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Opinion: Hotels Proudly Support Career Pathways

Published

7 years ago

October 18, 2017

By Katherine Lugar, President/CEO American Hotel & Lodging Association; Lynn Mohrfeld, President/CEO, California Hotel & Lodging Association, and Kevin Carroll, Executive Director,Hotel Council of San Francisco

The hotel industry is growing both nationally and in California, and with it, the need for qualified employees at all levels. This need provides an opportunity to invest in the next generation’s workforce through proactive partnerships with organizations dedicated to job training and placement, along with solid commitments on the part of employers.

That’s why the hotel industry is proud to support the Bay Area Young Men of Color Employment Partnership (BAYEP) Career Pathway Summit. Taking place at the Oakland Marriott City Center this week, this unique event will help match over 1,000 job-seekers with more than 20 top employers who will be hiring on the spot, as well as providing on-site career resources and interactive workshops to assist young people looking for a job. The Career Pathway Summit is sponsored by the American Hotel & Lodging Association and the industry’s Foundation (AHLEF), California Hotel & Lodging Association, and the Hotel Council of San Francisco – because we recognize that building pathways for America’s young men of color is not only the right thing to do, but it’s also the essence of our industry.

Believing in the upward mobility and potential of all our workers is at the heart of hotel employers. Nearly half of our industry’s general managers started their careers in entry-level positions, such as dishwashers, bellmen, or front-desk agents. And now, after adding jobs at a rate nine percent faster than the rest of the economy, the hospitality industry is expected to create another 2.1 million to 3.3 million jobs over the next three years. This robust growth can broaden the career horizons of countless young, seasonal employees for whom a position in hospitality can offer meaningful job experience with a competitive income and grow into something much more, a long-term career.

Our industry’s success – like the success of so many other employers – depends on supporting its workforce. In a business of people taking care of people, hotels could not be successful without the eight million men and women who lend their talents and hard work to jobs tied to travel and tourism. Ensuring that hotels can recruit and cultivate young people for today’s workforce and the future generation of leaders fuels our industry’s proud tradition of supporting the career aspirations of workers at every level.

So, we are committed to working with BAYEP and other community-based organizations to turn that tradition into an answer to the social and economic challenges facing young men of color throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. It’s well established that, in California, unemployment among young Black men (37%) and young Latino men (25%) significantly outpaces joblessness among other groups. But even in the Bay Area, one of the most ethnically diverse regions of the United States, the troubling reality is that one of every nine young men of color is unemployed.

That is why hotels are so firmly committed to the BAYEP Career Pathway Summit, a free hiring event open to the entire San Francisco Bay Area community. By building bridges between young men of color and employment opportunities, we hope to close the employment gap. But those bridges must be supported by long-term resources. So, in addition to facilitating new hiring, the event will launch a 12- to 18-month commitment to the long-term success of all the participating employers and their new hires. This commitment includes providing managerial training and a customized retention strategy for career summit hires, as well as ongoing professional development to help new hires advance with employer partners.

Together, we can cultivate and support new career pathways for the Bay Area’s young men of color. It is the right thing to do for those struggling to find employment, and a vital bridge we must build for the hotel industry to continue growing and providing hospitality and job opportunities in the future.

Oakland Post

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Related Topics:economics hotel industry jobs San Francisco

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Oakland Post: Week of December 25 – 31, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of December 25 – 31, 2024

Published

2 days ago

December 26, 2024

Oakland Post

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Bay Area

Glydways Breaking Ground on 14-Acre Demonstration Facility at Hilltop Mall

Glydways has been testing its technology at CCTA’s GoMentum Station in Concord for several years. The company plans to install an ambitious 28-mile Autonomous Transit Network in East Contra Costa County. The new Richmond facility will be strategically positioned near that project, according to Glydways.

Published

4 days ago

December 24, 2024

Oakland Post

Image of planned Richmond facility courtesy of Glydways.

The Richmond Standard

Glydways, developer of microtransit systems using autonomous, small-scale vehicles, is breaking ground on a 14-acre Development and Demonstration Facility at the former Hilltop Mall property in Richmond, the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) reported on social media.

Glydways, which released a statement announcing the project Monday, is using the site while the mall property undergoes a larger redevelopment.

