IMPACT stands for Indiana Manpower Placement and Comprehensive Training. It is the employment and training section of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, Division of Family Resources. The goal of IMPACT is to help people on public assistance achieve self-sufficiency.

IMPACT operates the Community Work Experience Program (CWEP). Thi8s program places IMPACT clients into unpaid job positions. The participant gains work experience and employment skills.

Township Trustees may act as the Employer...

In the last few months, unemployment rates across the country have spiked. Here in Indiana, we’ve seen numbers as high as 18 percent in some counties.

While I believe Indiana’s recovery will be strong and lasting thanks to our healthy work ethic and innovative spirit, the current reality is that with many employers responding to the economic downturn, layoffs are often out of an employee’s control. While losing one’s job can be both emotionally and financially draining, there are steps dislocated workers can take to help keep their finances on track during their time of unemployment.

Right to the very end of session, trustees were eager to hold rallies in order to educate the public and motivate others to get involved in the destiny of local government in Indiana.

The public and the press were invited to the rallies along with elected officials and volunteeer firefighters from across each county.

The 2009 Session of the Indiana General Assembly came to a close on April 29th - sort of. With the conclusion of the regular session, we are pleased to report that none of the Kernan-Shepard proposals to consolidate local government units, including the proposal to eliminate township government, were successful this year.

Indiana Township Association releases report: “Government Consolidation in Indiana: Separating Rhetoric from Reality”

A new report commissioned by the Indiana Township Association raises doubts about expected savings from government consolidation and dispels many of the claims made by the Commission on Local Government Reform (the Kernan-Shepard Commission) and its supporters. 

The ITA study, prepared by Wendell Cox of Demographia, states that a primary flaw in the Commission’s report is that the focus was on the means of consolidating government and not on the objective of improving government efficiency.

Township trustees provide vital services to the citizens of Indiana effectively and efficiently. Providing these services on a countywide basis, which has been recommended by the Kernan-Shepard Commission, would not result in any savings to taxpayers and would make it more difficult for Hoosiers to obtain the assistance that they need.

Townships in Elkhart, Kosciusko and St. Joseph counties have recently held public rallies in order to inform the public of the potential legislation in support of the recommendations from the Kernan-Shepard commission.

Included in the Kernan-Shepard Report, titled Streamlining Local Government, is the recommendation to eliminate township government and move all duties to the County Executive. The recommendations call for a County Executive to replace the current county commissioners.

The coming Indiana legislative session will be historic in that it takes up the founding structure of government itself. Legislation will be introduced that would meld the township functions into a uniform structure governed solely by County officials — an idea that promoters would like you to believe is a simple matter of efficiency.