Explanation
BACKGROUND: This legislation authorizes the City Clerk to enter into a not-for-profit service contract with The Ohio State University, to engage the Center on Education and Training for Employment for evaluation and research services pertaining to the Central Ohio workforce development ecosystem and the CAREER 500 program.
The City of Columbus is the CAREER (Columbus Access to Resources for Expanding Employment Readiness) 500 grant program in partnership with Aspyr, formerly known as the Workforce Development Board of Central Ohio, and in concert with the Central Ohio Workforce Development Network. Workforce development organizations will apply for capacity-building grants. The program’s strategic design is meant to help agencies maximize their strengths, expanding in areas where flexible dollars will allow them to recruit, serve, and graduate more clients.
Through the CAREER 500 program, Columbus City Council seeks to not only provide transformative support to local workforce development agencies, but to develop a deeper understanding of the unique characteristics and strategies in workforce development agencies that promote gainful, meaningful employment for Columbus residents. The Ohio State University’s Center on Education and Training for Employment excels in studying the workforce development field and translating new knowledge into insights that support better decisions by practitioners for the community. The research resulting from this evaluation will support the workforce development ecosystem in utilizing the best practices specific to the Columbus region’s unique population, strengths, and opportunities. The evaluation will also support Columbus City Council in making strong, data-informed funding decisions in the workforce development space in the future.
The Center’s evaluation will focus on organizational activities and strategies that promote the recruitment, retention, and professional development of diverse individuals in the workforce. Successful strategies will be documented based on information gathered from organizations involved in the CAREER 500 project. The evaluation will also focus on the impact of the program on the professional growth of individuals participating in CAREER 500. Specifically, the Center will examine whether the strategies implemented by the various agencies increase program completion and job placement rates, as well as connecting applicants to jobs that are based on their clients’ career interests.
The not-for-profit service contract will cover evaluation costs provided by The Ohio State University’s Center on Education and Training for Employment. These include quantitative and qualitative evaluation strategies, production of regular reports as well as a final report on results, and engagement of both workforce development agency professionals and their clients.
The services included in this not-for-profit service contract cannot be provided by existing city employees because these services are beyond the City’s current staffing capacity to provide.
Emergency action is requested in order to provide funding for evaluation services in a timely manner. In order to conduct pre-program assessments, Ohio State will need to engage workforce development agencies in October and November. Any delay in conducting these assessments may result in a negative impact on the research scope and effectiveness.
FISCAL IMPACT: Funding is available in the Jobs Growth subfund.
Title
To authorize the City Clerk to enter into a not-for-profit service contract with The Ohio State University in an amount of up to $110,000.00 to provide evaluation and research services for the Columbus CAREER 500 program; to authorize an appropriation and expenditure within the Jobs Growth subfund; and to declare an emergency. ($110,000.00)
Body
WHEREAS, the City of Columbus seeks to establish the new grant program, CAREER 500, which aims to issue transformative capacity-building funding to the workforce development ecosystem and uplift at least 500 Columbus residents; and
WHEREAS, Columbus City Council seeks promote good jobs that create pathways to financial stability, and CAREER 500 aspires to support residents in launching careers than can support wealth-building individually and wealth equity for the Columbus community; and
WHEREAS, CAREER 500 will engage all of the major workforce development agencies in Central Ohio, providing an opportunity to evaluate effective strategies that promote gainful and meaningful employment for individuals in the Columbus region’s unique employment ecosystem; and
WHEREAS, The Ohio State University’s Center on Education and Training for Employment is a translational research center, utilizing their expertise in academic research on workforce development practices to provide meaningful insights for community members and practitioners; and
WHEREAS, an emergency exists in the usual daily operation of the City Clerk in that it is immediately necessary to authorize the Clerk to enter into a not-for-profit service contract with The Ohio State University in order to begin research assessments before the launch of the CAREER 500 program, all for the immediate preservation of the public health, peace, property, safety and welfare; and NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS:
SECTION 1. That the City Clerk is authorized to enter into a not-for-profit service contract with The Ohio State University in an amount of up to $110,000.00 to provide evaluation and research services for the Columbus CAREER 500 program.
SECTION 2. That the City Auditor is hereby authorized and directed to appropriate $110,000.00 in the Jobs Growth subfund, fund 1000, subfund 100015, to the City Clerk per the accounting codes in the attachment to this ordinance.
SECTION 3. That the expenditure of $110,000.00 or so much thereof as may be needed pursuant to the action authorized in SECTION 1 of this ordinance, is hereby authorized in the Jobs Growth subfund, fund 1000, subfund 100015 per the accounting codes in the attachment to this ordinance.
SECTION 4. That this contract is awarded in accordance with the relevant provisions of City Code Chapter 329 relating to not-for-profit service contracts.
SECTION 5. That the City Auditor is authorized to make any accounting changes to revise the funding source for all contracts or contract modifications associated with this ordinance.
SECTION 6. That for the reasons stated in the preamble hereto, which is hereby made a part hereof, this ordinance is hereby declared to be an emergency measure and shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and approval by the Mayor or ten days after passage if the Mayor neither approves nor vetoes the same.