Cambridge council asks law department to draft home rule petition for jobs training trust

The Cambridge City Council voted to ask the city law department to draft a home rule petition to authorize creation of a Cambridge Jobs Training Trust, a funding vehicle modeled on similar programs in Boston and Somerville.

Councilor Sabrina Wheeler, the lead sponsor, told colleagues the petition would allow the city to seek state authorization without obligating the council to set a fee immediately. “This home rule petition for a job training trust is not the same thing as setting up a new linkage fee,” she said, adding that any job linkage fee would be separate from Cambridge’s existing affordable-housing linkage and would not reduce that trust’s funding.

Public commenters and workforce providers urged support. Edward Lovell said, “I'm here to support the policy order to establish a Cambridge Jobs Training Trust,” calling it a way to help residents and students access higher-quality jobs. Carl Nagy Kerschlin, executive director of Just to Start, cited long-running training programs and cautioned that any job trust should not come at housing linkage’s expense. Ryan Dominguez of Mass Cultivate Ed said a trust would create direct pipelines for reentry-focused workforce programs and local employers.

Councilors and staff noted precedent: Boston’s long-running trust and Somerville’s more recent program were cited as models. Wheeler said the law department and city staff will continue policy work and committee-level discussion while awaiting possible action by the state legislature; she urged preparation so the petition could be introduced early in the next legislative session.

The council amended the order to add co-sponsors and then moved it forward; the record shows the matter was carried forward for drafting and follow-up with the city solicitor’s office. Next steps are drafting the home rule petition for submission to the city’s state delegation and additional committee-level discussions about design and implementation.