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City council approves $1,000,070 redevelopment grant for AMVIC workforce program
Summary
The Columbus City Council approved a resolution authorizing the Redevelopment Commission to grant $1,000,070 to the Advanced Machine Vehicle Innovation Center (AMVIC) for workforce development between 2025 and 2030; presenters said the city funding would leverage private and Ready program match totaling about $8 million.
Columbus City Council on Aug. 19 approved a resolution authorizing the City of Columbus Redevelopment Commission to disburse a total of $1,000,070 to the Advanced Machine Vehicle Innovation Center (AMVIC) for workforce development work from 2025 through 2030.
The AMVIC team told council the city funds are a workforce-development ask that will be combined with private and Ready-program funding to support equipment, curriculum and hands-on training. “We are an expert advanced clean energy to power organization. We're a nonprofit organization,” Kathy Choi, identified in the presentation as AMVIC’s chief executive, told the council as she described AMVIC’s mission to accelerate commercial adoption of clean-energy technologies and to build a trained workforce.
The presenters said the council request is for $1,000,070 and provided a year-by-year disbursement schedule: $91,100 in 2025; $378,600 in 2026; $334,750 in 2027; $97,000 in 2028; $97,000 in 2029; and $71,550 in 2030, for the stated total of $1,000,070. AMVIC’s team said those city dollars are intended to leverage roughly $8 million in additional funding made up of Ready-program dollars and private partner match from companies and institutions identified during the presentation, including LHP, AEI, Forvia, Purdue and Aptiv.
Presenters emphasized the workforce component would include hands-on technical courses and classes aimed at a range of workers, from hourly technicians to engineers. Ben Reitzman, introduced as an AMVIC board member with experience at the Battery Innovation Center, described a model that paired hands-on technical training with commercialization and business development support. AEI chief operating officer Katrina Clark explained AEI’s role as a host facility for training and said equipment is already arriving at AEI for the program.
Council members who spoke during the discussion praised the AMVIC team’s experience and urged support. A representative from Duke Energy, Tom DeBond, attended in support and was named during the presentation.
The council voted by roll call 8–0 to pass the resolution. The resolution will allow the redevelopment commission to authorize annual disbursements from the commission to AMVIC consistent with the year-by-year schedule the presenters supplied.
The council and presenters said AMVIC plans annual reporting to show metrics and return on investment. Presenters said most of the private match would be supplied by identified industry partners and revenue from training, memberships and related activities.
Votes at a glance: Resolution authorizing city redevelopment commission to grant $1,000,070 to AMVIC for workforce development (2025–2030) — Passed 8–0.
Next steps: The redevelopment commission will receive authority to disburse the scheduled funds; AMVIC said it will provide annual reports on progress and metrics and begin training activities at AEI as equipment arrives.
