The I-81 Viaduct Project is continuing to work on local hiring. State and local officials are encouraging residents to look into employment opportunities.
136 employees from Syracuse and Onondaga Nation Territory have already been onboarded through the I-81 project's local hiring initiative, which includes workforce training and development. The initiative aims for 15% of employees to be from local communities. New York State Department of Transportation Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez said this project's initiative is a nation-leading example.
"The people who are most affected by this now have a chance to actually work on how we're connecting the community again and stitching it back together," Dominguez said.
An updated application portal is being used to help increase the number of local hires. Local hiring for contract one is at 13%, with contracts two and three sitting at 17% and 11%. Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh said increasing those numbers is just as important as the project itself.
"What I've always said, even before the project started, was in any regard a $2.25 billion project is going to have an impact on the community," Walsh said. "But in order for it to have a transformational, generational impact on the community, we have to make sure the community is working on the project."
One of the local hires, Shakeila Brown, has been in the local labor union for five years. Through the CNYWorks program, she was able to get a Class A CDL and has been working on the I-81 project for six months. For her, the work is a way to give back to her community.
"Being a part of the community and the community's change has definitely helped myself mentally as well as share the knowledge that I've gained," Brown said.
Brown said she hopes to inspire more women to take advantage of the same opportunities.
