PHILADELPHIA, PA – City Council today introduced legislation that expands investments in its New Normal Jobs Initiative, a series of employment and neighborhood improvement programs across the city prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact on Philadelphia workers.
Coming on the heels of Council’s initial $4 Million investment last month, Council today introduced legislation to authorize an additional $5 Million in spending on programs that undertake an array of measures to improve and revitalize neighborhoods – and provide job opportunities.
Today’s legislation, introduced by Council’s Appropriations Chair, Maria Quiñones Sánchez (7th District) on behalf of Council President Darrell L. Clarke (5th District), authorizes spending on the following initiatives:
- Same Day Work and Pay program. $1 Million to continue supporting a same-day-pay employment effort putting people to work cleaning and maintaining vacant city lots, under the supervision of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Several hundred individuals have already been hired under this program.
- Community Life Improvement Program. $1 Million for an existing, city-run program under the Managing Director’s Office that focuses on quality-of-life issues and problems in neighborhoods across the city.
- WorkREADY Program. $1 Million for WorkREADY, the city’s program that seeks summer jobs for young people.
- Jobs Training by Revitalizing Neighborhood Commercial Corridors. $2 Million to support a program that provides job training through the revitalization of neighborhood commercial business corridors. This program was conceived by Council Majority Leader Cherelle Parker (9th District). This jobs training effort supports community-focused training programs that prepare young men and women gain access to apprenticeship or similar workforce programs.
- Hire Philly’s “Pipeline Philly” jobs program. $50,000.
Today’s legislation follows similar investments approved by Council and Mayor Kenney last month, which included spending on the same-day-pay program, jobs training in neighborhood commercial corridor revitalizations, CLIP, an energy conservation jobs-training effort, and a program in the home health care industry to lift workers up to become certified nursing assistants. Several Councilmembers and other agencies are involved in these job-training efforts, including Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson (At Large) and the Philadelphia Energy Authority.
The New Normal Jobs Initiative is the latest action by City Council to address the real economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Philadelphia.
“As we work to get this pandemic under control and get residents vaccinated, we must be just as focused on the harsh economic impact of this crisis and the Philadelphians who need help finding employment,” said Council President Clarke. “The programs being funded by this New Normal initiative are different in some respects – but they all do one thing — they improve Philadelphia and they focus on helping people find jobs.”
