Menino plans to add job training programs
The City of Boston said yesterday that it will rely on $1 million in linkage funds to finance more job training programs for low- and middle-income men, and weekend training for workers -- men and women -- seeking to escape low-wage, dead-end jobs.
"This is about giving people the opportunity to train for jobs with better pay and health benefits," Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, said at a press conference at Boston Medical Center.
The new effort, "Steps to Employment," will be financed through the Neighborhood Jobs Trust, which is funded by real estate developers who have agreed to contribute to the fund when building big projects in the city. The funding is expected to provide jobs for about 250.
News of the latest round of funding came several minutes after the city released a report concerning the progress of a $3 million training program called First Step that was also funded with linkage dollars. Courses were offered in healthcare, construction trades, culinary arts, hospitality, and clerical work.
In all, 781 participants between the ages of 18 and 67 have been trained over the last three years. Of those, 64 percent have been placed in jobs and 66 percent of the new jobs have full medical benefits. The average wage was $11.08 per hour. Workers who landed jobs in the building trades are earning an average of $13.31; those who found work in the culinary arts earn between $9.39 and $9.99 per hour, the report said.
Of the training participants, 68 percent had a high school diploma or general equivalency diploma, 6 percent had dropped out of high school, 15 percent had some postsecondary education, and 8 percent had college degrees, many of them from foreign universities.
"Fifty-one percent of all participants were nonnative English speakers," the study reported. "Twelve percent were receiving welfare benefits and 12 percent were using food stamps; 30 percent were employed in low-wage or part-time jobs when they entered training."
The training programs funded by linkage dollars are an attempt to fill a portion of the funding gap created by a shortfall in federal training dollars, said Dan Singleton, deputy director for adult services for the city.
In 2002, for example, the city received $1.5 million from the federal government to fund 390 training slots. In 2003 it received $1.4 million for 365 slots. This year the city received $1.3 million for 330 slots.
Singleton said the city will receive $1.8 million in federal funding in 2005 for 460 training slots. Government funding is tied to the state's jobless rate, and factors such as the number of disadvantaged residents. The state's unemployment rate stood at 4.6 percent in October, according to the Department of Labor.
Diane E. Lewis can be reached at dlewis@globe.com.
