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Collaboration will work to improve job training efforts

photo from Maria Whyte's Twitter account

A group of local leaders will collaborate with officials  from six other regions in the national Communities that Work Partnership.

Three local leaders will represent the Buffalo area during the 15-month collaboration: Maria Whyte, Commissioner, Erie County Department of Environment and Planning; Laura Smith, Vice President, Economic Development at the Buffalo Niagara Partnership; and, Dennis Eisenbeck, Regional Director at National Grid.

"We've already spoken to some of the other communities on the things that they are focusing on," said Liz Callahan, Workforce Development manager for the Buffalo Niagara Partnership. 

"We have similar industries, similar problems in education and training, and we're going to be able to really talk about best practices, but also the things that communities have tried that haven't worked so we don't repeat the same mistakes."

Groups from Phoenix, Houston, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., New York City and Northwest Georgia have also been selected to join in the effort.

The participants were chosen by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Aspen Institute.

 

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Jay joined Buffalo Toronto Public Media in 2008 and has been local host for NPR's "Morning Edition" ever since. In June, 2022, he was named one of the co-hosts of WBFO's "Buffalo, What's Next."

A graduate of St. Mary's of the Lake School, St. Francis High School and Buffalo State College, Jay has worked most of his professional career in Buffalo. Outside of public media, he continues in longstanding roles as the public address announcer for the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League and as play-by-play voice of Canisius College basketball.