The Northland Workforce Training Center, which prepares workers for manufacturing careers with strong demand for new hires, is expanding its training programs in a push to make a bigger impact.
NORTHLAND WORKFORCE TRAINING CENTER UNVEILS PLAN TO EXPAND CAREER TRAINING IN BUFFALO
04.16.24
Story originally published April 2024 via The Buffalo News
Written by Matt Glynn
If the new push succeeds, more local residents will be trained to fill job openings in a wider variety of fields, and earn family-sustaining wages. Along with expanding training opportunities, Northland has set targets for boosting enrollment, placing more graduates in jobs and increasing the center’s economic effect by 2028.
“I really want us to be considered the premier workforce development organization in the county, and I think we’re on our way,” said Stephen Tucker, the president and CEO.
The center has established itself as a focal point for training and neighborhood redevelopment since opening its doors inside the Northland Central complex, which revitalized a vacant East Side factory.
Northland already offers training programs in the fields of mechatronics; welding technology; computer numerical control (CNC); manufacturing and machining; and electrical construction and maintenance electrician. SUNY Erie Community College and SUNY Alfred State are Northland’s education partners.
Starting in January, Northland plans to begin offering one-year certificate programs for automotive technicians; heating, ventilation and air conditioning, or HVAC; and clean energy technicians.
The center also will launch a 10-week version of its CNC training, as an option for students to get trained for those jobs more quickly.
Tucker said the center has received requests to offer training in all sorts of industries. But Northland analyzed whether those careers met the criteria of its “new industry assessment toolkit”: alignment with Northland’s mission; enough job opportunities to justify training; jobs in industries with family-sustaining wages; and sufficient interest from stakeholders, including elected officials and community members.
Northland decided which programs to add, as part of its five-year strategic plan, based on whether the careers checked those boxes, Tucker said.
The center’s new programs have something else in common: They can be completed more quickly. “The new programs we’re adding are all one year or shorter, so we can get people connected to industry faster,” Tucker said. Many of the students the center targets are adult job seekers who don’t have two years to devote to training, he said. “Throughout our strategic planning process, we interviewed multiple stakeholders: funders, students, employers,” Tucker said. “The feedback that we overwhelmingly received from students and employers was that they desired shorter-term programs.”
Here’s a look at how Northland plans to grow:
• Automotive technicians. Auto dealerships are eager to recruit more talent to service automobiles. SUNY ECC has such a training program based in the Southtowns; the Northland program, also overseen by ECC, will add that training in the city.
Northland is creating an auto service lab, complete with lifts, in space formerly used by SparkCharge, a past 43North champion. West Herr Automotive Group and Northtown Automotive are providing input on the lab’s design. There’s also adjacent classroom space.
Tucker said the program will help meet a need for technicians not only at dealerships, but also to service vehicles for municipalities and organizations like the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority. Graduates will be able to use the one-year certificate to get a job, or go on to receive additional training elsewhere, he said.
• HVAC. The one-year HVAC program, also taught by ECC, ties into energy-focused careers, he said. The program will focus on heating, ventilation and air conditioning, including heat pumps, which are gaining more popularity as an energy technology, with New York state’s climate law emphasizing electrification.
• Clean energy technology. Inside what used to be a storage room at the training complex, a “smart house” will be built. Students will use the house to learn about building maintenance and smart technology. The house will be equipped with technology including a wind turbine, solar panels, a power wall, a microgrid and a garage for plugging in an electric vehicle. “It’s cut in half so we can use it for training,” Tucker said of the house. SUNY Alfred State will train the students.
• 10-week CNC training. Northland already provides CNC training, but it’s typically the course with the lowest enrollment, Tucker said. CNC involves using computerized controls to operate tools and machines.
The two-year CNC program will continue, but Northland also will offer a 10-week certificate program. The shorter version is designed to meet demand for entry-level workers from employers, while creating a pipeline for the two-year program. “We’re trying to build a career pathway for CNC machinists, because it’s one of the highest in-demand occupations locally,” Tucker said.
While Northland is expanding its training options, the center is also aiming to build on its results as part of its five-year plan. Northland enrolls about 300 students a year and wants to boost that number to 500 by 2028. That increase is expected to come from students enrolling in the new programs, as well as maximizing enrollment in the existing programs.
Northland has a graduation rate of 62% and wants to boost that rate to 70% by 2028. And the center wants to have 5,000 “high-touch” contacts per year, through events and activities to connect Northland with the community.
Some of the plan’s goals for 2028 center on the diversity of students taught at Northland. For instance, 55% of current students are minorities; the goal is to boost that to 65%. Refugees represent 4% of students; Northland wants to raise that figure to 10%. And Northland wants to increase the percentage of students who are women from the current 8% to 15% in 2028.
Northland also wants to boost the percentage of students who come from the neighborhoods around the center, to 50% from the current 38%. Tucker said 82% of Northland graduates are getting placed in jobs, with average salaries of $42,000. The center wants to maintain that high rate of job placement, while raising average salaries for graduates to $50,000.
As the new plan is unveiled, Gov. Kathy Hochul has proposed opening workforce development centers around upstate New York modeled on Northland’s approach.
Tucker said Northland has demonstrated its value through generating more than $42 million in annual starting wages for its graduates over the past five years, with a multiplier effect of over $84 million in the region. Northland continues to see strong interest from employers in its graduates, as evidenced by the businesses signing up for a job fair the center hosted, he said.
“Most of the students, they get multiple job offers before they graduate,” Tucker said.