“In the interim, Glydways will use a portion of the property to showcase its technology and conduct safety and reliability testing,” the company said.

The new Richmond development hub will include “over a mile of dedicated test track, enabling Glydways to refine its solutions in a controlled environment while simulating real-world conditions,” the company said.

Visitors to the facility will be able to experience on-demand travel, explore the control center and visit a showroom featuring virtual reality demonstrations of Glydways projects worldwide.

The hub will also house a 13,000-square-foot maintenance and storage facility to service the growing fleet of Glydcars.

“With this new facility [at the former Hilltop Mall property], we’re giving the public a glimpse of the future, where people can experience ultra-quiet, on-demand transit—just like hailing a rideshare, but with the reliability and affordability of public transit,” said Tim Haile, executive director of CCTA.

Janet Galvez, vice president and investment officer at Prologis, owner of the Hilltop Mall property, said her company is “thrilled” to provide space for Glydways and is continuing to work with the city on future redevelopment plans for the broader mall property.

Richmond City Manager Shasa Curl added that Glydways’ presence “will not only help test new transit solutions but also activate the former Mall site while preparation and finalization of the Hilltop Horizon Specific Plan is underway.

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Alameda County

Last City Council Meeting of the Year Ends on Sour Note with Big Budget Cuts

In a five to one vote, with Councilmembers Carroll Fife and Janani Ramachandran excused, the council passed a plan aimed at balancing the $130 million deficit the city is facing. Noel Gallo voted against the plan, previously citing concerns over public safety cuts, while Nikki Fortunato-Bas, Treva Reid, Rebecca Kaplan, Kevin Jenkins, and Dan Kalb voted in agreement with the plan.

Published

4 days ago

December 24, 2024

Oakland Post

Oakland City Council voted on a plan to balance the $130 million deficit at their last regular meeting of 2024. The plan reduces police spending by $25 million, temporarily closes two fire stations, and guts the cultural arts programs. iStock photo.

By Magaly Muñoz

In the last lengthy Tuesday meeting of the Oakland City Council for 2024, residents expressed strong opposition to the much needed budget cuts before a change in leadership was finalized with the certification of election results.

Oakland police and fire departments, the ambassador program, and city arts and culture will all see significant cuts over the course of two phases.

Phase 1 will eliminate two police academies, brown out two fire stations, eliminate the ambassador program, and reduce police overtime by nearly $25 million. These, with several other cuts across departments, aim to save the city $60 million. In addition, the council simultaneously approved to transfer restricted funds into its general purpose fund, amounting to over $40 million.

Phase 2 includes additional fire station brownouts and the elimination of 91 jobs, aiming to recover almost $16 million in order to balance the rest of the budget.

Several organizations and residents spoke out at the meeting in hopes of swaying the council to not make cuts to their programs.

East Oakland Senior Center volunteers and members, and homeless advocates, filled the plaza just outside of City Hall with rallies to show their disapproval of the new budget plan. Senior residents told the council to “remember that you’ll get old too” and that disturbing their resources will only bring problems for an already struggling community.

While city staff announced that there would not be complete cuts to senior center facilities, there would be significant reductions to staff and possibly inter-program services down the line.

Exiting council member and interim mayor Bas told the public that she is still hopeful that the one-time $125 million Coliseum sale deal will proceed in the near future so that the city would not have to continue with drastic cuts. The deal was intended to save the city for fiscal year 2024-25, but a hold up at the county level has paused any progress and therefore millions of dollars in funds Oakland desperately needs.

The Coliseum sale has been a contentious one. Residents and city leaders were originally against using the deal as a way to balance the budget, citing doubts about the sellers, the African American Sports and Entertainment Group’s (AASEG), ability to complete the deal. Council members Reid, Ramachandran, and Gallo have called several emergency meetings to understand where the first installments of the sale are, with little to no answers.

Bas added that as the new Alameda County Supervisor for D5, a position she starts in a few weeks, she will do everything in her power to push the Coliseum sale along.

The city is also considering a sales tax measure to put on the special election ballot on April 15, 2025, which will also serve as an election to fill the now vacant D2 and mayor positions. The tax increase would raise approximately $29 million annually for Oakland, allowing the city to gain much-needed revenue for the next two-year budget.

The council will discuss the possible sales tax measure on January 9.