Interfaith group wants more RDA jobs for Gary, Hammond, EC

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Updated: March 17, 2012 10:20AM

GARY — Leaders of the Northwest Indiana Federation of Interfaith Organizations Wednesday claimed they have Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson’s support for a jobs agreement with the Regional Development Authority.

Freeman-Wilson said she supports getting more jobs but wants to look at a “substantive plan” that includes more groups, jobs, training and contracts for Gary residents.

At the weekly Board of Public Works and Safety meeting, Public Works Director Cloteal LaBroi issued a new accounting of the number of man-hours worked and wages paid to Gary residents on the Marquette Park Lakefront East project so far.

According to numbers provided by a project manager with ACS/Skillman, the two companies handling construction management on the project, 56 percent of jobs and $545,760, or about 55 percent, of the wages paid out so far have gone to Gary residents and contractors.

When the project launched two years ago, the project was supposed to provide 66 percent of wages and jobs to Gary residents, but the Regional Development Authority, which is funding the $28.4 million project, last year dropped its focus on pouring most jobs into Gary.

LaBroi said specialized work on the project, such as historic masonry preservation work that replicates details of the original building, largely went to workers outside of Gary due to the lack of residents who were trained to carry out the project.

Since the beginning of the year, Federation leaders have been pressing Gary officials for detailed information on the number of jobs and the amount of wages going to residents.

Federation leaders have been calling for a commitment from the RDA to sign a regional community benefits agreement that assures jobs and training for residents of the region’s four most economically disparaged ZIP codes.

The Rev. Cheryl Rivera, the federation’s executive director, has said the group wants to use Gary, Hammond and East Chicago as leverage “to get the RDA to the table” on an agreement.

The Federation issued a statement describing Freeman-Wilson as “a key ally” in trying to get the regional agreement that would guarantee 30 percent of man-hours worked on RDA and federally funded projects go to the four economically troubled areas.

Freeman-Wilson said her focus on creating jobs may go beyond a regional benefits agreement.

“Every conversation I have begins and ends with creating jobs,” she said. “That might go beyond a regional agreement with the RDA. It may include Workforce Development, Ivy Tech Community College and others” to get a comprehensive jobs and training program for residents.