcoa Howmet that will allow that company to fill its need for nearly 330 new hires in the La Porte area with local residents.
All of these jobs have been identified by the UEA and the City of La Porte as ones that fit the city’s strengths and needs, and ones that will give its residents the skill sets they need to find work in the La Porte area.
“The programs work with our manufacturing base,” Executive Director of the Greater La Porte Economic Development Corporation, Bert Cook told IIMM. “And it speaks to the partnership La Porte has with businesses, and the ability to communicate with each other on their needs.”
In fact, according to Ivy Tech it was the quick and open communication from the city that made this initiative a reality in La Porte.
“We were exploring training opportunities in the area and found that CDL licensing is one of the fastest growing industries in this area,” said Ivy Tech La Porte Campus President, Rick Soria. “I reached out to Mayors around the area, and received a text from Mayor Milo, who laid out a plan that would put us in La Porte.”
“She and Urban Enterprises made an investment in their community that landed us in La Porte,” Soria concluded.
And for the UEA, whose goal is to fund economic growth and development in La Porte’s designated Urban Enterprise Zone, the idea of closing the skill gap between residents of La Porte and the jobs that were readily out there and available to them in the city and closely surrounding areas was the perfect fit for their mission.
“I am really excited about the overall partnership this brings to the city, and the opportunity this provides for us (La Porte) to grow,” UEA President, Mike Riehle said. “I want to make sure that we are enabling the businesses in our community to grow as well, and these are the types of partnerships that do just that.”
As for the future of the programs, everyone spoken to is in agreement that the hope is these programs can lead to not only more jobs in La Porte, but also the addition of more programs and training.
“This is only the first phase of something that is working towards a better future,” Cook concluded.