Pittsburgh leaders met with U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su at the Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC) on Tuesday to observe and highlight how public and private institutions are collaborating to build the local economy. They also toured the Pittsburgh Job Corps Center. They came to promote President Joe Biden’s Investing in America initiative which hopes to encourage domestic manufacturing.
The Biden-Harris administration declared Pittsburgh one of five Workforce Development Hub's across the nation in May 2023. The initiative seeks to connect people in the Pittsburgh region to good-quality careers related to major federal and private-sector investments.
Mayor Ed Gainey said ongoing regional and federal partnerships will help keep students on the “right path.”
“These collaborations will help expose them to a greater quality of life and give them the ability to thrive,” Gainey said during a roundtable discussion at CCAC.
He pointed to Pittsburgh Public Schools' (PPS) partnership with the city to provide students with improved access to career and technical education opportunities. Through the collaboration, high school students are exposed to a wide-range of careers in local government and public safety. Students learn about various jobs, such as police, fire, EMS, building inspection, animal control and public works and learn how to apply for positions after graduation.
Wayne Walters, PPS superintendent, said “it takes a village” to promote workforce development.
“Children do not want broken promises or they’ll leave [Pittsburgh], so it takes a village to create these opportunities,” Walters said.
The event was held at CCAC’s recently opened Center for Education, Innovation and Training, which includes learning spaces for students interested in cybersecurity support and software development; baking and pastry arts and foodservice and restaurant management; as well as skilled trades programs like mechatronics and additive manufacturing.
Christina Cassotis, CEO of the Allegheny County Airport Authority, said discussions and partnerships with city officials and educators were what led to the airport’s innovative on-site childcare center.
“Providing the space where parents can get their training and childcare in one space is unique but necessary,” Cassotis said. “We’re enhancing Pittsburgh’s workforce development, connecting people to union-supported jobs and employers and could not have done it on our own.”
Secretary Cardona said Pittsburgh is modeling effective collaborations.
“This is an example of what we want to see, where people come together, remove silos and provide opportunities for students and for the community,” Cardona said. “These students are leaving with careers where they can raise families.
Acting Secretary Su said she hopes promoting these collaborations will help prevent another labor shortage crisis like the one seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“What we see is when the jobs are good jobs — good union jobs — then there is not a labor shortage; workers want to do that work,” Su said. “When we connect training programs to those jobs, people are learning skills that will actually put them into a job that brings them into the middle class.”
In December 2023, president Joe Biden issued an executive order to support economic and efficient construction projects while creating good-paying, union-backed jobs. Su said the order is a foundation for current job creation.
“This is how we build good jobs at the beginning, that we make sure that unions have a seat at the table,” Su said. “And this is not just a matter of doing what's right for working people, but it's also what could attract a workforce. It's also how you make sure that projects are done on time, on task, on budget and safely.”
Su said Pittsburgh’s workforce development is a “model for the nation.”
