By David Tyler
Democrat and Chronicle

(January 31, 2003) — RochesterWorks was a program in trouble six months ago. A report said it lacked organization and failed to properly measure client satisfaction.

Now the jobs program, under new management, might expand.

The city-county job training system at 34 St. Paul St. might open a second location, said Matt Hurlbutt, executive director of the Rochester Resource Alliance, which administers RochesterWorks.

Career Development Services began operating the center in October and has made a series of changes from painting the walls to creating teams to track a client’s job progress and adding a resource library, said President and Chief Executive Carol Silver Elliott.

“The security guard is no longer the first thing you’ll see,” she said.

The center got good marks on a new client satisfaction survey, scoring 4.8 out of 5, Elliott said.

The center also recently received state certification, another indication of progress, she said. And it now has $10,000, instead of $5,000, available to people who want to train for nursing, which has a shortage of workers.

Now, Hurlbutt said, RochesterWorks wants to raise its profile with the business community. Advertising on radio is one way the center will try to do that, he said.

“We want to let these companies know that we’re here and we can help them find workers,” he said.

While 17,500 workers used RochesterWorks between July 2001 and July 2002, only 98 companies did.

Elliott said her ultimate goal for the center is to see it become a tool for economic development officials.

“If they attracted a company that needed 150 skilled workers, we’d like to get to the point where we can make that connection,” she said.

Job seeker Doreen Tovar, 48, of Rochester, said she’s been using RochesterWorks for about a month after losing her job at Four Corners Abstract in Rochester. Counselors, she said, have helped her get her resume in order and her self-confidence back.

“They’ve just been tremendously helpful,” she said.

Michael Nuccitelli, chairman of the Rochester Monroe County Workforce Investment Board, which oversees RochesterWorks, said he is pleased with the early performance of CDS.

“There’s really a lot of attention to detail and a lot of focus on the customer,” he said. “Ultimately, I think we made the right choice.”

E-mail address: dtyler@DemocratandChronicle.com

For more information: http://www.rnyworks.com/