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Dixon: Youth, ex-cons need a chance
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(Examiner file photo)
Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon wants to develop partnerships with business and government to prepare students for the work force and help ex-convicts gain employment With one of the state’s highest unemployment rates at 7 percent and increasing numbers of working poor, ex-convicts and thousands of youth set to enter the job market, Baltimore City Mayor Sheila Dixon knows that to ensure her constituents are stakeholders in its future, they have to be prepared to enter it. Dixon’s strategy calls for aligning employers with jobseekers and training resources; expanding skill sets of residents; improving transportation options to get employees to jobs; leveraging transit assets for economic development; and offering creative parking solutions. She plans to redevelop the work force without raising taxes by leveraging existing federal and state work force development dollars with private sector investment from the many new businesses relocating to the area. In the next 10 years, Baltimore City expects to see a 50 percent growth in its key industries — finance, biotechnology, health sciences and hospitality. To meet that demand, Dixon plans to develop the work force from the ground up. “Let’s face it, what our youth learn or don’t learn in our schools will help or limit their options when they graduate,” Dixon told The Examiner. “If they aren’t marketable, then they will be left out. We have to create curriculums and schools that will train them to work for a Legg Mason or Morgan Stanley.” To get adult workers ready, Dixon is counting on Deputy Mayors Andrew Frank, neighborhood and economic development, and Salima Siler Marriott, community and human development, to identify businesses to partner with Baltimore on the retraining of the unemployed and underemployed and former offenders. “We want to target those offenders with six-month to one-year sentences and socialize them to enter the workplace,” Marriott said. Dixon has directed her staff to begin reaching out to businesses to identify their needs and see where training programs and other opportunities can be developed. “We will be talking to businesses that are relocating to or remaining in Baltimore to work with them in meeting their employment needs,” Frank said. Dixon plans to increase funding for drug-treatment centers and open a day-worker center, similar to the ones in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. rchappelle@baltimoreexaminer.com |
