A workforce development nonprofit is targeting Charlotte's employment gap.

Charlotte Works is launching #Careers4All, a campaign to boost job training among the unemployed and underemployed who’ve been left out of economic development and infrastructure projects. The initiative will invest $4.2 million in workforce development during the 2017 campaign and expand availability of training scholarships to moderate-income families.

“Many Charlotte-Mecklenburg residents are being pushed further away from employment centers and infrastructure projects, including transportation and internet due to rising housing costs,” Charlotte Works President and CEO Patrick Graham said. “We’ve developed strategies to reach people in these unemployment clusters, which is an untapped talent pool for local employers. This will also take some private investment from the business community and foundations.”

In 2015, the most recent year in which data was available, Charlotte's most intractable unemployment is in ZIP codes east and west of Center City, including 28206 at 21.4 percent, and 28208 at 19.5 percent. Charlotte's overall unemployment rate during that time was 5.4 percent.

Initiative backers point to several factors that have led to economic inequality and high unemployment clusters throughout Charlotte, although employment opportunities and infrastructure projects have not always followed them. The clusters are located primarily  outside the urban core, and the disparity in unemployment among ZIP codes has increased by 71 percent since 2000.

Careers4All looks to improve economic mobility by:

• Boosting access to education and training scholarships.

• Adding outreach career advisors for unemployment clusters.

• Adding new scholarship funding to provide advancement for entry-level employees.

• Increased funding for pre-apprenticeships and apprenticeships.

• Creating a centralized job coordination and placement initiative for people with barriers to employment.

Employers like Carolinas HealthCare System are in favor of the Careers4All initiative.

“Our commitment includes identifying the skills and talents needed for the future workforce, as well as opening opportunities at CHS to qualified Charlotte Works participants,” said Charlotte Works board member Laura Morrow-Fox, associate vice president of human resources at Carolinas HealthCare System.
Charlotte Works placed more than 7,000 clients into full- or part-time jobs  last year with salaries totaling $103 million, which equals to nearly $31 going into the community for every $1 invested.

Charlotte Works plans to place an additional 1,000 people this year.

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