Columbus City Council Meeting Highlights for April 20
Columbus City Council meeting highlights:
SMALL BUSINESS LOANS: Small & Minority Business Development Committee chair
Shannon G. Hardin is sponsoring ordinance 0960-2015 to allow the City to enter into a $355,878 contract with the Economic
Community Development Institute (ECDI) for the purpose of administering the
Microenterprise Revolving Loan Program. The City has been working with ECDI
since 2005 to provide Columbus residents with loans to start businesses. Since
that time, ECDI has closed over 175 microenterprise loans to Columbus based
businesses. ECDI is a 501(c) non-profit economic development organization located
in Columbus, Ohio. Its mission is to invest in people to create measurable and
enduring social and economic change. ECDI’s programs have been supported by
more than $25 million in federal, state, local and private funds.
SMALL
BUSINESS TRAINING PROGRAM: In
2013, the Columbus City Council first offered free access to select citywide
training opportunities for small businesses located in Columbus.
Ordinance 1056-2015, sponsored by Workforce Development Committee Chair
Priscilla R. Tyson, uses $25,000 from Council’s Jobs Growth Fund to continue
the program in 2015. The idea of a free training program for Columbus
businesses was a recommendation from Council’s Small Business Roundtable
discussions first initiated a number of years ago. Available trainings
include courses on soft skills such as critical thinking and improving
communication, and hard skills, like Micorsoft Word, Excel, and
PowerPoint. For more information on Citywide Training opportunities
for small businesses, contact Kris Cannon-Jackson at 645-2851 or [email protected].
FAIR HOUSING: The City of Columbus is ready to provide
$105,456 in Community Development Block Grant funds to the Columbus Urban
League (CUL) to enable them to provide fair housing services to the residents
of the city. Development Committee chair Michelle M. Mills is sponsoring
0843-2015 to allow the CUL to conduct activities to reduce and eliminate
legal and social barriers to housing opportunities, investigate all valid
housing discrimination complaints and seek redress, develop testing procedures
to determine the extent of discrimination, promote awareness of equal housing
opportunities, and to implement the current Fair Housing Action Plan.
Community
Gardens Meeting:
Councilmember Eileen Y. Paley, chair of the Administration Committee, is
partnering with the Community Relations Commission to host a meeting on
community gardens. The event will take place Tuesday, April 21, 6
pm at the Dodge Recreation Center. The goal of the meeting will be
to enhance communications, share resources, and success stories when it comes
to community gardens.
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