Elyria Works job program is a winner

A new pilot program called Elyria Works Now, which is designed to help put unemployed Elyria residents to work in goodpaying manufacturing jobs, will benefit the community, and hopefully, for a long time.

Elyria Works Now, a collaboration of Elyria city government, education, nonprofit, for-profit and faith-based community leaders, convened with local industry to work on solving the problem of Elyria residents who can’t find jobs and companies that can’t find workers.

This effort, which was unveiled Sept. 18, seems to be a solid foundation to build on.

The city of Elyria has more than 80 manufacturing companies inside its boundaries.

Several of those manufacturers have entry-level positions they cannot fill, and at the same time, some Elyria residents need jobs.

Elyria Mayor Holly C. Brinda, who is leading this effort of putting Elyrians who want jobs to work, released a survey that 16 of 18 companies in the study reported having difficulty filling both entry-level and more skilled positions.

Elyria Works Now, which is supported by community organizations, aims to reduce the city’s 22.2 percent poverty rate, build a pipeline of entrylevel workers for under-served target industries beginning with manufacturing and help more Elyria residents leverage living wage jobs with benefits.

Brinda said Elyria Works Now will accomplish this by providing participants with free connectivity, support, education, training and access to employers that have committed to hiring goals.

There also will be familyfriendly policies working with community partners to remove barriers to employment and wrap-around services responding to participants and their Individualized Career Plans provided.

The Elyria Works Now collaboration includes partners that have agreed to provide services, supports and career information sites: The city of Elyria Mayor’s Office, Elyria Community Improvement Corporation, Lorain County Urban League, Elyria City Schools, Lorain County Joint Vocational School, Lorain County Community College, Elyria Public Library System, Elyria Chapter of the NAACP, Elyria Arts Council, St. Mary Church, Invest Elyria, Lorain County Chamber of Commerce and Express Employment Professionals.

But the initial goal of this pilot program is for four companies — Dura-line, Elyria Foundry, Multilink and United Initiators — to hire at least 100 Elyrians by the end of 2018.

If the program is successful, the city and its partners hope to expand the initiative to more manufacturers, and eventually address needs of other target industries, such as health care and transportation, that are seeing workforce shortages.

With good reason, Brinda said there are several reasons for the city and other key institutions to be concerned about addressing challenges of poverty and helping the manufacturing community fill jobs.

The mayor said the 22.2 percent poverty rate, labor shortages in manufacturing and some other sectors negatively affect the 53,249 Elyria residents and community organizations because the income levels of an estimated 4,925 households are not producing the income taxes necessary to adequately fund basic city services.

What really caught the attention of the city is that if Elyria can get 1,100 more working adults making a living wage, the city will collect an additional $990,000 annually in income taxes, thus better supporting needed city services.

Brinda said if this effort can help break the cycle of poverty for some of the residents, it will have a long-term positive impact on current and future generations in the community.

And as far as the manufacturing companies are concerned, if they can’t find the workers to fill the jobs, Brinda said they lose out on contracts and work and cannot compete.

To access entry-level jobs in these companies, Elyria residents are encouraged to register for Elyria Works Now today and participate in a brief orientation and training.

Participants registered will receive a career coach, an interview and a real edge in the hiring process.

Participants who go through the program and have demonstrated their commitment and proficiency will receive an interview.

So, there must be a commitment from the residents to follow through if they want a job. The jobs are there. And companies really want to fill these open positions.

If the program is successful, it will be expanded to add more companies and businesses.

This is one of the most innovative programs in Northeast Ohio to put people to work.

It’s also a template for other cities to do the same thing to reduce employment in their regions.