By Kimball Perry , The Columbus Dispatch

​Hoping to help low-income Franklinton residents, the Franklin County commissioners approved a $500,000 grant Tuesday for a local for-profit company that hires, trains and promotes its workers to help them out of poverty.

“The only way out of poverty is skills and sustained employment,” Fortuity Calling President Fred Brothers told the commissioners Tuesday.

​The company decided to put the call center on West Broad Street near the Mount Carmel West complex.

What’s unusual is that Fortuity is looking to hire 300 low-income workers, preferably from Franklinton. That’s not just to save the company money, but also to help those in poverty get a sustainable job and learn skills to help them — and the company — grow. Those jobs will pay $11, $13 and $15 per hour based on qualifications. The jobs also provide medical insurance and other benefits.

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​By Carrie Ghose  – Staff reporter, Columbus Business First

A social enterprise call center in Franklinton that aims to build career paths out of poverty has been approved for up to $500,000 in job-training grants toward 300 jobs – the largest award yet in a three-year-old Franklin County workforce initiative.

Fortuity Calling LLC will be reimbursed training costs in stages as it moves customer support workers up through the ranks until they hit $15 an hour, under the agreement commissioners approved Tuesday. (The county defines a living wage as $14 an hour for a family of four.)

In conjunction with nonprofits, Fortuity also is surrounding its trainees with other supports, such as on-site child care and job-readiness coaching.

“We feel this employer, if this project goes the way we think it will, will be a model for other employers to follow,” said Michael Salvadore, workforce navigator at the county Economic Development and Planning Department. “It will help people enter the middle class.”

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