Proposed Center Would Serve Youngstown’s Underemployed

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A proposed employment training center would increase the educational and career potential of city residents.

Manchester Bidwell Corp. of Pittsburgh presented its study to City Council’s community planning and economic development committee. The study is the first step toward developing a center focused on job training and youth programs.

The study, compiled in about seven months, was funded with $30,000 in American Rescue Plan funds from Councilman Julius Oliver, 1st Ward. The Youngstown Area Jewish Federation was the fiscal agent for the study.

“The end goal was always the creation of a Manchester Bidwell facility in Youngstown that would serve the residents of Youngstown, meeting their specific needs,” said Bonnie Deutsch Burdman, YAJF’s executive director of community relations/government affairs. 

The proposed Youngstown Restoration and Opportunity Center would be a brick and mortar site “dedicated to developing human capital by increasing the educational/career potential of the city’s functionally unemployed residents,” according to a document from Manchester Bidwell.

The center will establish pathways to full employment in health care and culinary arts, it says.

“Once established as a licensed educational provider by the Ohio State Board of Career Colleges and Schools, YoRoc’s programs will be co-designed with regional employers to confer a legitimate academic credential and professional certification to each student in one year or less,” the document reads.

It will also offer each adult student a one-time grant to address YoRoc training at no cost. 

Getting to that goal, though, may be a long process. Burdman noted that many agencies in Youngstown already are doing great work. That includes job training and youth organizations.

“But the findings in the report were that there’s a gap,” she said. “There was a gap between the work that these agencies are doing – the great work that they’re doing – and the results for the people of Youngstown.”

The recommendation for the study was to address issues of unemployment and underemployment in the city. 

“The concept was that the individuals – the people in the city – are the asset,” Burdman said. 

YoRoc will work to leverage the city’s assets and organization in a way that brings people and groups together to deliver the services needed to serve the community’s unemployed and underemployed, she added.

Manchester Bidwell has been involved in developing centers across the country – the closest is the Hope Center for Arts & Technology in Sharon, Pa. – as well as other centers, including one in Akko, Israel.

“What’s interesting about the centers is they’re all different and they reflect the needs of the community they’re in,” Burdman said.

YAJF supports the center in Akko, Israel, which is in the partnership region of the federation.

“A couple of years back, I was on a trip with the partnership, and Julius Oliver was on that trip,” Burdman said. 

They visited the center in Akko.

“Julius saw it and was amazed at the work that they were doing and had a vision for what could be in Youngstown,” Burdman said. “And that’s really how it started.”

That’s also why YAJF is involved. It believes in the mission of the center in Israel and in the mission of HopeCAT. A group called Friends of Youngstown, a loosely based group of individuals that’s in the process of securing its 501c3 nonprofit status, has been involved with visioning for such a center.

Oliver couldn’t be reached Wednesday to comment.

The study found that about 40% of city residents are “functionally unemployed,” meaning they often struggle to make ends meet because they work multiple low-wage jobs.

A location for YoRoc hasn’t been identified, though Burdman said a temporary site likely will be used first. Wherever the center is located, Manchester Bidwell’s philosophy is that a person’s physical surroundings have a direct effect on how that person approaches the work they do, she explained.

“So if you build a castle, you’re going to turn out kings and queens,” Burdman said. “If you build a prison, you’re going to turn out prisoners.”

Initially it would employ four full-time workers and one part-time worker, according to the study. 

It lists $667,575 in operating costs in each of the first and second years of YoRoc.

“From what I understand, Councilman Oliver is going to be drafting some legislation to utilize some of his ward’s ARPA money for this, and we’re hopeful that the city will be doing the same,” Burdman said. 

Since the study is complete, the fiscal agency for YoRoc is transferring to the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation.

“Where our experience ended in administering things, that’s where YNDC picked up,” Burdman said. “They have a lot of experience in receiving ARPA money. Obviously, site selection and buildings – that’s right in their wheelhouse. That’s not something we can do.”

The YAJF will remain involved, working in administration.

“We just believe in the project, and we believe in doing good things with and for the community because we’re part of the community,” she said.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.