Markeshia Ricks Photo
The leaders of the Board of Alders Black and Hispanic Caucus called on the city’s employers to “open the pipeline” and hire local people.
In the caucus’s annual State of the City Address Thursday night, Hill Alder Dolores Colon (pictured above right) and Newhallville Alder Delphine Clyburn told a packed Aldermanic Chamber that the city’s staggering unemployment and underemployment rate is its most pressing problem, and tackling it will go a long way in reducing other issues that the city faces, such as crime and poverty.
They said the city has made strides thanks to New Haven Works, a hiring initiative that has helped more than 500 people find jobs in the 18 months it has existed, and acknowledged former board president and Hill alder, Jorge Perez, for his tireless work in that effort. But they pointed out that it’s a drop in the bucket when one considers the 500 “trained and qualified” people that the program would like to place, but hasn’t been able to match to jobs in the city. It also doesn’t put a dent in the thousands more who have been left behind but are still looking for work. A Department of Labor estimate puts the number of unemployed and underemployed New Haveners at around 20,000.
Colon and Clyburn pointed to a jobs forum that the caucus held in March that drew hundreds of people to City Hall to talk about the jobs crisis in the city, particularly for black and Hispanic New Haveners.
Clyburn said there are so many people in the city who are eager to work that New Haven Works’ orientations have a waiting list. “Our people are stuck in the pipeline,” she said. “This will not change until employers open their doors and hire more New Haven residents.”
While holding a binder stuffed with their resumes, Clyburn (pictured) said the 500 people were “qualified but not working, or working so far below their skill level in part-time jobs” that they are working multiple jobs in order to feed their families.
“The example of these 500 qualified, pre-screened applicants is a test for our business and government leadership,” Clyburn said. “If you don’t place these 500 people in the next year, what does that say about opportunity for the 20,000 in our city? If we don’t place the 500, what sign does that send to the young people in the homes of the 20,000 about what kind of future they can imagine in our city?”
Clyburn said if the city is serious about turning around the jobs crises in the black and Hispanic communities it has to not only find jobs for the qualified, but make sure to help people who might not be qualified obtain the skills they need to find work.
“To basic literacy, to advance technical skills, we need to ensure that whatever programs and resources someone needs to become qualified are in place,” she said. Clyburn said residents need to avail themselves of resources that help them prepare for the kinds of jobs that employers are looking to fill.
But Colon pointed out that “all the training in the world, all the help writing your resume, all the practicing for interviews won’t matter if employers aren’t willing to look at the candidates from our city.”
“The federal government spends more than $18 billion a year on job training programs, but many of them lack the crucial final link: an employer that is committed to hire qualified candidates,” she said.
They applauded Yale University for committing to increasing its local hiring, but they called on the university, Yale-New Haven Hospital and other area employers, particularly those involved in the $2 billion worth of development that is going to happen in the city, to commit to doing more.
“Just imagine the impact that 500 good jobs could have on our community right now,” Colon said. “That’s 500 people who could afford to work just one job and could focus more energy into their neighborhoods. That’s 500 people better positioned to own homes and share in building our city’s tax base. That’s 500 parents who wouldn’t have to work a second job and could spend time with their families.”
“Good jobs for community residents is not a political problem,” Clyburn said. “It is our collective problem.”