Aliyya Swaby Photo
The key to getting more people from New Haven into local jobs: increasing the number of adults proficient in math and literacy.
That’s what an outside consultant told the city, after surveying employment programs and skill training programs available to the many New Haveners who are regularly out of work.
John Padilla (pictured above at left), of New Paradigms Consulting, joined Mayor Toni Harp and city officials Thursday at City Hall to present the group’s findings, including recommendations for strategies to improve job opportunities and target goals over the next five years.
Hired last fall, the consulting firm spent five months compiling the report. Click here to read the full report of recommendations for local workforce growth.
As several large-scale construction projects near completion in the city, “my administration continues to work to make sure those [job] opportunities are dispersed throughout the city,” Mayor Harp said. City officials are “urging local employers to add to their workforces,” and training “hundreds of eager job seekers.”
Three main barriers exist that prevent people from being employed in New Haven, said Harp. First, many don’t have access to efficient public transportation, a physical barrier to getting to a job. Second, many have criminal records. And third, there’s a “gap between the education and the job skill of those looking for work,” with many lacking basic computer skills or even the ability “to complete the job applications.”
The city is addressing the first two barriers, by working with the state to re-route bus lines and by revamping the prison re-entry program Project Fresh Start, Harp said.
To address the third barrier, Padilla (pictured) said, the city should launch a “Skill-Up New Haven” campaign, with the goal of getting 600 adults each year to high-school-level literacy and math proficiency.
In the next five years, New Haven should aim for 5 percent more adults — 2,500 people citywide — reading, writing and doing math at least at an 11th-grade level, he said. And the employment rate should increase among New Haven residents by 8 percent, or 4,200 people, by 2020.
“Today’s jobs require so much more” than a basic high school education, Harp said. She said the city is seeking “commitments from local employers” to help meet those numeric benchmarks.
The city should also create a “workforce intermediary” to work with organizations to improve the quality of their employment programs and better coordinate with employers, Padilla said.
Incoming local company Jordan’s Furniture is collaborating on a “pre-training program” with the city, to prepare local people for specific positions before the store opens at 40 Sargent Drive, Harp said.
Right now, a discrepancy exists between “high school or less jobs,” which normally don’t pay a living wage, and “high school or more jobs,” which lead to financial stability if held for long enough, Padilla said. Just three months of technical training at institutions like Gateway Community College can increase individuals’ earnings by several thousand dollars, he said.
Nothing in the report specifically targets black and Latino communities, whose members have consistently asked for more minority recruitment for local jobs. When asked, Harp said the city is targeting groups with large numbers of black and Latino people, including those who have just returned from prison or those with poor literacy skills.
“The fact that the employment rate is so low in those communities means those are the people we’re targeting,” she said.