LYNN — In a collaborative effort with Lynn Public Schools, the MassHire North Shore Workforce Board, and a variety of local organizations, the mayor’s office is working to bring Lynn residents high-paying jobs.
Danya Smith, policy director for Mayor Jared Nicholson, presented an update to the Lynn Workforce Development Plan at a City Council meeting Tuesday night.
The city began the plan a year ago, Smith said, to link local workforce resources to both public and private workforces in the region.
Smith said the plan builds on previous efforts such as the Office Parks Study, which analyzed 13,200 jobs at the Cummings Center in Beverly, Cherry Hill Industrial Park in Beverly and Danvers, and Centennial Park in Peabody.
Of the combined 13,200 jobs at the three office spaces, Smith said 17 percent of workers at Cherry Hill, 7 percent of workers at the Cummings Center, and 13 percent of workers at Centennial Park are Lynn residents.
Smith said that the city hopes to focus on steering young Lynners (aged 14 through 26), and immigrant or low-wage workers toward priority industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, construction, education, life sciences, clean energy, and technology.
With Salem’s offshore wind terminal project underway, Smith said the city would like to provide pathways for Lynners to work on clean energy projects in the North Shore.
“I think there are opportunities to provide apprenticeship training programs around offshore wind occupations at Lynn Tech,” Smith said.
Smith added that common obstacles such as lack of transportation, child care, housing, education, awareness of training resources, and training time and cost stand in the way of resident participation in career training programs.
He said that the city is searching for strategies to mitigate these hurdles, and is considering pairing training programs with stipends to cover transportation or childcare.
Councilor-at-large Brian Field said that given the diversity and quantity of different organizations in the Workforce Development Steering Committee, he’s excited to see what the collaborative can accomplish in Lynn.
North Shore Community College, the North Shore Latino Business Association, EforAll, the Lynn Community Health Center, Greater Lynn Chamber of Commerce, North Shore Labor Council, New Lynn Coalition’s Lynn Community Enrichment Program, Lynn Economic Opportunity, and Pathways are all participating in the city’s workforce development plan.
“The Steering Committee chairs are very diverse organizations with years of experience in workforce training. It shows what we can do as a municipality to train staff and support our workforce” Field said.
