FIRST LADY JILL BIDEN CAME TO PITTSBURGH ON NOV. 8, LAUDING THE CITY FOR ITS EFFORTS TO CREATE NEW JOBS IN
TECHNOLOGY AND MANUFACTURING. (PHOTO COURTESY CMU)
First Lady Jill Biden joins panel discussion with Mayor Gainey, others
Look up in the sky, and you won’t see all that smoke from the endless coal production in Pittsburgh anymore. The steel mills, for the most part, are gone, but not to be counted out, Pittsburgh has reinvented itself.
These days, Pittsburgh wants to lead the way in tech and robotics in addition to its medicine and education institutions. And with Pittsburgh now the home to its first African American mayor and workforce organizations that have African American leadership at the top, there’s optimism that the new Pittsburgh will have plenty of jobs for its Black residents.
The mayor, Partner4Work CEO Robert Cherry and Community College of Allegheny County president Dr. Quintin Bullock, all African American men, were part of a panel discussion on Nov. 8 at Carnegie Mellon University’s Mill 19, located at Hazelwood Green. Mill 19 is headquarters to the school’s Manufacturing Futures Institute and home to some of the most advanced manufacturing research in the country. Mill 19 gives CMU innovators a chance to partner with other pioneers to apply digital innovation, advanced manufacturing technology and human intelligence to the production of the future.
In other words, bye bye steel mills, and hello to a new day.
About 150 others were in the crowd during the panel discussion, including African American notables like Dr. Wayne Walters, Pittsburgh Public Schools superintendent, state Reps. Lindsay Powell and La’Tasha Mayes, PPS’ CTE Director Angela Mike, and Citizens Bank VP of Public Relations for Western Pennsylvania Monica Malik.
Oh…there was one more person that was part of the panel discussion…
First Lady Jill Biden.
She was introduced to a thunderous applause prior to the panel discussion. Her famous husband, President Joe Biden, in May named Pittsburgh one of five “workforce hubs” in the country, which meant that the Biden Administration would partner with local officials, employers, schools and other stakeholders to ensure a diverse and skilled workforce would be created for the new-age technology jobs.
“I want to bring you back to a moment a few years ago, when my husband took office, and the pandemic was still raging,” Jill Biden said at the event. “When jobs here in Pittsburgh seemed to be disappearing every day. When young people were graduating school and struggling to begin their careers. Back then, when we looked to the future, we only saw uncertainty. Now, in this incredible space of innovation and renewal, think of how much has changed. Businesses are growing. Jobs are coming back. Unemployment is at a record low. Buildings are going up. And young people are on the path to incredible careers. There’s a bright, vibrant future ahead of Allegheny County, a future everyone in this room can be a part of.”
In the area of workforce development, there has to be an understanding between what is being taught to individuals in relation to what jobs are actually out there for the taking. As an example, with the major undertaking happening at the Pittsburgh International Airport, including construction on a brand new terminal, Partner4Work connects individuals to the Builders Guild of Western PA to train them as pre-apprentices in the construction trades. Ultimately, those individuals could find jobs on what’s being called the airport “Terminal Modernization Program,” or other construction jobs.
JILL BIDEN STOPS TO TOUCH A BLUE YASKAWA MOTOMAN GP50 INDUSTRIAL ROBOT ON DISPLAY AT MILL 19. (PHOTO COURTESY CMU)
Victor Mroczkowski, executive vice president of operation at Re:Build Manufacturing, announced during the panel discussion that his Arnold-based company would hire 300 new employees over the next three years, with many of the hires coming from local workforce organizations and technical schools. This gives the African Americans enrolled in those programs a good chance to get those jobs, which was a vital part of Mayor Gainey’s remarks during the panel discussion. The mayor said the best way to break down poverty is “to provide a skill set that gives people the ability to lead.” He also said removing barriers is the way for people “to access jobs and a way into the union life where they can see their world grow.”
Mayor Gainey continued: “I want to see the next generation watch this generation grow up getting jobs they can be proud of. It removes them from this whole situation that we call ‘the drug game.’ I don’t want them to know ‘the drug game.’ I want to know the ‘organization, trade and business game’ so that they can grow and continue to move forward with their life.”
After the panel discussion, which focused primarily on how Pittsburghers, its workforce organizations and corporate institutions are working collaboratively to create a healthy workforce for Pittsburgh’s future professions, many people had the chance to physically meet Jill Biden.
JILL BIDEN WITH ANGELA MIKE
Angela Mike, the Pittsburgh Public Schools’ director of its Career and Technical Education division, met Jill Biden and said she was blown away by her saying that there should be training “not for a job search, but for a job offer.”
“For me,” Mike told the Courier, “that was the key today because I’ve had so many partners come to the table in the past and have said we want to help, but if you really want to help, (the students) need a job. Not just job training.”
JILL BIDEN WITH MONICA MALIK
Monica Malik, the Citizens VP for Public Relations in the region, met Jill Biden and felt that the panel’s discussion on intergenerational wealth for all, not just selected individuals, was important.
JILL BIDEN WITH CYDNEY COOPER
Cydney Cooper, a correspondent for the City of Pittsburgh, also met Jill Biden. “It was great to have the First Lady come here to Pittsburgh to celebrate what we’re doing,” she said. “It’s so important that we diversify our workforce, it’s so important that we give everybody the opportunity to have economic opportunities to thrive. Today was a celebration of the forward movement that we are seeing in this city.”
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