FRENCH LICK – Accelerate Indiana Municipalities (Aim) announced Madison has earned an Aim Community Program Innovation Award for their Temporary Job Replacement Program. The city was honored with this award on October 6 during the Annual Awards Luncheon – presented by Baker Tilly Municipal Advisors, LLC during the 2021 Aim Ideas Summit in French Lick. Madison won in the under 20,000 population category.
With the required closings of non-essential services at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, Madison responded to the sudden loss of income for employees and self-employed small business owners by offering an opportunity for temporary employment. The program was open to any city resident, but priority was given to displaced workers in service and manufacturing industries. Using funding from revenue generating areas of the city as well as re-appropriating funds from the annual budget, Madison was able to temporarily hire about 50 workers for up to 30 hours per week for 60 days. At the conclusion of the program, some were offered a permanent, full-time position with benefits and many chose to stay with the city.
“The Madison Temporary Job Replacement Program is such a great reminder that when push comes to shove people look to their local leaders to guide them through a crisis. I am really impressed with the innovative, take-charge spirit happening in Madison. The Job Replacement Program is going to have a lasting impact not only on those who are now permanently employed, but also all citizens of Madison who saw what their city was willing to do when they were suffering. Madison is so deserving of this new award,” said Aim CEO Matt Greller.
Conference Facts:
2021 Aim Ideas Summit
October 5-7, 2021
French Lick Resort
Attendance: 1,000 (pending final registration count)
Further information: www.aimindiana.org
Since the 1890s, Aim, formerly the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns, has been an advocate for Indiana municipalities. Aim is the official voice of municipal government in Indiana, with more than 460 cities and towns as members. Our purpose is to foster, promote and advocate for the success of Hoosier municipalities as laboratories of innovation, hubs of talent and the engines driving our state’s economy.