United Way Northwest Indiana, NIPSCO and WorkOne Northwest Indiana held a check presentation ceremony to honor their latest collaboration on Tuesday, November 21. The celebration comes as part of the United Way’s TransitVan Initiative project.
United Way Northwest Indiana Check Presentation with NIPSCO and Center of Workforce Innovations 2023
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Team members from each organization gathered together at the United Way Northwest Indiana office in Valparaiso to discuss this partnership.
“This is going to allow us to purchase a mobile unit,” Adam O’Doherty, president and CEO of United Way Northwest Indiana, said. “The mobile unit will allow us to go into neighborhoods to get people the resources they need to get a job that will help them out. We’ll be working on getting people signed up with our Level Up program to allow us to meet future employees wherever they’re located.”
The Level Up program involves targeted interventions for professional skills development, financial literacy workshops and personalized mentoring. O’Doherty believes this will provide an opportunity for growth and sustainability in Northwest Indiana in quick time.
“Our goal is to get more than 1,000 people through the Level Up Program by 2025 and the mobile unit will be instrumental in assisting those who will benefit from the program,” O’Doherty said. “We know that WorkOne will do the heavy lifting for that. We’re very appreciative of the support from their agency and NIPSCO in this collaboration.”
Rich Shields, chief marketing and development officer for United Way Northwest Indiana, described the qualifications for the Level Up program.
“There is no cost for eligible participants of the program except for their own sweat and personal equity,” Shields said. “Anyone that is 18 or older and employed within Northwest Indiana will be able to benefit from this program.”
Denise Conlon, manager at NIPSCO, works for public affairs and economic development in Porter, La Porte and Starke County. She envisions that this development will make life easier in each of those areas.
“It’s about our commitment to the communities we serve by partnering with our local nonprofit organizations,” Conlon said. “With WorkOne’s and United Way Northwest Indiana’s commitment to development, they’re really putting emphasis on meeting people where they are and assisting those who live in more rural areas.”
As of now, the mobile unit is vacant. Conlon describes what the next step will be for the mobile unit following this check presentation.
“After today, we’ll get the van wrapped while decking out the interior with the necessary technology and supplies,” Conlon said.
Alexius Barber, public affairs and economic development manager for NIPSCO, believes Conlon’s vision will impact Lake County in the same manner. She recognizes how their organization has had a healthy partnership with United Way Northwest Indiana prior to this project.
“We’ve been partners with both organizations for a long time,” Barber said. “It is through partnerships that we maintain awareness of the challenges a customer may be facing and address those who are in need while aligning with our business. This partnership will help make impacting the lives of our customers possible.”
Barber hopes that this boost in the Level Up program will continue to inspire successful developments in the future.
“I think the sky's the limit for projects moving forward,” Barber said. “From the standpoint of our corporate social responsibility, we’re always looking at innovative ways to support the community.”
The TransitVan Initiative might be starting off small, but if the experiment goes well, there’s hope to increase the amount of mobile units in the future.
“This is going to be very helpful for the clients,” O’Doherty said. “The people in these mobile units have familiarity with the community they’re going to be in. It’s super exciting and hopefully we'll be able to expand to multiple mobile units so we can hit the entire Region.”
For more information on United Way Northwest Indiana, NIPSCO or WorkOne, you can visit their websites.