American Job Center in New Haven celebrates new offices

A federally funded job services agency celebrated the grand opening Wednesday of new offices in New Haven that leaders say will increase access for individuals both new and returning to the workforce.

The nonprofit Workforce Alliance, part of a national network of American Job Centers , offers free career guidance and job placement services, short-term skills training in fields like manufacturing and health care, and other programs. It also works closely with the region’s employers, large and small, who have a range of hiring needs.

The new offices “will allow us to provide services more effectively and in a nicer environment,” said Bill Villano, chief executive of the Workforce Alliance. “You want it to be welcoming. … When people are out of work, you want to try to not make the process traumatic.”

Annually, the Workforce Alliance serves upwards of 12,000 people in the New Haven area, through career fairs, training and in-person assistance. Roughly one-third of its $16 million annual budget comes from the federal government through the Workforce Investment and Innovation Act. Another third comes from the state of Connecticut, and the rest is sourced from philanthropic grants, donations and the like.

Villano said Connecticut faces economic challenges because its workforce is aging, population growth is stagnant and many young people leave the state for higher education. As of June, employers in the state have 90,000 open jobs they're trying to fill.

“Programs like this are important because we have to be able to train who's here,” he said. As demands change for the type of skills workers need, training is critical to keep the state competitive, he said.

The Workforce Alliance is one of a half-dozen American Job Centers in Connecticut. There are about a dozen other “affiliate” locations, which offer a narrower range of services.

Nationwide, there are about 2,300 American Job Centers that offer free employment assistance, funded through the 2014 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. Earlier this year, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to reauthorize WIOA ; the U.S. Senate is now working on its version of the legislation.

"The employer community is desperate to get this thing better aligned with where the needs are," Rep. Joe Courtney,  D-2nd District, said in an interview following the ribbon-cutting. He and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, were both on hand for Wednesday's celebration.

DeLauro and Courtney said they'd clashed with some House Republicans who wanted to cut funding for certain workforce training programs.

"People need to understand what's at risk ... the consequences of where the majority wants to go and what that would mean for themselves and for their families," DeLauro said.

"One of the biggest problems we face today, people live paycheck to paycheck. They're struggling because their wages haven't gone up," DeLauro said. "What we're trying to do is to upskill, get people the skills that they need so that they have good paying jobs. That means they pay taxes, they take care of their families, they're no longer dependent on the federal government."

American Job Centers are also part of a network of service agencies that connect clients with “wraparound services” such as substance abuse support, child care and programs for formerly incarcerated individuals reentering the workforce.

Workforce Alliance leaders anticipate that its new location, housed in the same building as the local offices of the state Department of Social Services, will ease the coordination of those services.

In brief remarks at the ribbon-cutting, North Haven First Selectman Michael Freda recalled how the agency had helped his town bounce back from the closure of Marlin Firearms Co. in 2011. Workforce Alliance assisted staff who'd lost their jobs in finding new opportunities at the time, Freda recalled. "That was a great resource, and it really helped people turn an emotion of despair to hope, which is very important in anybody's life."

Freda also highlighted the agency's work developing specialized equipment training for a European manufacturer and hosting job fairs and interviews for a new Amazon facility in town.

"When we think about Workforce Alliance, sometimes I think they don't get the credit they deserve for all they do," Freda said.

The Workforce Alliance's New Haven office is now located at 370 James Street, Suite 404, and can be reached by calling (203) 867-4030. Contact information for all of Connecticut's American Job Center locations can be found here .