An initiative by the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber to overcome employment barriers has received financial support from the PNC Foundation in the form of a workforce development grant totaling $50,000.
The project is part of the Regional Chamber’s effort to expand the local workforce in partnership with Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries.
Statistics indicate that overall workforce participation rates in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys average 57%, lagging comparable rates for the state and nation, which average 63%. The Regional Chamber and Goodwill Industries worked together to develop a community needs assessment identifying why this number is comparatively low, including identifying local barriers that might keep residents out of the workforce.
Through a series of surveys, interviews and focus groups conducted this summer with Mahoning Valley employers, hiring experts, workforce members and community leaders, top barriers to local employment were identified as transportation, childcare, mental health and substance abuse issues and life skills/soft skills.
“At PNC, we believe that being part of the community means investing in its future and its economic vitality,” said Ted Schmidt, PNC regional president for Youngstown. “That’s why working to strengthen and serve our communities is at the heart of our business model. By addressing our relatively low workforce participation rate, this program will ultimately benefit local businesses and the entire community.”
The Regional Chamber and Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries will create teams of community and government leaders, employers and others in a collaborative call-to-action to remove these barriers through communications, training and long-term planning efforts. Funding from the PNC Foundation will support this important grassroots effort.
Guy Coviello, Regional Chamber president and CEO, said about 12,000 job openings exist in the Mahoning Valley.
“If we were able to get even half of the unemployed off of the sidelines and into those open positions, we would lift a huge strain from local employers,” Coviello said. “PNC’s funding will go a long way in assisting us in those efforts and helping to grow the local economy.”