Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke today released a four-point workforce development plan that includes offering jobs services which target neighborhoods with high unemployment, veterans and people with criminal pasts.
Also, the city would launch a new Office of Workforce Development to bring more focus to the issue.
The plan, released by the mayor's re-election campaign, said it's aimed at providing people with the ability to get a job and move into the middle class. The efforts include zeroing in on creating talent pipelines in neighborhoods, growing "next century" jobs, building sustainable paths to the middle class, and ensuring more at-risk Chattanoogans the access to find, and the training necessary to retain, good-paying jobs.
"Creating more paths to the middle-class to help struggling families prosper is a complex issue," Berke said in a statement. "There is not one simple solution, rather it will take a multi-pronged and researched approach if we hope to make strides and improve the lives of our citizens."
See more in Thursday's Times Free Press.