New app aims to combat Milwaukee unemployment
Platform connects people to 150 workforce agencies
For young people searching for employment, the job hunt just got a little easier.
DirectConnectMKE, a workforce development social media platform that went online Thursday morning, aims to facilitate the job search by connecting potential employees with employers and with each other.
The new platform, a collaboration between Yolobe Inc. and the City of Milwaukee, was unveiled Thursday by Common Council President Ashanti Hamilton and Ald. Milele A. Coggs at Employ Milwaukee on North 27th Street.
They were joined by other council members and project partners.
“Most people that we run into who are unemployed or under employed, they actually want to work,” Hamilton said. If technology can be used to secure them employment, “that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
Hamilton described the app as a “one-stop shop” that will allow users to find mentors, training and jobs on their phones, “right in the palm of your hand.”
The interactive social media platform expands on the City of Milwaukee’s ENotify system, a centralized electronic resource that allows subscribers to track job openings, career fairs and vocational training. It was implemented in March 2017.
DirectConnectMKE bridges the public and private sector: Employers will update it with job listings, which subscribers can then access by downloading the application at DirectConnnectMKE’s website.
It is free for youths, young adults and agencies, with low monthly pricing for agencies in need of premium features. The platform works on both phones and computers.
According to Coggs, the app will help young adults (and frustrated employers) connect with the roughly 150 workforce-related organizations in Milwaukee, which will train them to be “jobready.”
Quoting Oprah Winfrey, Coggs said that employment doesn’t happen because of luck but rather “when preparation meets opportunity.” The new app aims to provide both.
The app’s release came in the wake of Wisconsin hitting a record-low unemployment rate in April.
Despite the good news, Hamilton stressed that many Milwaukee neighborhoods have been immune to the broader economic recovery.
“In these neighborhoods, it’s been pretty consistent that unemployment and joblessness rates have remained high, even in good economic times,” he said.
He cited the neighborhood around Employ Milwaukee as an example, claiming it had one of the highest unemployment rates in the city despite the presence of a local workforce development board — in part because people don’t know help is nearby.
As such, DirectConnectMKE is a “major tool that we can use in order to reach a hard-to-reach population.”
Organizations interested in participating in the social media platform email are encouraged to email devcoord@milwaukee.govor leave a message with the Workforce Development Office at (414) 286-3552.