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Economy

States Look to Community Colleges to Fill Labor Gap

Monique Acosta began the month of March as a pre-K classroom assistant in Arizona, with no credential beside her high school degree. She ended it with a certification in a booming branch of electronics and started applying to entry-level jobs at Boeing. For four hours a day, over 10 days total, Acosta studied the fine art of stripping, cutting and crimping wire as part of a technical “boot camp” at Mesa Community College outside Phoenix. The program, created in partnership with Boeing and taught by company engineers, aims to rapidly upskill students into jobs that local employers need to fill. Now — amid a labor shortage that has baffled businesses and slowed the nation’s economic rehabilitation — policymakers, community college administrators and private businesses in several states are fueling new workforce-oriented initiatives, from tuition incentives and paid apprenticeships to boot camps such as the one Acosta completed. Read more.

by Caitlin Dewey, Stateline, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts

A Year Into Striking, Alabama Coal Miners Are Frustrated but Defiant as Ever

Coal mines are, unsurprisingly, a tough place to work. They’re dark and dirty and every breath brings in toxic chemicals. And Brian Kelly wants to be back there. “I love it,” Kelly said. “It’s paradise to me.” Kelly fell in love with the mines because of the brotherhood he forged 2,000 feet underground. Over the past year, that bond has been tested. Friday marks one year since Kelly and 900 other coal miners went on strike in Brookwood. The strikers demand that Warrior Met Coal, the company they’re striking against, restore the pay and benefits miners gave up in 2016 when the mines were in danger of shutting down. As the months crawled on, the miners stuck with a slogan — “one day longer” — as in, they’re willing to hold out on this strike one day longer than Warrior Met Coal will. But a year without their old paychecks has caused a few workers to cross the picket line. The hundreds that remain still defiantly say “one day longer,” though they admit that it requires deep sacrifice and it’s building resentment. Read more.

by Stephan Bisaha, Gulf States Newsroom

Birmingham Council OKs Minority-Led Housing, Retail and Recreational Development

The Birmingham City Council has approved the sale of 222 acres near Lakeshore Parkway to Green Meadow Apartments LLC, which will redevelop the property into single-family, multi-family and senior housing. The city will receive $1.5 million for the property, which is located at 1911 Tiger Walk. General contractor Michael German, the former Alabama field office director for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, has represented Green Meadow Apartments at council meetings. He told councilors that the proposed development will include a park, walking trail and a town center — including a grocery store and a community center — and compared the development to the nearby Ross Bridge community. Green Meadow is a minority developer, and Cornell Wesley, the city’s director of innovation and economic opportunity, described its project as potentially transformational for the city. “We are looking at what I believe to be the largest economic impact led by African Americans in our storied history as a city, that being over $100 million worth of economic impact and investment in our area,” Wesley said. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Sewell Kicks Off Tour Promoting Benefits of the Infrastructure Act

U.S. Terri Sewell, D-Selma, visited Birmingham on Friday to tout improvements coming to the state and region under the $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The act will fund not only road and bridge work in the state, but it also will pay to provide broadband service statewide and improve water infrastructure in areas where residents do not have access to clean drinking water, according to a press release issued by her office. Read more.

by BirminghamWatch

Families in need received more from the social safety net in 2021. How helpful was it?

On paper, families in need in the Gulf South have access to a lot more government aid this year, but it’s hard to say those families are better off when looking at the line of cars at the Saint Luke’s Food Pantry parking lot in Tupelo, Mississippi. On a clear-skyed Thursday morning in December, drivers arrive more than an hour before the pantry opens. By the time food boxes start being handed out at 8 a.m., six rows of cars fill the small lot — with dozens more parked on the road waiting to get in. By noon, the pantry will serve 559 cars. That’s been the standard for 2021, according to volunteer Lee Stratton. “They’ll be in the streets with the parking lot full probably for the next three hours,” Stratton said. “People need help, you know?” The social safety net received some important upgrades in 2021 — SNAP benefits, better known as food stamps, went up about 25% in October; From July to December, the Child Tax Credit gave out monthly payments to families for each kid under 18; Mississippi also raised TANF for the first time in 22 years. The increase in aid is especially important in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, which have some of the highest poverty rates in the country. But experts warn the changes don’t do enough to remove barriers keeping people from accessing that aid. Read more.

by Stephan Bisaha, WBHM
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