Wells Fargo funds skilled learning initiative for African-American males

By Michael Patrick Welch
Contributing Writer

On Wednesday, December 10, Mayor Mitch Landrieu joined representatives of Wells Fargo banks at the New Orleans East Hospital to accept a $500,000 workforce grant on behalf of the City of New Orleans.

The money will go to help unemployed and underemployed locals find training and jobs in two specific industries: infrastructure and healthcare.

“The mayor’s economic strategy is being piloted in two sectors: infrastructure and healthcare,” says Ashleigh Gardere, executive director of the Network for Economic Opportunity. “Our investor, Wells Fargo, wanted to emphasize those longterm career pathways and bring more African-American males into those sectors.”

On hand for the check presentation to The Network for Community Opportunity from Wells Fargo, are from
left: Councilman Jared Brossett, Henry Baptiste of New Orleans East Hospital, Councilman James Gray, Mayor Mitch Landrieu, Ashleigh Gardere, executive director of the Network for Economic Opportunity; Hugh
Rowden of Wells Fargo, and Mario Garner, CEO of New Orleans East Hospital.
Photo courtesy of the City of New Orleans

The $500,000 grant will be administered by the Greater New Orleans Foundation under the umbrella of Mayor Landrieu’s NOLA for Life initiative. “People know NOLA for Life mainly as a crime-fighting program,” says Gardere, “but ‘jobs and opportunities’ is another pillar of that program. And it’s about getting people connected.”

Those interested in benefitting from this new training and other employment help, will have to wait a few more months. “There will be a physical place to get connected to the supporting service, case management and training,” promises Gardere. “We’ve spent 2014 organizing the people, the staff and the resources to be able to execute.”

Gardere says the facility will launch in the first quarter of 2015.

For now, the Network for Economic Opportunity will take to the streets to begin recruitment. “NOLA for Life is known mainly for its Cease Fire program, and street outreach is part of that,” says Gardere. “So we are very familiar with doing our work that way.”

The grant, says Gardere, will help Network for Economic Opportunity participants gain experience in real work settings and obtain national certifications recognized by national industries.

“We will implement the grant to ensure access to everything from intake to case management, to wraparound supportive services training, to intensive foundational skills training with a seamless connection to technical skills training,” promises Gardere.

Gardere says those interested in working in infrastructure can start off in pre-apprenticeships: “These get people familiar with basic construction. And given the demand that’s coming, those jobs will be in everything from carpentry to electrical; welders, machinists, equipment operators and more.”

In years past, Wells Fargo has had a focus on charity in New Orleans. In January 2014, Mayor Mitch Landrieu joined Wells Fargo representatives along with NeighborWorks America and Hope Enterprise Corporation to announce the $5.15 million New Orleans NeighborhoodLIFT program, designed to increase homeownership among low and moderate-income households, and to help bring investment into New Orleans. NeighborhoodLIFT claims to have so far helped create 176 new homeowners across the city.

This article originally published in the December 22, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.