Stephen Tucker, formerly the assistant executive director at the Partners for a Competitive Workforce in Cincinnati, has made great strides as the head of the Northland Workforce Training Center on Buffalo’s East Side.
The center, which inhabits a former industrial building, was developed to address a specific problem: a lack of skilled workers trained in advanced manufacturing. Although the region lost jobs before and during the Great Recession, Western New York actually gained a couple thousand jobs that were high tech and required additional training.
The alliance running the center partnered with nearby SUNY schools, Alfred State College, and Erie Community College to teach the training programs. Students can graduate through shorter certificate programs or with an associate degree in two years.
“It’ll be transformative,” says Tucker. “It’s reaching people who sometimes feel like they were left out.”
To read more, visit City & State New York.
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