About 30 people gathered Thursday at a community center in Ansonia for the grand opening of a new job center aimed at helping the unemployed and “underemployed” get work.
Nowhere is the need greater.
Unemployment here hovers at around 10 percent. Poverty rates are just as high.
Those fortunate enough to have jobs are feeling a squeeze nonetheless — manufacturing jobs deserted the area decades ago, and the retail and service-based opportunities that replaced them don’t offer the same level of wage growth or benefits.
The fact was not lost on Valley Chamber of Commerce President Bill Purcell, who spoke during Thursday’s opening and noted the job center’s location on Fourth Street, in the shadow of the empty Ansonia Copper and Brass Company property due for demolition soon.
Fortunately, Purcell said, in The WorkPlace’s programs, Valley residents can benefit from what’s become “a national model.”
But officials from The WorkPlace, a Bridgeport-based nonprofit, hope their new “American Job Center” in the Harry Ford Community Center on Fourth Street will attract not only job-seekers, but other community groups as well.
Click here to learn more about The WorkPlace.
The office offers job seekers free access to computer classes, job skill workshops, personal counseling, skill testing, just to name a few services.
The WorkPlace also operates a satellite office on Elizabeth Street in Derby.
And Tom Long, the group’s vice president of communications and development, pointed out TEAM Inc. operates an Early Education Center on the floor below the new job center, offering people with children a convenient way to gain job skills.
Long said the WorkPlace also hopes to host groups like Literacy Volunteers and Valley Adult Education in the space.
And Mayor David Cassetti announced during a grand opening ceremony Wednesday that the building will also host a “veterans affairs” office to help military veterans locate benefits and work.
“We’re really hoping this is a center,” Long said.
The office — at 4 Fourth St. — will be open Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
In April Aldermen unanimously approved the city leasing the space to The WorkPlace for four years at $600 per month.
Former TEAM President Richard Knoll credited Jacqueline Blount and Michelle Gandy, who sit on the Board of Directors for Ansonia Community Action, with drawing attention to the space’s availability.
Joseph Carbone, president & CEO of The WorkPlace, thanked the city for making the space available to his organization.
“Service centers like this are really the doorway to the American work force system,” Carbone said, thanking city officials for allowing The WorkPlace to rent the 2,500-square-foot space.
State Sen. Joseph Crisco said putting people back to work “isn’t a Democratic or Republican issue.”
“It’s an issue we talk about but really don’t dwell upon enough,” Crisco said. “This is how we make life better for people. Those unfortunate individuals who have been out of work know the pain and suffering that one goes through. It seems hopeless.”
Sharon Closius, president of the Valley Community Foundation, said that Valley residents are resilient, if given the chance to be.
“The people in the Valley are just amazing. They have the most incredible heart,” she said. “If they’re given the opportunity, they’re going to seize it and they’re going to be able to prosper.”
To that end, during Wednesday’s ceremony Closius presented Carbone with a $15,000 check for scholarships for clients.
