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SCHENECTADY
Group wants jobs for minority residents ARISE working with city on program
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

    A coalition of religious and neighborhood groups is joining forces with the city to create jobs for residents who have criminal backgrounds, limited education and no money for transportation or child care.
    The program, which is still in the conceptual stage, would employ “hard-to-place” minority residents on a city-funded construction project, where they would learn on the job. No project has been picked yet, but organizers are leaning toward using the $14 million Erie Boulevard reconstruction, which is to start next year.
    The program was proposed by ARISE, which represents a group of churches and neighborhood organizations throughout the state and has recently been active in Schenectady. Members brought up the idea on Monday, received immediate support, and met with city officials Tuesday to begin working out the details.
    Mayor Brian U. Stratton said he’s eager to try it.
    “We haven’t had as much success as we would like to, getting minorities into the building trades, particularly from our city,” he said.
    ARISE member Andreas Kriefall said his agency’s program addresses the reasons why impoverished inner-city workers haven’t been able to break into the construction trade.
    “If you have any kind of drug problems, if you don’t have a car or your car breaks down, childcare … one of the reasons it’s difficult to find apprentices for good-paying construction jobs is because those challenges are not addressed,” Kriefall said.
    In the ARISE program, funding would be set aside to help the workers get to the job site, provide childcare and offer other support. All contractors working on the project would be required to choose among those workers for a percentage of their total workforce — possibly as much as 20 percent.
    The work would be temporary, lasting only as long as the project. But Stratton said the job would qualify, under construction union rules, as a pre-apprenticeship that could help the worker meet the requirements to start a union apprenticeship.
    Among other needs, the job could provide the worker with enough money to buy a car — if he or she saved a portion of each week’s paycheck. Union apprentices are required to have a car because many construction sites are not on the bus line.
    Officials at city job agencies have long complained that such rules put their clients in a catch-22: they can’t afford the tools and equipment they need to do their jobs until they get a job.
    Some have estimated that workers would need less than a month at a construction job to afford the tools needed for full-time employment, but said their clients had no way of getting that work because they didn’t already have the equipment.
    Kriefall said the ARISE program could solve that dilemma.
SUCCESS CITED
    The program appears to have a solid track record. Kriefall said it worked in other cities, most recently Albany, where the school district was able to negotiate and enforce ambitious minority employment goals on its massive elementary schools construction project.
    Albany schools spokesman Ron Lesko said the program was a success. “We’ve been pleased with the results.”
    Stratton is enthusiastic, although he noted that some important details have yet to be determined, including the cost of providing transportation, daycare and other services. But, he said, he would be willing to use Community Development Block Grant money to support the program if necessary.
    “I’m in favor of the concept — it’s very intriguing to me,” he said. “This is something we would find useful. I think it’s something worthwhile.”
    ARISE has also offered to help pay for the program, Stratton said.
    The nonprofit, whose name stands for A Regional Initiative Supporting Empowerment, collects donations and applies for grants from foundations. It also receives regular dues from all churches that have joined the agency.
    Its mission statement emphasizes the need for real change rather than just support.
    “Rather than running soup kitchens or homeless shelters, we are empowering the poor and people of conscience to connect with their governments to get training, jobs, housing, quality education, and equal justice,” the statement reads.
    ARISE currently has 35 religious and neighborhood organizations in Albany, Rensselaer, and Schenectady counties, with a total membership there of more than 12,000 people.

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The work would be temporary, lasting only as long as the project. But Stratton said the job would qualify, under construction union rules, as a pre-apprenticeship that could help the worker meet the requirements to start a union apprenticeship.

So who are the 'bosses'.........

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The work would be temporary, lasting only as long as the project. But Stratton said the job would qualify, under construction union rules, as a pre-apprenticeship that could help the worker meet the requirements to start a union apprenticeship.

Gee I happen to know a ton of people who joined unions right out of high school. No PRE-TRAINING! Come on, let's not make the unions appear to be more important and powerful than they already think they are. It's a JOB, for God's sake. And I thought that was what BOCES/vocational education was for. How many PRE-taxpaid 'anythings' do we need?

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SCHENECTADY
ARISE to discuss minority hiring push
BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Michael Goot at 395-3105 or mgoot@dailygazette.net.

    A coalition of community groups looking to get more minorities involved in building projects will hold its first formal meeting to discuss the initiative on Tuesday.
    ARISE, which stands for A Regional Initiative Supporting Empowerment, is holding a meeting at 7:30 p.m. at Sacred Heart-St. Columba to talk about the idea of community benefit agreements. The public is welcome.
    Donna Jones, a member of ARISE coordinating the meeting, said these agreements are created between developers and communities when they undertake major redevelopment projects to ensure a certain percentage of jobs are allotted to minorities, women and the disabled and that the community derives a public benefit from the project.
    These groups want to see a more diverse workforce and opportunities for job training.
    “We really try to make a dent in the disparity that’s going on in Schenectady,” she said.
    ARISE represents a group of 35 religious and neighborhood organizations in Albany, Rensselaer, and Schenectady counties. It has been working to find jobs for “hard-to-place” minority residents with criminal backgrounds, limited education and no money for transportation or child care.
    ARISE would help provide funding for transportation, child care and other costs. The hope is the workers could earn enough money to buy tools and continue progressing in the building trade.
    The organization has been meeting with representatives from the Workforce Development Institute and the Capital District Labor Federation, as well as city and county officials, who Jones described as enthusiastic.
    Jones said it is too early to start talking about specific projects where minorities could be hired. However, she mentioned two as potential options — efforts to renovate the former TrustCo building to serve as a new county office building and construction of a $20.4 million city Public Works building on Foster Avenue.
    Jones said Tuesday’s meeting is the first opportunity to bring everybody to the table. The plan is for the meetings to continue monthly until they decide which projects would be best to target.

who is this here group? Is this like the moral majority or Christian coalittion?

it's more like the "democratic (lack of) leadership"