INDIANAPOLIS — The City of Kokomo is undergoing some big changes. Two new electric vehicle battery plants will create 3,000 new jobs.
Locals who have lived in Kokomo their whole life say these jobs are needed to help the city thrive.
"I got accepted into the apprenticeship,” Jon Hollingsworth, a union electrician in Kokomo, said. “Went to school here for five years to complete the apprenticeship. We worked and went to school and became a journeyman electrician after the five years."
Hollingsworth introduced Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to a crowd of Kokomo natives and journalists at Ivy Tech Community College.
He attended the school himself, which has went through some major changes since his time there. He knows first-hand the ups and down the city of Kokomo has faced.
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“Was there ever a time you were concerned that you were going to have to leave your hometown to find work," WRTV’s Meredith Hackler asked.
“Yeah,” Hollingsworth said. “I actually had to back in 2013-2014. I went and worked in Ohio. I've went and worked in Kentucky and Illinois."
These days, that's no longer the case.
A $6 billion investment is why Buttigieg visited Kokomo Friday morning. The Indiana native says he remembers a time when the city was on the decline.
"I remember when I was first making friends in Howard County and knocking on doors around Kokomo,” Buttigieg said. “The unemployment rate approaching 19% and we knew that it could hit 40 if these companies were allowed to go out of business."
According to Buttigieg, the plants in Kokomo are two of the 400 new or expanding facilities nationwide. Those facilities are creating 140,000 jobs across the country.
He says these jobs are moving America’s future forward.
"You'll see states red, blue and purple winning in this new EV economy but we aren't putting our thumb on the scale there,” Buttigieg said. “Where we are putting our thumb on the scale is to make sure that EV transition is made in America and that we don't fall behind in the competition with China."
Forbes Magazine once referred to Kokomo as the third most dying town in country, but local officials say their comeback is just getting started.
"We are not going to go down that way, so we have leveled that off. We proved that wrong and now we are in a position where we are continuing to grow and stay on the forefront of innovation,” Weston Reed, Director of Development for Kokomo, said.
Kokomo city officials say their next big focus is housing. They expect these jobs to add 8,000 people to the population.
The first EV plant is expected to be up and running at the beginning of 2025. Once it’s up and running, construction on the second plant will begin.
