Education is the answer

I found this statistic in this Tribune-Chronicle article on Black Monday: "Youngstown has just 9.7 percent of its residents with a bachelor’s degree and 2.8 percent with a graduate or professional degree."

Shocking. If we're looking for jobs, education is the answer. Those who are educated are qualified and capable of earning better wages or, better, starting their own businesses.

Sherry Linkon backs up the recent New Rules post by talking about the fallacy of waiting for a "savior" company: "'It’s not that we don’t want a big company, but we have to network around smaller industries and businesses so the community isn’t overly dependent on one thing,' she said."

I have to admit, though, that I don't understand Regional Chamber Executive Vice President and Acting President of the Community Improvement Corporation Reid Dulberger's remarks throughout the piece. Maybe I'm naive, but he just sounds so damn defeatist about attracting new businesses to the region, referring to them at various times as "icing on the cake", "the third leg of the stool" and simply "expensive". The article closes with this quote:

"You can put into effect any program you want, but if you try to attract companies that want to be in other parts of the country, it's irrelevant," he said. "It's also very expensive because you're trying to convince folks who don't know your part of the country. National marketing campaigns typically cost seven figures, and it takes a long time because you're trying to change perceptions."

This is what the article about economic development closes with, mind you. Instead of something like "We need to dedicate some amount of resources to attracting new businesses and put in place the long-term planning and regional pride-of-place investments and advertisements necessary to create a welcoming and well-known environment for established companies looking for a home," Dulberger's response is, "Well, if they don't mind coming to an out-of-the-way part of the country, it would be a nice bonus. We're certainly not going to try to convince them to come here, that would be pointless." (Please note that I don't know Mr. Dulberger personally and am taking umbrage here with his words as printed in the Tribune-Chronicle, not necessarily his job performance.)

I recently had the pleasure of meeting Joe Meranto, who is the director of Career-Technical and Adult Education at Choffin Career Center. I was impressed to hear about the programs they offer, particularly to high schoolers looking to come into the professional workforce with accreditations they can turn into very respectable salaries. This is something that schools in Germany do well: focus the high school years on preparing students for real careers, not generalities. Students in the U.S. get to college and still have plenty of time to be undecided. By the time you've entered your final few years in Germany, you're getting hands-on training in a specialty. And in many cases there are internships or apprenticeships available. We could use more of that.