Hundreds of the ‘new poor’ were downtown to find a way to recover.

By DON SHILLING

VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR

Life Line To Valley Workers

Video

A Life Line To Valley Workers event was held at the Chevrolet Centre.

YOUNGSTOWN — Being unemployed is new to Tony Rosile. So is going bankrupt and having his car repossessed.

The 49-year-old Hubbard man — and hundreds of others with similar hard-luck stories — came to the Chevrolet Centre looking for a way to get back on their feet.

“I don’t know what to do anymore. I’m just real confused,” said Rosile, who was thrown into a tailspin when he was laid off as a cook by Forum Health Northside Medical Center in 2007.

Rosile took a job as a temporary worker in Hubbard’s cemeteries for part of last year, but the position isn’t available this year.

Lifeline to Valley Workers took place Wednesday to give hope to people like Rosile. The event — part job fair and part link to area social service organizations — was organized by United Auto Workers Local 1112 in Lordstown and the local One-Stop employment agencies.

Jean Malandro, director of social services at the Salvation Army in Youngstown, said Wednesday’s event, and a similar one in February in Warren, are critical to reaching out to what she calls the “new poor.”

“It’s what is needed now. We have a whole new segment of people who really, really need assistance,” she said. “These people have never been out of work before and are afraid to ask for help.”

Too often, laid-off workers wait too long before they seek help, and they lose their house and face financial peril, she said.

Agencies at the event offered advice on mortgage refinancing, credit counseling and legal aid, as well as tips on how to find food and clothing.

Rosile, who worked 20 years at Northside, said he and his wife were forced to declare bankruptcy in January. Last month, his car was repossessed and towed away in the middle of the night.

“Thank God I have a lot of good friends. They lent me the money so I could buy my car back before it was sold,” he said.

Now he needs a job. He isn’t finding anything, so he’s wondering if he should start school to obtain a commercial driver’s license so he can drive a truck.

Jessica Borza, chief operating officer of the One-Stop in Mahoning and Columbiana counties, is advising people to consider going into health care or become trained for a skilled manufacturing job, such as a welder or in industrial maintenance.

“We still having postings in those areas,” she said.

In a down economy, laid-off workers should use the time they have to retrain and increase their skills so they are ready when the economy improves, she said.

Jeff Jornigan, 36, of Howland was happy with his visit to the Chevrolet Centre.

Last month, he was laid off from his job as a conductor at Ohio Central Railroad, a short-line railroad that serves local manufacturers.

He’s concerned about being able to make his house payments, so he was downtown to look into refinancing his mortgage. A representative from a federal housing agency told him he might qualify for assistance from a housing bill passed last month if his mortgage was sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Jornigan was on his way home to find out.

The answers are tougher for Andre Hardy, 50, of Youngstown.

Last June, he lost his job as an extrusion press operator at Golden Aluminum in Warren when the plant closed. In November, he was laid off from a job as a laborer at United Steel Services in Brookfield.

He brought a folder full of resumes to the Chevrolet Centre but was disappointed he didn’t find many booths that were taking them. He has four daughters and five grandsons that he’d like to stay close to, but the job prospects locally are bleak.

“I’m trying to stay in the Valley, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen,” Hardy said.