Workforce Development

LMM is excited to offer a vocational training program with a focus on light construction, building maintenance, home repair, and remodeling as a high potential opportunity to change the trajectory of unemployed and underemployed citizens quality of life and upward mobility. Since 2013, LMM’s Workforce Development Programs have provided educational and career enhancement services to individuals with significant personal obstacles to employment, and traditional educational settings.

Our priority is training geared to in-demand industries that provide pathways to a living wage and are open to employing reentry populations.

With an aging inventory of commercial and residential properties and anticipation of a vast amount of needed infrastructure improvements, skilled workers in the trades will be in extremely high demand and spur public-nonprofit-private partnerships. Employment in construction, general maintenance and repair workers in Ohio is also projected to grow 5 percent from 2021 to 2031. Mean wages range from $25.12 to $27. 25 per hour, ($52,250 to $56,680 annually) as well, which exceeds the local living wage for adults in the city of Cleveland.

The blueprint for the Workforce Development Program is to provide:

• Vocational Training – Technical education to achieve credentials that will help validate skills, along with earn and learn placements.
• Career Services – Supporting students with academic advising, job readiness, resume writing, interview skills, and career counseling, as well as job placement activities.
• Social Enterprise – LMM will employ students and graduates in maintenance/janitorial services, lead paint remediation as a public health response, and repair and modification services for seniors aging in place. We are also rehabilitating homes in the St. Clair – Superior neighborhood where these skilled workers can contribute as well.

The site for the Building Maintenance & Repair Program (BMR) is a warehouse currently under LMM ownership. The building is located at 4516 Superior Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio. The 6,200 sq. ft. wide-open floorplan will be reimagined as the Workforce Training Center, with the rear of the building housing BMR education, training, and demonstrations. A storefront café will enhance the success of LMM’s social enterprises, and a commercial kitchen will round out the space, creating additional income for operations

These revenue-generating ventures provide training opportunities and work experience for program participants. Our social enterprises include Central Kitchen, a state-of-the-art commercial kitchen that produces up to 2,000 meals each day for distribution at shelters across the region, and Metro45 Mobile Kitchen & Catering, a food truck that brings quality food and community education to food deserts across the city.

LMM’s WD programming prepares students for and places them on rewarding career pathways.

For more information about the building project, click here.