Big Picture Numbers
Total Budget: $15.98m
Highlights from 2022-23
Kentucky career center job placements up 27%
Over the past year, the Kentucky Career Centers in the Louisville region helped place 450 clients into jobs (an increase from 353 in 2021-22) at an average wage of more than $19 per hour. In addition, the KCC team conducted career trainings and workshops for more than 1,700 job seekers and hosted 59 hiring events.
The KCC serve the entire 7-county region through a mix of in-person career centers, mobile career services, and availability at public libraries. Plans are underway to relocate the region’s comprehensive career center, currently located at the Nia Center on West Broadway in Louisville, next door to the forthcoming Goodwill West Louisville Opportunity Campus.
A hiring fair at the KCC at the Nia Center in Louisville
The Spot celebrates first graduating class as city expands investment
Demand continued to be high for The Spot: Young Adult Opportunity Campus in its second year of operation. A partnership with Goodwill Industries of Kentucky, The Spot helped place 205 young adults into jobs at an average wage of more than $16 per hour. Clients were also connected to mental health counseling, paid internships, GED prep, and additional supportive services.
In October, The Spot held its first graduation ceremony for the hundreds of young adult participants who had completed its curriculum. In the spring, Mayor Greenberg and the Louisville Metro Council allocated an additional $1.85 million in city funds to support this program over the coming year.
kentuckiana builds celebrates 500th program graduate
In February, leaders from the Louisville Urban League, KentuckianaWorks, and private sector employers gathered to celebrate the 500th graduate of the Kentuckiana Builds construction training program. Of its first 500 graduates, nearly 90% are people of color and more than a quarter are women (compared to just 10% female representation industry-wide).
In the past year, the program has placed 53 graduates in construction employment at an average wage of more than $19 per hour. Kentuckiana Builds has also cultivated partnerships with the local carpenter and electrician unions.
tech training programs expand locally and beyond
Through a new partnership with SOAR (Shaping Our Appalachian Region), Code Kentucky expanded to serve a broader region of eastern and southern Kentucky counties. The program, which is supported by the Kentucky Governor’s discretionary funds, is based on the same curriculum and mentorship model that has proven successful with Code Louisville. Together, Code Louisville and Code Kentucky helped place 115 people into technology jobs in the past year at an average wage above $28 per hour.
Code Louisville and Code Kentucky Eligibility
The team behind Code Louisville also launched a new training, called emPOWER UP - Data Analytics for Business. The emPOWER UP team has focused on enrolling members of underrepresented groups (including Black, Hispanic/Latino, women, and LGBTQ+ workers) in effort to make the local technology sector more reflective of the overall population.
Photo: first day of the latest emPOWER UP training
Academies of louisville impact seen in higher graduation rates, college & Career readiness levels
“Our graduation rates currently are the highest they have been since the inception of the Academies of Louisville in 2017, and our dropout rates are the lowest,” said Dr. Joe Ellison, Assistant Superintendent for High Schools at JCPS, at a June event celebrating the 2022-23 school year.
Data is beginning to tell the story about the impact that the Academies of Louisville (AofL) are having in our public high schools. In 2017, thirteen of the fifteen AofL high schools were scoring below the 50% level on the state's postsecondary readiness benchmark. Today, only two are. In addition, every AofL school has seen an increase in postsecondary readiness and the number of industry certifications earned by students has more than doubled (with more than a quarter earning one or more industry certification).
KentuckianaWorks, through its Board of Directors and staff, have played a leadership role in guiding the Academies initiative since it launched. Along with Greater Louisville Inc., KentuckianaWorks has led efforts to recruit and engage the Academies’ 215 business partners. SummerWorks is also a partner of the Academies of Louisville.
There has been a 55% increase in postsecondary readiness at Academies of Louisville high schools since 2017.
Business partners and city leaders gathered at the Speed Art Museum in June to celebrate the Academies of Louisville partnerships.
200+ private and public sector employers hire summerworks youth
“This season we had SummerWorks youth doing everything from skilled trades training to technology entrepreneurship and science research,” said Mayor Craig Greenberg earlier this month at the program’s end-of-season celebration. In its 13th season, the first under Mayor Greenberg’s leadership, SummerWorks attracted a large number of employers, including 168 companies from the private sector along with 38 public and nonprofit organizations.
In total, 505 youth 16-21 found employment this season through SummerWorks, which is a partnership with YouthBuild Louisville. Of those positions, 255 were funded directly by the program (wages of youth in private sector jobs are paid for by the employer). SummerWorks youth were also given soft skills training and support from job coaches over the course of the season.
