The much anticipated “Providence Place Training Initiative” is under way. And Joe Newsome and his colleagues at the South Providence Development Corporation are gearing up to capitalize on a unique opportunity. The nuts and bolts of Providence Place – its workforce — will continue to take shape later this month in the form of training sessions at the New England Institute of Technology, the Genesis Center and the Community College of Rhode Island’s Providence campus.
At those sessions, prospective workers will be trained in food service, retail/customer service and building maintenance.
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According to Newsome, the people who participate in the training will provide a talent pool from which employers will be able to draw skilled workers.
Judy Wills, SPDC’s director of employment services, said the job training program represents a “high quality service” for employers.
“We’re giving them every incentive to become involved with us,” she said.
Ruth Sinton, project coordinator for the “Providence Place Training Initiative,” calls Providence Place and the capital city’s ongoing renaissance a unique opportunity for Rhode Island and the SPDC.
“What’s going on here is a model in its own right,” Sinton said.
What’s going on pleases Joe Newsome. What’s going on is a coalition of businesses, state and federal agencies and community groups unifying job training efforts. The results should bode well for Providence Place, and for the residents of the capital city in which it resides.
Just months ago, Newsome was hearing about a lot of wonderful ideas, but few details as to how they would be financed. He was close to paying a visit to an old stomping ground, the State House. Newsome had read about a state budget surplus and he had some ideas as to where the “extra” money could be spent. But he never had to make that visit.
A former state representative who served in the General Assembly for six years, Newsome is the president and executive director of the SPDC.
The non-profit organization represents a coalition of businesses and agencies interested in improving the economic climate of South Providence. SPDC’s backers include: Fleet Community Development Corporation; Gilbane Building Company; Minority Investment Development Corporation; Rhode Island Human Resource Investment Council; Rhode Island Hospital Foundation; St. Joseph Hospital; The Providence Plan; The Rhode Island Foundation; United Way of Southeastern New England and Women & Infants’ Hospital.
Newsome’s agenda – and that of the SPDC – is simply to train people and get them into the workforce.
In December of 1998, Newsome told the Providence Business News; “Theoretically, it (Providence Place) bodes well. But there aren’t too many up-front agreements. There is nothing in the city’s tax treaty that requires training or preference for Providence residents.”
At the time, there was much talk of training programs and the opportunities Providence Place would provide for the unemployed or displaced workers. But the SPDC, a lead agency in the overall training effort, could put its fingers on about $50,000, a far cry from what Newsome knew he needed to train close to 250 people. But now, nearly a year later, the financing is largely in hand.
Newsome said a Providence Business News article helped. At a meeting at the Providence Marriott in February of this year, just a week after the article outlining Newsome’s plight was published, the state Human Resources Investment Council essentially voted to the find the money needed for the training program.
The ball started rolling.
Besides the SPDC, financing partners for the training program include: the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation; state Department of Human Services; Workforce Partnership of Rhode Island; the Rhode Island Human Resources Investment Council; Providence/Cranston Job Training Partnership and the developers of Providence Place, Commonwealth Development Group.
A pool of roughly $636,000 is in place with reserves for additional training if all goes well. The training program is expected to span a nine-month period, Newsome said.
The classes, which run between 12 and 13 weeks and begin at the end of this month, are open to Rhode Islanders ages 18 and over. Because state and federal money is involved, the programs are not specifically for Providence residents.
The skills being taught are specific. Classes in the building maintenance program will include electrical, carpentry and plumbing, as well as heating, ventilation and air conditioning. The food service curriculum will include training in knife handling and cutting, basic baking techniques and menu development. The retail/customer service classes will include training in image development, customer relations and interpersonal and listening skills.
Newsome is glad he didn’t have to march on the State House and demand more money for job training. It took longer than he would have liked, but all parties involved, said Newsome, have stepped to the plate. The bottom line is that folks who may need it most are going to get job training.
They should be able to parlay that training into jobs at Providence Place, or somewhere else.
I think it is going to work out,” Newsome said.
Sinton is rooting for the likes of Nordstrom and Lord & Taylor and the specialty restaurants to succeed at Providence Place. The impact, she said, will reach the core of the inner city.
“We are completely tied to the growth of Providence,” Sinton said. “If the mall works, we’ll work.”
