A familiar name will be running an educational center using a new approach to giving younger people the skills they need to take advantage of local economic opportunity.
Former interim Buffalo Schools Superintendent Amber Dixon is now running the new Buffalo Arts and Technology Center.
Not only is Dixon veteran of education as a teacher and an administrator, she also worked as an electrician before going to college to get a teaching degree.
The center plans to use the arts to persuade students to stay in school and graduate and train older people to get GEDs and training for the jobs the increasingly higher-tech local economy provides.
Dixon appeared at a news conference Wednesday announcing her appointment.
"The human feature of this city and we know where that lies. It lies in the young people who live in this city and helping them do what they need to do. They need to get through high school. they need to take advantage of college and career opportunities. And, they have to be the people who keep these buildings filled and keep these work forces vital and keep buffalo moving ahead," said Dixon.
New York State is putting up $800,000 for conversion of the first floor of Artspace Buffalo Lofts into the center's home and four-million dollars in private sector cash over the next three-years for operations.
