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Toledo is working better than ever today!
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Businesses are moving back into downtown, ten thousand jobs
created in just 2.5 years!
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Keep us on a Non-Stop path to focus intensely on our
neighborhoods for four more years!
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We are coming to you with world class job training
opportunities for everyone!
Working Sooner Innovating and Adapting Around our Local
Student and Adult Talent Populations
In my brief administration
thus far we built formidable foundational programs in adult
job training, youth talent recognition/retention and
institutional partnerships. We started early job
certification programs that get people working sooner in
good paying jobs. The new programs we support in
partnership with our school systems are diversifying our
local economy for today and tomorrow’s jobs in the kinds of
industries that pay well and demand long term skill
development.
We just announced, with
TPS, a program where seniors can graduate from high school
and from Owens Community college with a certificate in
Emergency Medical Training (EMT). We are expanding this
concept to a wide array of learning competencies between TPS
and the City. For example, today auto mechanic students are
offered internships, and engage in cooperative learning
experiences, by working right alongside our city employees
in a real world environment.
Stop the Brain Drain Create Ready Made Opportunities
Of paramount importance to
Toledo is the need to stop the brain drain out of the City
and the region. We want to nurture the talents of our Toledo
children, certify skills that are being demanded locally and
graduate students in diverse industries that reflect a well
thought through, up to date, local economic development
strategy. When our graduates remain here in Toledo and
support the industries we bet on to grow and prosper, our
prosperity for those industries and the workers and the City
and region is assured.
University of Toledo /TPS Early Jobs Training, Program
Priorities and Targeting
Since becoming mayor, I
have worked with the University of Toledo and Toledo Public
Schools to provide additional on the job training
opportunities. Both of these institutional programs provide
internships where students can apply their classroom
education to real work experiences. “Toledo Talent Keeps
Toledo Great” is the partnership with the University of
Toledo where any student who desires to apply their
classroom learning in a real work environment can find
internships and other placement opportunities with the City
of Toledo
Additionally, the City of
Toledo is providing advanced training for our City employees
so that they can improve job performance, efficiency and job
satisfaction.
Leave No Adult Citizen Behind Who Wants to Work Long Term
Our jobs revival and the
building renaissance downtown are not completely affecting
Toledo’s entire population evenly. In order to have all
neighborhoods and sectors of society in Toledo, especially
disadvantaged Toledoans, to become part of the resurgence;
we must also focus on the most basic and the most desirable
job training and talent development. Too many times, I talk
to people who are looking for work and to businesses that
are looking for people to work. Yet somehow, they are not
matching up. So what is missing? My administration will
continue to work to advance the ball toward full employment,
talent retention and skill development. I believe that
there are three key principles we are advancing today;
1.
Support intensive comprehensive demand-driven training
methods;
2.
Assess and prepare learners at various stages of training
from early education to continuing adult training; and
3.
Coordinate the workforce developments process centrally.
Summary
There is No Substitute for Skill and Talent and Investment
in Training for Re-tooling Toward the Skills in Demand
Toledo’s biggest challenge
is to recognize, cultivate and invest in talented local
youth, retrain adults and facilitate the basic employment
and retooling needs of our core employers. Also, we must
diversify, rejuvenate and innovate in order to meet our
changing 21st century job needs. Aviation,
Advanced Manufacturing, Bioscience and Water Quality are
just a few examples where we are looking to help our city to
match facilitate industry growth and local economic
diversification.
In order to Train Toledo I
believe that we must:
1.
Improve and retain local talent at every level: grade
school, high school, college , and technical/professional
2.
Train unemployed and underemployed youth and adults
intensely;
3.
Diversify our economy by leveraging local, private and
public partnerships, the non-profit sector and working
closer with our local education institutions - nurture our
unique local assets and create defensible and long term
diversification opportunities.
Don’t Stop Our Progress Let’s Remain on a Non-Stop Path to
Improving Neighborhoods and Job Opportunities
There are always a
precious few applicants whose skills match completely (100%)
to open job opportunities. Citizens must position
themselves to retool and seek the kinds of skills and
experiences company’s treasure. Our City is working
overtime to help citizens close the skills gap and to reduce
the dreaded drip, drip, drip of the historical annual
”brain drain” of our talented Toledo graduates who leave
the City for lack of opportunity.
We approach our mission to succeed in fixing Toledo’s job
growth and training needs in a step-wise generational way,
proving out what will work then expanding our capacity
strategically.
Believe it -- Toledo is
working -- better than ever. Vote for Paula Hicks-Hudson. We
are coming to you!
Please keep us on our non-stop path towards prosperity,
neighborhood rejuvenation and full employment!
We can’t afford to reverse course, start over or to travel
down a new road -- the wrong way with Wade!
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