POVERTY IN NIAGARA: Falls leaders see rays of hope for job situation By Justin Sondel justin.sondel@niagara-gazette Niagara Gazette March 23, 2014 Niagara Gazette — City Council Chairman Charles Walker sees the lack of opportunity in his city every day. Walker, who lives in one of the citys poorer neighborhoods, works as a community outreach director at Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, a facility that prides itself on its service to the poor. Walker lost his factory job when Gibraltar Steel shuttered its doors in Buffalo. He was lucky to get his job at the hospital shortly after. Many of his neighbors, who also lost good paying jobs as factories around region closed over the decades, were not so lucky. Some of the people were able to find work, but for a lot less pay, Walker said on a recent visit to his neighborhood. Some of them have two jobs, full-time and part-time to make up for their full-time wages. Walker has lived in the Falls his entire life and experienced the boom days of the city first hand. His father supported their family with factory work and retired with a pension from Hooker Chemical. While Walker has witnessed the economic decline of the city and region he said he is beginning to see signs of promise — the opening of the Norampac and Greenpac paper mills, new hotel development — that the tide may be turning in the Falls. Here and there a few jobs have started to spring up and people are beginning to feel like, you know, things are getting ready to turn around, he said. But are they ready for it? While opportunities have been popping up in the city, explains Mayor Paul Dyster, the people who live here often do not have the skills to work the more desirable jobs. Its a catch-22, he said. Gov. Andrew Cuomos administration, with its push to rethink job training as part of the Regional Economic Development Councils overarching plan, is looking to eliminate the skills gap between job seekers and employers and Dyster said he is hoping city residents will be able to take advantage of those efforts. We are totally changing the way that education relates to employment, he said. In addition, Cuomo has put an emphasis on developing tourism in Niagara Falls with the Niagara Falls Downtown Challenge, a program that will see $40 million in incentives offered up to developers for attraction-based projects over the next five years. That, along with an uptick in hotel projects and the building of the Niagara Falls Intermodal Transportation Center, will see more construction and tourism jobs open in the near future. Dyster said that while tourism jobs are often perceived as low-wage and seasonal there are a variety of positions available in what he sees as a key industry for the future of the Falls. And given the gap between the types of skills needed for higher-paying jobs and the skill set of many city residents looking for work it will be important to have a diverse pool of employment opportunities, he added. The tourism industry, we think, has the opportunity to create a variety of jobs that are good first jobs for people where somebody may not have been a regular participant in the workforce in a couple generations in their family, Dyster said. The tourism industry can also offer opportunities for advancement, as attractions and hotels also employ managers, accountants and other higher-level workers, Dyster said. Were trying to make certain that there are ladders up within tourism, Dyster said. Contact reporter Justin Sondel at 282-2311, ext. 2257 niagara-gazette/local/x1387881659/POVERTY-IN-NIAGARA-Falls-leaders-see-rays-of-hope-for-job-situation/?state=taberU
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 04:39:40 +0000