WARREN, Ohio (WKBN) – Over the next decade, the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber expects anywhere up to 40,000 new jobs to be created throughout the Mahoning Valley. This is why, in Warren, a new job training program was announced aimed at getting people employed in manufacturing.
The Trumbull County Action Program on Warren’s southwest side hosted the announcement Monday afternoon of the Work Advance Trumbull County Pilot Program. The program will be run out of the former school where the Trumbull Community Action Program (TCAP) is based.
“That is geared towards capitalizing and responding to the growing economic opportunities coming to this city, to this region,” said Warren Councilman Todd Johnson.
Eight organizations are playing a part in the program, but it’s the Mahoning Valley Manufacturers Coalition — formed to promote manufacturing careers — that especially stands to gain from its success.
“Over the last 12 years, we have really worked to really put manufacturers back in the driver’s seat of being those really great careers that are obtainable to everyone,” said Alex Hertzer with the Mahoning Valley Manufacturers Coalition.
The program begins on Nov. 27 with the first in a series of three-week classes of eight to 10 people, for which they’ll be paid $750. They’ll get a math refresher course, along with manufacturing technical training and job readiness training.
Participants must be at least 18, but there’s no residency requirement. Anyone, anywhere can take part. Once employed, they’ll be coached for a year.
“That’s why Job and Family Services being a partner is crucial because as barriers come up, you have somebody right there that’s able to walk you through and get you through, to get you over the hump,” said Lea Dotson with Warren Forward.
“If you look at a generation like myself, I’m 41,” Johnson said.
Johnson is a pastor, a councilman and now a leader of a new group called Warren Forward, which is made up of people his age who work for the betterment of Warren.
“Individuals who are around my age, or maybe 10 years younger, have never known this new reality of abundant jobs. So most of them are not prepared. They don’t have the mindset or the skills to take that abundance of jobs,” Johnson said.
The money for the program is coming from the U.S. Economic Development Administration and a program called the Good Jobs Challenge. The Mahoning Valley Manufacturers Coalition was awarded around $1 million last year to support the Warren-based program.
