The Work Train Collaborative is an emerging partnership dedicated to furthering prosperity in the Syracuse community by providing career pathways to low-income individuals while fulfilling the employment needs of local employers. WTC is working to establish a platform for demand-based, employer-driven workforce programming, which will align and aggregate the resources of different partners. The Collaborative is a unique partnership comprised of leaders from the philanthropic community, city and county government, educational institutions, business organizations, community-based organizations and workforce agencies.
WTC represents a community-wide effort that aligns multiple partners from all aspects of the workforce development system. The effort is different than any other workforce development initiative in Syracuse, because it primarily functions to engage employers and aggregate job demand. The Collaborative will engage and align community partners to develop initiatives that link community residents to employers within targeted industries. In that sense, it seeks to enhance various efforts around the community.
This initiative builds upon workforce development strategies developed by the Metropolitan Development Association (now Centerstate CEO) in 2007—and the pilot efforts of Northside UP (Green Train and Health Train) over the past five years.
Sector Focus
Industry Partnerships
Manufacturing Careers Partnership
The manufacturing industry in Central New York has been steadily rebounding in recent years leading to an increasing number of available entry-level and skilled jobs. However, due to a large and potentially growing skills gap, there is a disconnect between job-seeker and manufacturers in the region. With looming retirements in the industry, employers are struggling to fill the growing number of jobs available. Job-seekers looking for work are unaware of or unable to access these jobs and career pathways. The partnership seeks to close this gap in by raising awareness of manufacturing jobs and providing opportunities for entry-level training and upskilling of incumbent workers.