Erie County youth and local jobs and trades - who is working to connect them?
Op Ed by Mary Bula, Erie Together Executive Director, which appeared in the Erie Times-News on 6/9/2024
As I get older, my conversations with friends seem to be evolving. Lately, we’ve been spending much more time talking about our relationships, how we (as a society) treat each other, and how things have changed since we were kids. Time and again, we find ourselves coming back to the “Golden Rule” that sometimes gets lost in this digital age, where interpersonal interactions regularly occur behind the safety of a screen, and status is often measured by the number of likes or followers one can accumulate.
Finding Joy in Making a Difference
I’m not saying that all our conversations are depressing – far from it. But I can see us becoming more aware of and focused on the value of kindness and the importance of making a positive difference. I’ve also noticed a deep appreciation for the good in our lives and opportunities to give back where we can.
When I think about my personal experience and the opportunities I’ve had to make a difference, I instinctively turn to my career. For the last 12 years, I’ve led Erie Together, a countywide citizen-driven movement to improve our region. Hundreds of people and organizations have been engaged in our work offering their time, talent, expertise, and in some cases, their financial resources to make the Erie region a community of opportunity where everyone can learn, work, and thrive. Everything we’ve done has focused on helping more young people become successful adults, more individuals secure and maintain family-sustaining employment, and more families become self-sufficient. We can point to many successes, and we have lots of exciting things underway.
Through my job, I’ve gotten to work with and learn from people of diverse backgrounds who have collaborated in impressive and unprecedented ways to make our community a better place. It’s in that spirit that I’d like to highlight some of our recent work, express our deep gratitude to all involved, and offer opportunities for others to jump into the Erie Together movement and “give back” where they see fit.
Helping young people succeed in life after high school has long been a top Erie Together priority. Recognizing that career exploration is key to that success, we launched our Career Street and Erie County Career Pathways Alliance initiatives in 2014 and 2016, respectively. Each of these efforts is focused on bringing employers, educators, workforce developers, and community partners together to discuss industry needs and provide high quality career exploration experiences for K-12 youth.
Erie Together projects connect Erie youth with employers
At the 10-year mark, Career Street has engaged over 300 employers and facilitated nearly 52,000 student experiences, helping kids think more strategically about their future, understand the local employment landscape, and prepare to meet employers’ needs. These experiences include classroom speakers, career days, employer tours, job shadows, and more. At the beginning of May, Career Street partnered with Girard School District and Erie County Technical School to host a countywide “Job Fair for Seniors.” This event drew over 120 students from 11 schools and 25 local employers with jobs available now. Within a couple weeks, 11 students had been interviewed, three were hired into on-the-job training, and three received full-time employment offers. And those are just the early results.
Like Career Street, the Erie County Career Pathways Alliance (ECCPA) has also been active and impactful. This group is the longest-standing, most comprehensive cross-sector network developing high quality career exploration opportunities and meaningful career pathways that our community has ever seen. It is a model for others across Pennsylvania and beyond.
Recently, the ECCPA has focused on helping students understand job opportunities in the skilled construction trades with funding we secured from the US Department of Labor in partnership with NWPA Job Connect. Through this project, we have provided training center tours, employer speakers, and related informational resources for over 300 students, engaging nine skilled trades unions along the way. We have produced a series of short, interesting videos and a Skilled Trades Directory, all publicly available through our website. And we know of at least one student who, having learned more about the trades through our work, recently pursued and secured a skilled trades apprenticeship. This is great news, and we look forward to similar successes in the future.
Finally, with community-wide input from hundreds of people, we recently released our “Profile of a Graduate,” defining the knowledge, skills, abilities, and mindsets we collectively believe are important to young people’s success. Schools countywide are integrating this resource into their curricula, and now it’s time for our community to help kids develop these skills outside the classroom. Erie Together is leading that charge.
We are so grateful to everyone involved with Erie Together, and we welcome all to join us in making a difference through these and the other priorities we’re tackling. To learn more, visit www.erietogether.org.
Mary Bula is the executive director of Erie Together. She can be reached at mary@erietogether.org