One-Stops face funds reduction

May 25, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

More people are back to work in the Mahoning Valley, but for those still looking for work, there will be less federal funding for job- training and placement programs.

The area unemployment rate fell for the third-straight month in April, according to statistics released Tuesday, but the Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana County One-Stops, which last year aided 15,000 Valley residents, stand to lose $4.9 million in federal aid from the expiring 2009 Workforce Investment Act.

The federally funded One-Stops offer job training and placement for citizens and help businesses find properly trained employees.

“It’s great to see the unemployment rate go down, but that doesn’t mean there are less job seekers,” said Bill Turner, administrator at the Trumbull One-Stop.

The One-Stops stand to lose up to $2 million of their combined $8.2 million budgets due to expected cuts of 10 percent to 20 percent when the federal budget becomes official July 1.

Jessica Borza, CEO of the Mahoning and Columbiana locations, said the need to provide services to the unemployed still is great, despite a slight decrease in traffic this year compared with 2010’s numbers, when all three local One-Stop locations saw more than 71,000 visits.

“One of the things that happened the last few years is that people realized they need skills and credentials in order to be competitive in today’s market,” she said. “[Now] we’ll have to prioritize services that can serve the most people and the most in need.”

Turner said that likely could mean less money or time spent on job training, focusing more on getting people back to work in the short-term.

Help for One-Stops could come from U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, a vocal proponent of keeping funding for One-Stops. He has called them the “drivers of our [Ohio’s] economic recovery” and said they “play a vital role for workers and employers.”

Brown’s office documented 134,000 Ohio residents who used One-Stops in 2010, and the senator has pointed to that statistic in his effort to ensure funding for job training and placement.

Expiring stimulus money isn’t the only funding that has disappeared. Summer- employment funds, which Turner said the One-Stops have received for more than 40 years, aren’t available this year.

He said roughly $500,000 was allotted in previous summers to get hundreds of youths age 14 to 21, many from disadvantaged families, into temporary seasonal positions.

“For some of them, it was a good way to chip into the household income,” Turner said. “It’s a nice supplement for the work force.”