FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

In Tough Economic Times,

Port May Offer Safe Harbor

Article Taken From Star-Ledger: Sept. 17, 2008 By Chanta L. Jackson

Researched By: Regina Townes

Following one of the leading recommendations of a report mapping out Newark's economic future, Mayor Cory Booker opened a job and business development center at port Newark Tuesday to help city residents access job opportunities there.  Opportunity Newark, an 18-month project led by Harvard business professor Michael Porter, founder and chairman of the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, and funded by the Newark Alliance, identified the port area as one of the city's greatest competitive advantages.

Port-related jobs such as transportation, logistics and distribution are expected to gain 1,025 jobs per year through 2012. They are also jobs - 75 percent - that are accessible to people with low skills but provide good wages., According to the report, 60 percent of the jobs paid at least $25,000 and 25 percent paid more than $50,000. But Newark residents, whose median income of $34,452 in 2007 falls at a little less than half the state average, are not able to access those jobs for a variety of reasons, including lack of information, training and prior criminal convictions.

Booker said the city's Port Career and Business Development Center will help bridge those gaps.

"The fact that we are the largest port on the East Coast offers an opportunity to participate in the global economy," Booker said during a press conference, where former drug kingpin Frank Lucas showed up and posed for a picture with the mayor and the Sugar Hill Gang performed "Rapper's Delight."

"Jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs in the city of Newark is the central key to our success in dealing with poverty," Booker said.

The city is leasing the top floor of a building at Tyler St. that is owned by Newark Refrigerated Warehouse. The space, which was chosen because of it proximity to NJ Transit's 40 bus line, was once occupied by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which agreed to move. The office will focus not only on job placement and training but also on reaching out to the port business community to determine its needs with the help of the Brick City Development Corp. Removing the barriers that keep some Newark residents from working at the port because they are ex-offenders will be a priority of the center.

One of the other recommendations of the Opportunity Newark report was to clear land not being used for  functions that are compatible with the development of airport and seaport industries. Companies that are displaced as the city tries to attract more logistics, distribution and transportation firms to the area will need help relocating else where, hopefully in Newark. The port represents the best opportunity for jobs in Newark, good jobs with benefits. These are jobs Newark residents can get and keep, jobs that pay $12 to $18 per hour. The work force here in Newark is outstanding and better than Easton, PA., or the suburbs," said Von Dolan, president of Newark Refrigerated Warehouse.

The Opportunity Newark report said there is a need to improve the port's transportation infrastructure such as its rail lines and to clean and reuse contaminated land. "It is always good to see buildings and infrastructure intended to serve a positive purpose, but the real test of success will be the commitment of the individuals that run the organization to both develop relationships with employers and prepare and connect Newark residents to jobs at the port," Koeppe said, president and chief executive of the Newark Alliance.