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May 11, 2012
Has BUILD done more for job-seekers, or Forest City? Barclays Center jobs, like those at Atlantic Terminal mall, to be filled via city workforce center
Atlantic Yards Report
Last month, when Mayor Mike Bloomberg joined his friend and neighbor Bruce Ratner at the in-construction Barclays Center to announce a plan for 2,000 jobs at the arena--1240 FTE, or 1,901 part-time--there was an important subtext: however useful Forest City Ratner's (paid) Community Benefit Agreement job-training partner has been, a city agency is in charge of hiring.
Sure, Brooklyn United for Innovative Local Development (BUILD) has a role--along with other agencies, from NYCHA to community boards--in spreading the word to job-seekers. Indeed, BUILD has collected some 7,000 resumes, offering some version of job help. And BUILD has led unpaid customer service training programs to prepare 100 people to apply for such arena jobs.
But New York City's Workforce1 service will be responsible for hiring. And, as noted below, when the Atlantic Terminal mall opened in 2004, the same city agency did the job, without the help of BUILD.
That raises the question: has BUILD been more helpful to job-seekers, or to Forest City Ratner, for whom it has supplied regular public support?
Posted by eric at May 11, 2012 12:20 PM