The Isaiah 61 Project & Niagara Falls City School District Partner to provide trades job training

[Press Release]

District’s Alternative School Students Will Gain Work Site Experience  

The Isaiah 61 Project began offering trades training to Niagara Falls City School District Alternative School students on March 25, 2014. The partnership will give participating students hands on trades/construction experience and certified Orleans/Niagara Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) educational training. “The Isaiah 61 Project is excited to team up with the Niagara Falls City School District to offer our community’s young people a new pathway to employment,” said Jim Haid, Isaiah 61 Program Coordinator. “By reaching out to them while they are still in high school, this program can give young people the tools to start off on the right foot.”

“We have many Niagara Falls High School students participating in skilled trade education at the BOCES facility in Sanborn,” said Superintendent Cynthia Bianco. “This opportunity allows Alternative students interested in the skilled trades a chance to acquire skills that can lead to good jobs. We are very pleased about this collaboration and the impact it will have on our students by providing career pathway opportunities for them.”

The students will take part in the program two days a week, first learning basic worksite skills and safety precautions in a classroom setting. They will then work on an actual home renovation in phase two of the class. The Isaiah 61 Project, in collaboration with, O/N BOCES and several funding partners, provides a free 400 hour construction trades job training class to unemployed and under-employed applicants.

In the process of the job training course, Isaiah 61 renovates vacant homes once owned by the city, preparing the structures for home ownership and returning them to the municipal tax roll. The Isaiah 61 Project Trades Training Program began in 2012, in partnership with the Niagara Falls Community Development Department and The John R. Oishei Foundation. Since its inception, 30 people have graduated from the program and approximately 75 percent have found local job placement. “Trades men and women built our city and earned family supporting livelihoods in the process,” said Seth Piccirillo, Director of Niagara Falls Community Development. “The school district’s partnership with Isaiah 61 will introduce that tradition to a new generation and help put our young people to work.”