| A community technology center established by Passaic County Community College and its community partners is helping to expand the capacity of Paterson, New Jersey's small businesses, service providers, and residents. The center, which operates from a renovated, city-owned building, is being designed to advance Paterson's efforts to stimulate economic development and attract private investment to a State-designated Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ).
The community technology center aims to serve all sectors of Paterson's economy. Businesses will use the center's multimedia laboratory and educational access television center to explore the use of technology applications. Service providers will conduct job training in the center's fully equipped computer training laboratory. Residents will acquire technology and job skills while gaining access to jobs with local businesses. In addition, the center is expected to demonstrate a model for resource sharing among the city's social service providers, which will conduct outreach activities from the building.
Paterson was the Nation's first planned Industrial City, once known throughout the world for its production of silk and for innovations such as the steam engine, the submarine, and the Colt revolver. However, the decline in American manufacturing hit Paterson hard and it has yet to recover. The lack of large, stable employers and the proliferation of low-paying, service-sector jobs have limited the economic opportunities available to local residents, and the city's unemployment rate now stands at 20 percent above the national average. Minorities and immigrants make up 90 percent of the population.
The HSIAC grant is being used to renovate the center's building, establish the multimedia laboratory, and conduct community outreach and job-training activities. The college's community partners will help fund center operation. Those partners include the City of Paterson, the Hispanic Multipurpose Center, Eva's Village, the Greater Paterson Opportunities Industrialization Center, and the Paterson Small Business Development Center. A total of more than $430,000 has been leveraged for the project.
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