ACTS-CNY

Economic Development & Jobs Task Force WINSCommunity Benefits Agreement

The ACTS Economic Development & Jobs Task Force won yesterday (June 10, 2009) a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) for the billion-dollar rehabilitation of Syracuse schools.

The Syracuse School Board unanimously passed a CBA that will provide training opportunities for Syracuse School students, and start a pipeline of trained young people for careers in the construction field. The Syracuse School System will be embarking on a ten year, billion-dollar rehabilitation of every school in Syracuse.

Juniors and Seniors from various Syracuse City Schools will shadow and observe what it takes to get a large project done – and how they can have a career. Working with the various building trades training programs to ensure that when the students graduate from high school, they will be prepared to become apprentices and eventually, journeymen and women.

A Community Benefits Agreement is a legally binding agreement between community groups and developers that lays out how the development will benefit the local community. Usual components are job quality and wage standards, job training, affordable housing, environmental standards, and other items that the community deems as needed for their community.

This CBA is a first step for our community. The next step is to have a CBA with a private developer that truly redefines economic development in our area and shows, as this agreement does, that we can all win when it comes to using public resources in economic development.