Power of Work program finds home in new Goodwill South Louisville Opportunity Campus
In March, staff of KentuckianaWorks joined partners to celebrate the opening of Goodwill Industries of Kentucky’s brand new South Louisville Opportunity Center. The center is one of the new homes for the Power of Work, a program overseen by KentuckianaWorks that connects SNAP and TANF recipients with educational, training, and career opportunities.
Over the past year, the Power of Work helped 170 clients transition off of public assistance through securing full and part-time employment at an average wage of more than $16 per hour.
Power of Work staff
Angella Wilson, Sr. Program Director at KentuckianaWorks, speaking at the event
College access center team helps complete more than 1,000 fafsa’s on behalf of clients
In 2022-23, the KentuckianaWorks College Access Center (KCAC) team worked with more than 2,300 adults and high school students (a 25% increase from 2021-2022) to help them go to college. The KCAC helps clients file their financial aid (FAFSA) forms, complete admissions applications, find scholarships, select the right school, and more.
The median age of the KCAC’s adult clients this past year was 31. Of this group, 35% are immigrants or refugees, 71% are first generation college students, and 43% are Black or part of another underrepresented minority group. In addition to working closely with JCTC, the KCAC has also expanded its partnership with Simmons College of Kentucky, a historically Black college located in Louisville.
In addition to their headquarters on 4th street in downtown Louisville, the KCAC team also works in seven JCPS high schools.
Thousands of young job seekers using kentuckianaearns platform
In two years, KentuckianaEARNS has grown to include more than 4,000 job opportunities for young adults 16-21 in the 7-county Louisville region. More than 200 unique organizations have posted jobs on the platform, which has been used by approximately 8,400 youth job seekers.
In addition to job postings, KentuckianaEARNS also offers educational career courses and video profiles of local occupations (see an example below). The platform is well on its way to becoming the premier online career resource for young adults in the region.
Kentuckiana EARNS is also available as a mobile application.
providing more resources to employers
The Kentucky Career Center’s Business Services team supported employers throughout the region by hosting customized hiring events, promoting job postings in the weekly Job Seeker Update email newsletter, coordinating Rapid Response activities, and much more.
With the help of grants from the National Fund and Annie E. Casey Foundation, the KentuckianaWorks Sector Strategy team also worked with regional employers and partners to find ways to improve how jobs are designed and how the needs of young adult workers are met. In December, KentuckianaWorks convened a forum on the Belle of Louisville which encouraged young adult workers and employer representatives to speak candidly about the challenges and benefits facing young adult workers and employers in today's working world (see a clip below).
Challenges facing young adult workers and their employers
How better employee benefits can help grow a company
People returning from prison find employment through reentry program
Reentry Works, our partnership with the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO), helped nearly 150 people returning from prison access paid transitional employment and supportive services over the past year. With the program’s help, 68 participants found permanent full-time positions at an average wage of more than $15 per hour. The underlying philosophy of the program is that people have a better chance of successfully reintegrating into society after being incarcerated if they have a support system, including access to a job, counseling, transportation, and other resources.
Dare to Care is one of the employer partners of Reentry Works.
sharing more insights on in-demand careers and local labor market trends
KentuckianaWorks recently launched its updated and expanded career exploration tool, which allows users to easily find key information about in-demand occupations in the Louisville region. Users can look up the basics about nearly any job category they’re interested in, including earnings, available positions, daily tasks, relevant skills, training programs, top employers, and more. You can also search by leading sectors in the region (see below).
Our Director of Labor Market Intelligence, Sarah Ehresman, also produced a variety of reports and analyses about major topics in the regional workforce. Here are a few.
Spotlight on IT workers
Immigrants are an important but underutilized segment of the workforce
Outlook on local job needs in the next 10 years
Michael gritton recognized for leadership on youth programming
In April, Michael Gritton was given the inaugural Impact Award at the National Youth Employment Coalition’s 2023 Annual Forum in Indianapolis. Gritton, who has served as the executive director of the Louisville region’s workforce development board since 2002, was selected for the award based on his “determination to uphold the quality of young adult services” through successful programs like SummerWorks and The Spot: Young Adult Opportunity Campus.
Thank You
Thank you to our Board of Directors, Chief Local Elected Officials, and Program Oversight Committee members, as well as the funders and partners listed below.
Without your leadership and support, none of this work would be possible.
