MORE OF WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN

When the plans to revitalize Coatesville were made; jobs for Coatesville residents were not forgotten:

Bart Blatstein and all other developers building in Coatesville RDA land were compelled by Coatesville Redevelopment Authority contract to hire qualified Coatesville residents first, then Coatesville School District residents, then Chester County residents and finally from any area. But the construction industry, especially the high rise building construction using Steelworkers Union workers, can be dangerous and demanding. It demands trained and skilled workers.

You can make demands for developers to hire Coatesville residents but if there are no residents that qualify for the jobs they will be filled by outside people.

Some Coatesville community activists, religious leaders and government representatives got together with a plan to train willing Coatesville residents for those jobs in a trade that they could carry with them all through their lives.

Coatesville activists Elwood Dixon and Bill Washington, Andrew Dinniman (then Chester County Commissioner), PA Career Link, The Laborer's District Council Education and Training School and former Coatesville City Manager Paul Janssen (sorry if I forgot anyone) formed and put in place an education and training program at the Laborer's District Council Education and Training facility in Exton, PA for Coatesville residents.

That education and training program has so far enrolled more than 200 Coatesville residents and residents from the Coatesville School District. Coatesville residents signed up and took preliminary testing at several sessions in the Hutchinson Church, on Chestnut St. in Coatesville.

Even drug users were not turned away. If you passed the written test and failed the drug test you could still enter the program by enrolling in a drug rehabilitation program. Upon completion those students will be and many are ready for employment as apprentice construction workers in various union trades.

Many Coatesville residents could have pointed out one of Bart Blatstein’s buildings and said I helped build that; could have.