By Alex Davidson
A relatively small job-placement center is trying to expand its presence in Ozone Park to better equip the borough's work force and decrease local unemployment, its coordinator said.
Gateway New Dimensions, which focuses on matching people with jobs, and its smaller partner American Jobs Inc., are working together with a local branch of North Fork Bank to train and then employ residents in the absence of a citywide plan to put people to work, Richard Bynoe said.
“There are so many people in the area who need jobs,” he said. “We put this together so we would not have to rely on the city anymore.”
Bynoe and North Fork Bank have ambitious goals to place members from more than 50 families in long-term employment, get $330,000 in grants and donations, move to a permanent office and establish an enterprise zone spanning the Grand Central Parkway in Ozone Park to Far Rockaway.
Gateway is currently headquartered at 126-18 111th Ave.
“We're just trying to reach out,” Bynoe said. “To make change, it means you have to take some risks.”
Alex Pai, a spokesman for the North Fork Bank branch at 114-19 Liberty Ave., would not comment on how much his firm is donating to Gateway but said the bank has done a similar successful program with Richmond Hill High School.
“We want to give some of the participants life skills in handling their finances,” Pai said. “These are life skills that perhaps some people have missed.”
Pai said the bank will also offer in-kind services, including office and meeting space at the branch and funding for courses on topics such as money, the banking system and how to manage checking accounts.
Bynoe said Gateway has been in southeast Queens for more than 15 years and just recently moved into its temporary location in Ozone Park. He said his organization is a partnership with local churches, which together run a day-care center and offer job-seekers assistance with information on social services.
Bynoe and Gateway have already trained participants in trade professions, such as masonry and plumbing and plan to expand the trainings from the parternship with North Fork. He said he wants to work with the city to have it donate condemned or abandoned buildings to use as construction training sites where workers can learn the basics of the industry.
“We're just trying to find ways to help people,” Bynoe said.
Gateway receives most of its funding from the day-care operation but hopes to diversify its revenue sources when its job placement services develop, Bynoe said. He said his group does not have government funding and most people choose to donate privately to the organization.
Reach reporter Alex Davidson by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or by phone at 1-718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
