Mayor Joe Hogsett, EmployIndy honor employers and community programs at 24th annual Celebration of Diversity

Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett and EmployIndy presented seven workforce and inclusion awards at the 24th annual Mayor’s Celebration of Diversity breakfast in Indianapolis, recognizing employers and community organizations that run youth apprenticeships, hire locally, and offer wraparound job training.

The awards ceremony, emceed by Matthew Fultz of WTHR and employIndy program participant Elliot Bradford, included presentations to Plastic Recycling Inc.; Powers and Sons Construction; Second Helpings; Crew Car Wash; and Martin University. Speakers emphasized the programs’ role in creating career pathways and warned that reductions in federal and philanthropic funding are constraining workforce services.

The event matters because EmployIndy serves tens of thousands of Marion County residents each year and its programs are linked directly to local employers’ talent pipelines. Marie McIntosh, president and CEO of EmployIndy, told attendees that the agency connects more than 60,000 residents annually and that programs such as Project Indie and its Promise scholarship initiative aim to increase postsecondary completion and job readiness.

“Project Indie has connected more than 20,000 young people,” McIntosh said. “We’re really focused on connecting people to purpose and purpose to progress.” She said EmployIndy has awarded more than 2,600 completion grants and more than 9,700 Promise Scholarships to help students persist through postsecondary education at Ivy Tech and IU Indianapolis.

McIntosh described additional programs including a Modern Apprenticeship Program tied to the Indiana Career Apprenticeship Pathway and a talent-connections effort that has matched more than 1,000 residents with jobs averaging nearly $64,000 a year. She said the agency’s job-quality work has enrolled just over 100 employers and has helped lift more than $5.8 million in wages for Marion County residents.

At the podium, Mayor Joe Hogsett framed the awards as part of a broader city effort to expand access to opportunity. “We are only at our best when all of our residents have equal access to opportunity,” Hogsett said, noting demographic and economic shifts in the city and praising employers and community partners for workforce investments.

Award winners named during the program included: - Dr. Michelle Poulter Youth Apprenticeship Employer of the Year: Plastic Recycling Inc. (recognized for hiring apprentices into manufacturing and related roles). A representative for Plastic Recycling said the company values apprentices’ “curiosity” and credited EmployIndy for helping create the program partnership. - Choice Employer Award: Powers and Sons Construction (a family-owned business recognized for paying family-sustaining wages and building internal mentorship and advancement practices). A Powers and Sons representative thanked the city and EmployIndy and described the company’s multigenerational roots. - Excellence in Service for a Community-Based Organization: Second Helpings (recognized for its culinary job training program; its representative said the program recently graduated its 160th class and has graduated about 1,100 adults with culinary education). - Excellence in Youth Employment: Crew Car Wash (recognized for youth hiring, mentorship and growth paths; a Crew Car Wash representative said the company brings employees together to celebrate accomplishments). - Sam H. Jones Best of the Best Award: Martin University (presented to an institution singled out for workforce and leadership development). Martin University’s representative said the award recognizes collective community impact since the institution’s founding in 1977.

Organizers also announced awards for diversity in leadership and diversity in workforce during the program; the transcript of the event did not provide clear, attributable winner names for one or two award categories, which event organizers said they would ensure are delivered to the recipients. Several acceptance remarks onstage came from organizational representatives rather than named individuals.

Speakers repeatedly flagged funding constraints. McIntosh said EmployIndy’s funding from the U.S. Department of Labor has fallen by nearly 30 percent since 2016 and that the agency reduced programs from 19 to 11 as a result. She warned that federal pandemic relief and philanthropic dollars that enabled program growth have wound down, putting service levels at risk.

Elliot Bradford, a program participant who co-emceed the event, described his pathway into work through Project Indie and said the program “connects people of all ages with job opportunities, training, and support that truly change lives.” Bradford also described having struggled with mental-health issues during the pandemic and credited EmployIndy and family members for support in finding stable work.

Ben Tapper, the city’s chief diversity and equity officer, closed the program by urging continued partnership among businesses, nonprofits and government to sustain progress. “We celebrate diversity because of the constant and consistent pushback against it,” Tapper said, and encouraged attendees to network and support EmployIndy’s fundraising effort via the QR code printed in programs.

Event organizers asked attendees to consider donations to EmployIndy’s programs; materials distributed at the breakfast said the agency reaches more than 60,000 Marion County residents each year and invited contributions to sustain services.

Attendees included city officials, EmployIndy staff, corporate sponsors and representatives of nominated and winning organizations. Sponsors listed during the program included Black Onyx Management (title sponsor), Health and Hospital Corporation, JPMorgan Chase, Lumina Foundation, Pacers Sports and Entertainment, Capital Improvement Board, Crew Car Wash, Scheels, Bell Tech Logix, Marian University, Katz Sapper & Miller, Taft, ICE Miller LLP, Marion County Sheriff’s Office, O’Neil Manufacturing Services, Central Indiana Corporate Partnership and Visit Indy.

Looking ahead, speakers said continued employer engagement and financial support will be necessary to maintain and expand apprenticeships, youth employment, completion grants and job-quality initiatives. EmployIndy representatives asked attendees to “go deeper” by speaking with staff and partners after the program and, where possible, to contribute to sustain the programs that feed local talent pipelines.