Lucas County officials are partnering with Toledo Public Schools to reach residents in challenged neighborhoods so they can learn about opportunities in manufacturing jobs.
Information will be offered today at Woodward High School about the county-sponsored WorkReady Manufacturing program to help prepare and get workers eligible for manufacturing positions requiring technology skills. A second session is scheduled for Jan. 25 at Scott High School. Both programs will run from 6 to 8 p.m.
Tina Skeldon Wozniak, a county commissioner, said the collaboration with TPS to host the free programs in the schools is available to anyone interested in future employment opportunities, including nearly 1,000 jobs promised in new factories at the Overland Industrial Park.
“This is a partnership that really makes sense to work with our Toledo Public School system and to work with a young people who are workers of the future,” she said.
The county’s work force readiness staff at OhioMeansJobs, 1301 Monroe St., launched a series of seminars on the WorkReady Manufacturing program beginning in November. So far more than 400 people have attended about 30 sessions, county officials said.
Topics covered in the seminars include basic computer training, employment-survival skills training, and requirements for manufacturing jobs.
The 80-acre Overland Industrial Park in North Toledo is being developed by the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority on what used to be the old Jeep Parkway plant.
Dana Inc. and Detroit Manufacturing Systems committed to creating a minimum of 440 jobs on the site. However, officials have said that number could grow to 600. By the time development of the industrial park is finished, there could be 1,000 or more working at the site.
Dana broke ground last summer on the construction project to build an axle plant, which will supply Jeep Wrangler parts. Company officials anticipate starting production in the middle of next year with plans to hire more than 220 hourly employees.
County commission President Pete Gerken said workers are looking at annual pay that could exceed $70,000 a year.
“If we don’t have people from this neighborhood and from the city of Toledo and Lucas County ready for these jobs, we will lose the opportunity we created by this partnership,” he said. “These jobs ... could change these neighborhoods and change people’s lives.”
TPS Superintendent Romulus Durant praised commissioners and the Port Authority for working with the school district to bring the job readiness program to the schools and neighborhoods.
“This is what collective work truly looks like,” he said.
First Published January 18, 2017, 5:00 a.m.
