Hire
St. Louis
Last month, we announced an initiative to provide hundreds of
young people with summer jobs. This month we announced another
jobs initiative also designed to reduce poverty and strengthen
families.
Under the banner of Hire St. Louis, we are creating new partnerships
involving City government, employers, labor unions, universities,
the public schools, trade schools, and elected officials to connect
at least 1,000 unemployed and underemployed minority citizens
to training and quality jobs over the next three years.
The American dream starts and ends with a good job. Good jobs
benefit children, stabilize neighborhoods, and improve communities.
Unfortunately, the unemployment rate among young African Americans
is shockingly high.
Under this initiative, we will combine our efforts and work together
to make sure more minority workers can take advantage of the opportunities
that exist.
Good jobs are available. But, education and training are paramount.
There are very few quality jobs that don’t require some measure
of knowledge or skill. The good news is that education and training
are available—usually at no cost or little cost. The bad news
is that many of these opportunities go unused. That’s what we
are going to try to change.
With this new collaboration, we are going to focus on eight sectors:
health care, advanced manufacturing, life sciences, construction,
transportation and warehousing, hospitality, retail trade and
information technology.
We will connect potential workers with training and with employers
at three career fairs each year to be held at the convention center.
Our first was held on April 24 and focused on health care. At
the health care career fair, people were able to learn about good
careers in health care, sign up for training or education, and
meet prospective employers. Because many of the training programs
or higher educational opportunities require a high school diploma,
we also included assistance with getting a GED.
A number of hospitals and health care providers participated,
including BJC, SSM, St. Anthony’s and others. There were opportunities
in nursing, certified nursing assistants, billing clerks and technical
jobs.
We will hold the second job fair involving some of the other
sectors early this summer, and the third career fair with the
rest of the sectors later in the year.
Another example of new partnerships and collaboration is the
delivery of audio/visual services at the convention center. The
Convention and Visitors Commission, three labor unions that represent
AV workers, the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County have agreed
to a new partnership to recruit and train minority workers for
AV jobs at the convention center. While the number of jobs involved
is fairly small, it is a significant step forward.
These new partnerships are being created throughout the City
and throughout the region. Some are already working. Pinnacle
Casinos held a joint career fair with the City of St. Louis and
the St. Louis Community College last year. As a result, more than
700 African Americans got jobs at Lumière Place.
