Regional Chamber Receives $50K Grant to Expand Workforce

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The PNC Foundation has awarded a $50,000 workforce development grant to the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber.

The grant will be used to help support the Regional Chamber’s effort, in partnership with Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries, to expand the local workforce.

Guy Coviello, president and CEO of the Regional Chamber, said about 12,000 job openings exist in the Mahoning Valley.

“If we were able to get even half of the unemployed off of the sidelines and into those open positions, we would lift a huge strain from local employers,” Coviello said. “PNC’s funding will go a long way in assisting us in those efforts and helping to grow the local economy.”

Overall workforce participation rates in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys average 57%, lagging comparable rates for the state and nation, which average 63%, statistics show. The Regional Chamber and Goodwill Industries developed a community needs assessment to identify why the rates are comparatively low, including local barriers that might keep residents out of the workforce.

Through a series of surveys, interviews and focus groups conducted this summer with Mahoning Valley employers, hiring experts, workforce members and community leaders, top barriers to local employment were identified as transportation; child care; mental health and substance abuse issues; and life skills/soft skills.

The Regional Chamber and Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries will create teams of community and government leaders, employers and others to help remove the barriers through communication, training and long-term planning efforts. 

The funding from the PNC Foundation will help support the effort.

“At PNC, we believe that being part of the community means investing in its future and its economic vitality,” said Ted Schmidt, PNC regional president for Youngstown. “That’s why working to strengthen and serve our communities is at the heart of our business model. By addressing our relatively low workforce participation rate, this program will ultimately benefit local businesses and the entire community.”

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.