Governor Snyder says the Community Ventures program created 1,000 jobs in the past year. It's a pilot program in Saginaw, Pontiac, Flint and Detroit focused on bringing jobs to the long-term unemployed.
Mike Finney is the president and CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, which partnered with government agencies to bring jobs to those cities. He says the Community Ventures program mostly provides manufacturing jobs.
"We've worked to identify meaningful opportunities for individuals to become full-time employees in sustainable jobs that paid a living wage," he said.
Finney says providing jobs in cities with high crime rates could help make those communities safer. He says these jobs help people get back on their feet after incarceration or being on welfare.
"One example is in Flint we have the St. Luke's N.E.W. Life Center. It's a garment sewing business, it's sewing scrubs and gowns that are used in the health care industry."
The program cost the state $10 million. Finney says he hopes Community Ventures will expand across Michigan in the future.
-Sarah Kerson, Michigan Radio Newsroom
