Aldermen, business and community leaders, academic partners to offer guidance on job banking, skills training and work readiness strategies for Somerville residents

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone announced today that he had established a new advisory group to assist the city in the development and implementation of programs designed to encourage and support efforts by area employers to hire local residents.  To be known as the Somerville Jobs Advisory Committee (SJAC), the eleven-member panel will begin meeting later this month.  The group will examine best practices for matching local job candidates to local training and hiring opportunities as a service for both residents and employers.

“This is an ideal time to develop a jobs strategy based on the wealth of resources and knowledge available on this topic – and based on the input of local business and community leaders as well as the vocational and post secondary academic experts already working to provide job skills and training to Somerville residents,” said Mayor Curtatone.  “The opportunity – and the need – for a Jobs Advisory Committee flows naturally from a coming wave of business development across the City, combined with the shared vision of our economic future offered by the City’s Comprehensive Plan and the long-term analysis underway through the Future Economies Commission.”  The Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development Planning (OSPCD) submitted the draft SomerVision Comprehensive Plan to the Board of Aldermen on February 23rd; Mayor Curtatone convened Future Economies Commission in October, 2011.

SJAC membership includes:
• Alderman at Large Bruce Desmond (Chairman)
• Alderman at Large Jack Connolly
• Ronald Bonney, Jr., President/CEO, Bonney Automotive; Chair, Somerville Chamber of  Commerce
• Dr. Susan Crandall, PhD., President, Workforce Results
• Leo DiSimone, Director of Career and Technical Education, Somerville High School
• Sam Millen, President/CEO, Cue Acoustics
• Janice Philpot, , Director, Somerville Center for Adult Learning Experiences (SCALE)
• Ray Zonghetti, Restaurant Consultant

Curtatone indicated he would complete the panel by appointing one additional member from each of three relevant city offices: the Mayor’s Office; SomerStat; and OSPCD.

“On the whole, Somerville’s job picture looks remarkably strong, especially when compared to the rest of the state, and the nation as a whole,” said Alderman at Large Bruce Desmond, who will chair the new advisory group.  “With an unemployment rate of only 4.5 percent, we’re reaping the benefits of a well-educated local workforce.  But there are still well-qualified, highly motivated workers who are trying without success to find jobs.  Plus, the vast majority of Somerville residents who are working currently have jobs outside the city.  That’s not an ideal situation.  We want to attract new businesses that will increase our commercial tax base and we want to offer those employers a convenient way to find local workers who match their needs.”

“The Board of Aldermen has been focused on this issue for months, and we’re pleased to see the Mayor convene a high-profile advisory body,” said Ward 2 Alderman Maryann Heuston, who had, with Desmond, co-sponsored a local hiring ordinance in June, 2011.  “We’re open to creative approaches to boosting local jobs for local residents. The one thing we can’t afford is simply to ignore this challenge or hope that it will take care of itself.  We need more employer engagement and more active support for job-seekers.  This committee should help achieve those goals,” Heuston said.

“The last thing Somerville should be doing is imposing hiring quotas or artificial requirements on local employers.  If you go down that road, you discourage new businesses from locating here or local businesses from expanding,” said Curtatone.  “But there’s no reason why you can’t develop a jobs program that makes life easier and better for local business as well as for local workers.  In Somerville and the immediate area, we have many excellent resources for expertise in advising job trainees and applicants on becoming truly employment ready.  We want them to advise us on what skills are needed, and how workers can obtain them in a cost-effective way.”

SJAC will report back to the Mayor by no later than this coming fall with specific recommendations on how to leverage local resources to match local workforce training and readiness efforts to local recruiting needs.  The recommendations will serve as the basis for a pilot jobs program funded by $200,000 in community betterment funds in the city’s FY2013 budget.

“One of our city’s best selling points is that we have an outstanding workforce.  By fine-tuning worker skill-sets to employer needs, and by introducing employers to pre-screened job candidates, we believe that we can help both groups while building a stronger local economy that’s sustainable in the long term,” Curtatone said.

(press release from the City of Somerville)