(gentle music)
- [Narrator] Indianapolis,
once the epicenter of manufacturing in America
is at a crossroads in its development
as an emerging U.S. city.
With globalization, advancing technology,
and lack of sufficient job skills training,
many manufacturing jobs are going away
as the demand for skilled laborers
grows at the most rapid rate in American history,
putting much of the middle class
at risk of slipping into poverty.
At the same time,
Indianapolis is proving enticing to startups,
corporations, and emerging talent,
due to the region's affordability
and rapid commercial development
that has led to a vibrant downtown scene.
The city now faces one of its biggest challenges,
will Indianapolis continue to displace its middle class
as tech industry burgeons?
Or, can it find a way to sustain its local workforce
while keeping up with its 21st century aspirations?
(dramatic music)
(gentle music)
- I do believe that I'm a part of the middle class.
My question would be, how do you define middle class?
Is middle class where you live?
Is middle class what you make?
Is middle class how you live?
Where I live is considered a middle class neighborhood.
But, honestly, where we are income wise,
we're one catastrophic event away from lower class.
We're one catastrophic event away
from having a home,
to not having a home.
Are we really middle class?
- If the middle class disappeared,
we would all go into somewhat of a free fall.
For our capital city to be so reliant,
so dependent on these jobs to move our state forward,
it's only fueled by the middle class.
We've got to skill up and we can't be content.
We don't want anyone to be left behind.
- There is no technical definition of the middle class,
but 95% of people believe they're in the middle class,
whether they are or not.
People in the middle class tend to be able
to afford a house,
depending where they are.
Tend to have two cars, if it's a two-parent family.
Tend to have health care and education.
The cost of that stuff is going up
and incomes are barely keeping pace.
In essence, the biggest challenge facing the middle class
is to stay in the middle class.
- [Donte] One day, I got a phone call
from one of my coworkers.
He says, "They're closing operations.
They're moving the company to Mexico."
I was in that group of people
that were going to be laid off.
I was sad. I was angry.
I felt abandoned.
Didn't know what I was gonna do.
Didn't know why this was happening.
My dream job was gonna become a nightmare overnight.
- Whenever you get into these periods
where there's a lot of change in the economy,
you're definitely gonna have people that got stranded.
Or, they started on one thing
thinking that that industry is gonna sustain itself,
then the whole thing comes apart.
Those are the hardest cases to face.
- When I went to school to get my MBA,
my goal was to be making
between 75 and 100,000.
But I didn't realize I would have to leave my community.
I could be doing a lot of what I do
without a master's degree.
Not to say that a master's degree doesn't matter,
but in this city,
an associate's degree and a certification
would have been fine.
I didn't understand that market when I started.
- I came to Indianapolis when I was about 13 years old.
Me and my mother, and my grandmother,
we moved to Indianapolis
in search of, basically, a better life.
When we first moved here,
we were actually living in a hotel for the first six months.
Going from being government assistance,
to living in a hotel, to where I am now,
things have changed a lot.
My mom was working at Carrier
and I did want a job at Carrier,
because I heard so many good things about them.
I wanted to have the same success that she had.
She was able to provide for me
and my grandmother as well, a happy home.
I was able to go to school,
have clean new clothes on my back.
So getting a job there was just like a dream.
- Just in my lifetime,
you could not get a high school diploma
and go get a nice factory job
and live in a middle class for all of your life.
You can't do that anymore.
And there's a different skill set
that's required to survive in this economy.
What your grandfather did before
is not necessarily what you're going to be able
to do for your life.
People really need to realize that.
- My parents moved here to Indianapolis
when I was about two.
I didn't grow up middle class,
we grew up struggling.
We started in Martindale-Brightwood,
the very rough neighborhood.
We were living in a very small apartment.
And then my mom and dad divorced.
With my mom being a single mom,
and with me being a latchkey kid, it was tough.
I had my first child when I was 17.
I had another child at 19.
And then when I was 21,
I ended up getting married and had three more children.
Statistics for me said that I would end up on welfare,
and those sorts of things,
because I got pregnant in high school.
And truly those things happened.
I ended up being homeless with my children.
I ended up being on welfare.
I ended up being on food stamps.
I didn't like the feeling.
And so I said, "In order for me to change it for me
and break the cycle for my children,
I had to educate myself."
So that's what I did.
From 2006 to 2014,
I had earned my associate's,
my bachelor's, and then my master's degree.
What I originally wanted to do
was consulting for corporate America.
What I ended up doing is writing a program
for young women with children to get off welfare.
That is how I ended up where I am today,
working for the Edna Martin Christian Center.
- What you do today affects what happens
for you in the days to come.
- [Tawnya] Our goal is to work with individuals
who are the least, the lost, the left out.
And we become a beacon of light
for those who feel like there is none.
The work at Edna Martin Christian Center
is important to me because I've been there.
I've walked a lot of the path
that our participants have walked.
