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One-Stop jobs center to open in Youngstown
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
YOUNGSTOWN
Oakhill Renaissance Place will become more of the one-stop shop envisioned by Mahoning County commissioners when they bought the building four years ago.
At 2 p.m. Monday, Mahoning County One-Stop will have a formal grand opening for its 3,660-square-foot, full-time satellite office in Oakhill’s basement.
The new office will assist people with job training, job searches and r sum -writing and offer classes for those completing general equivalency diplomas.
“I fought very hard for Oakhill to make it a true one-stop shop,” said Anthony T. Traficanti, chairman of the commissioners.
“It makes it more accessible for those looking for employment in the inner city,” he said of the Mahoning-Columbiana Training Association.
The agreement between MCTA, which is One-Stop’s sponsor, and the county’s Department of Job and Family Services, which establishes the new One Stop office at Oakhill, is on the county commissioners’ meeting agenda for their approval at 10 a.m. today.
The newly remodeled rent-free office is a partnership between MCTA and JFS and will be staffed by both MCTA and JFS employees, said Judee Genetin, acting JFS director.
The office, located under the JFS income maintenance department waiting room, is barrier-free and accessible by elevator from Door D.
One-stop’s satellite office will occupy space that is no longer needed for Child Support Enforcement Agency record storage now that the agency has converted from paper records to computer-image records, Genetin said.
Both JFS’ income-maintenance office and CSEA send clients to One Stop to seek employment, Genetin said.
“It’s a win for everyone,” she said. One Stop will retain all its other offices after the satellite is opened, she added.
“We’re coming to Oakhill because we’re bringing work-force investment services to those most in need,” said Bert Cene, MCTA executive director.
The new location will be convenient for city residents, who will no longer need to drive or take a bus or taxi to the One-Stop office at Boardman Plaza, Cene said.
Oakhill is the former Forum Health Southside Medical Center. Besides JFS, it houses the county coroner’s office and Veterans’ Service Commission, the city health department and the Mahoning-Youngstown Community Action Partnership.
The commissioners plan to move other county offices from the South Side Annex on Market Street to Oakhill and close the annex.