And I know what it takes to get from step one,
to step two, to step three.
Although, that is not what I started out doing,
but I believe it's just really
what I've been purposed to do.
- Before my job at Carrier,
I would say I was living a lower class life.
I worked at Taco Bell.
I worked at Pizza Hut.
It was a time where I had three jobs.
It was very mentally and physically exhausting
and I always wanted better.
For me, to be in the middle class
means being able to afford some of the luxuries in life,
but not all of them.
It's the equivalent of, okay, you can get this car,
but you're gonna struggle when you get it.
Working at Carrier, I was able to afford my dream car.
And when I had the opportunity to get one, I did.
My interest in cars has a lot to do
with my interest in technology.
By the time my layoff time came for Carrier,
I had two options.
I could sit on my butt and cry about it
or I could do something about it.
I chose to do something about it.
I decided to go over to Ivy Tech
and I enrolled in electrical engineering technology.
What's on the line now versus then is my livelihood.
This is what I put all my eggs into.
- One of the things that Indianapolis,
and Indiana in general,
are doing is the idea that the state
has come alongside the educational partners,
in particular colleges like Ivy Tech,
to say, "Here's the training that's really needed
and that we'll help people pay for."
It's making a big impact on attracting people
to industry where employees are really needed.
And they're great jobs,
and it will lead them to a great future.
- My first day of school,
after being laid off from Carrier, was very exciting.
The thing that I personally missed in high school
is that when you're in school,
you're with the future leaders of the world.
You're not just getting a degree,
you're becoming a part of your community.
Electrical engineering, it's a part of everything.
Whether it's your phone, your computer,
your television,
an engineer has made that from an electrical circuit.
I can literally put this degree
towards helping me get a job in any profession.
- We're working with so many components
of the workforce to hear from them
where they think their workforce needs are gonna be.
And we know that it's less and less
about gaining a four-year degree,
and more and more about obtaining
the certifications or associate degrees.
So going out and spending $100,000
to get an education that's gonna pay you at minimum wage,
is not a good idea.
Sometimes people follow their heart
and they know it might take them
a little longer to pay off a debt,
but, ultimately, it's worth it for them.
- I never thought that I would be here
at this age with no retirement,
with no health insurance,
a small pot of life insurance.
And I've worked for 11 years in an arena
where it's virtually impossible to get ahead.
So I believe I am in the middle class,
but I'm in an uncomfortable middle class situation.
I've been courted by different companies
at about 125 or 135.
But that means disconnecting from my community
and going to corporate America,
and maybe not doing so much meaningful work in my life.
Earning my MBA, put me in debt.
I have barely increased my income by $10,000,
but I've increased my debt by $100,000.
Not a good trade off.
Nobody goes to school to get a degree to be poor.
But because of our heart,
and because we love what we do and we love helping people,
we kind of stay stuck.
Having the opportunity to share and invest in people,
invest in my community,
invest in my neighborhood,
invest in the city,
is an awesome, awesome task and opportunity.
And I believe that's what I've been purposed
and destined to do.
- We're redefining the whole pathway to success.
And that means redefining
what higher education is all about.
That means making sure
that when folks graduate from high school,
they're both enrollable and/or employable.
There are so many people, just like yourself,
who maybe fear the unknown,
maybe fear getting out of your comfort zone,
maybe fear chasing your dream.
I'm here to tell you, fear not.
I see it happen every day where people say,
"This has made all the difference in the world.
I wish I would've done it two years ago or five years ago.
But now I get to determine my destiny."
Only because they have the skill sets to do that.
- [Donte] I've recently graduated with my associate degree
in electrical engineering technology.
And I'm very excited to say that I graduated with honors.
I'm actually interning at ERMCO.
They are electrical contractors.
What I'm doing is future-proof, potentially,
because no one can take my knowledge away from me.
My girlfriend's kids are a big part of my life
as much as they are of hers.
I hope to teach them that it's not just going to school,
it's going to school with a purpose and don't accept less.
- Receive of nourishment for our bodies
for Christ's sake, amen. - Amen.
- American dream for me
is not having an overhead of I have to go to work.
Or, I have to have a job.
The American dream for me is wanting to do what I do.
I wanna go to work.
Having the freedom to do what you want when you want.
That's the American dream to me.
Do I feel like I'm going to make it?
Most definitely. Failure isn't an option for me.
♪ Hey, hey ♪
♪ What I'm gon' do ♪
- The American dream to me means living a full life.
I feel like I'm living the American dream
because of the people that are around me.
I have a full life because of the choices that I make.
- [Everyone] Amen!
- I have a full life because my legacy that I'm leaving,
my children, my grandchildren,
that's to me, the American dream.
It doesn't matter where you start or where you come from,
it matters how you finish.
And if my life can be that story,
if my life can be that beacon of hope for you,
my job is done.
♪ What I'm gon' do ♪
(gentle music)
(upbeat orchestral music)
(gentle music)