In a building created as the living memorial to Paul Wellstone, it only makes sense that labor have a permanent presence, Glen Johnson figures.
So Johnson, business manager and financial secretary for Operating Engineers Local 49, wants to introduce union members to the goals of the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Center for Community Building, and to persuade them to write a check to help make the center ? and labor?s role ? a reality.
An open house to benefit the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Center for Community Building will be held Thursday, April 29, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the office of Operating Engineers Local 49, 2829 Anthony Lane South, St. Anthony Village. For more information or to make a contribution, call 612-788-9441.
Johnson?s hope is that labor will donate enough money that at least part of the building can carry the ?union? name.
?I don?t know yet what we?d call it, but I?d like to see us raise enough to name a room,? he said.
A history of services
The Wellstone Center will be the new home of Neighborhood House, a West Side community center that has served as ?the Ellis Island of St. Paul? for 107 years.
In its history, Neighborhood House has served more than 50 ethnic groups. It currently provides a wide range of services for youth and adults, immigrants and citizens ? including emergency assistance, long-term social services, child care, youth and family activities, English and other targeted educational courses, AmeriCorps programs, scholarships, and meals delivered to seniors.
Demolition of the center?s current building is scheduled to begin in May; a wrecking ball already has hit a satellite office building. Groundbreaking for the Wellstone Center could begin as early as June, with completion targeted for fall 2005, Johnson said.
Because the center will be the official memorial to the late senator and his wife ? who died in a plane crash Oct. 25, 2002 ? most of the money from the new building already is committed from government sources. Congress appropriated $10 million; the State of Minnesota and City of St. Paul are contributing $5 million each. That leaves about $7 million to raise; a fund drive has been going on for a year and a half.
Union training opportunities, too
The current building not only is too old and too small, but ?the structure couldn?t be altered,? said Johnson, who is also a board member of Neighborhood House. ?It wasn?t feasible to work in there any more. We couldn?t do all the things that needed to be done.?
The Wellstone Center will expand classrooms, meeting rooms, computer capabilities, and space for education, recreation and community programs. It will be ?built union? under a project-labor agreement, Johnson said.
The new building also provides an opportunity for an unusual training program, he said. The Saint Paul Building and Construction Trades Council is using a special workforce training grant to place 10-12 minority workers into union apprenticeship programs, then assign these apprentices to the Wellstone Center project.
An open house to benefit the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Center for Community Building will be held Thursday, April 29, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the office of Operating Engineers Local 49, 2829 Anthony Lane South, St. Anthony Village. For more information or to make a contribution, call 612-788-9441.
Adapted from The Union Advocate, the official newspaper of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. E-mail The Advocate at: advocate@mtn.org
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In a building created as the living memorial to Paul Wellstone, it only makes sense that labor have a permanent presence, Glen Johnson figures.
So Johnson, business manager and financial secretary for Operating Engineers Local 49, wants to introduce union members to the goals of the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Center for Community Building, and to persuade them to write a check to help make the center ? and labor?s role ? a reality.
An open house to benefit the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Center for Community Building will be held Thursday, April 29, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the office of Operating Engineers Local 49, 2829 Anthony Lane South, St. Anthony Village. For more information or to make a contribution, call 612-788-9441.
Johnson?s hope is that labor will donate enough money that at least part of the building can carry the ?union? name.
?I don?t know yet what we?d call it, but I?d like to see us raise enough to name a room,? he said.
A history of services
The Wellstone Center will be the new home of Neighborhood House, a West Side community center that has served as ?the Ellis Island of St. Paul? for 107 years.
In its history, Neighborhood House has served more than 50 ethnic groups. It currently provides a wide range of services for youth and adults, immigrants and citizens ? including emergency assistance, long-term social services, child care, youth and family activities, English and other targeted educational courses, AmeriCorps programs, scholarships, and meals delivered to seniors.
Demolition of the center?s current building is scheduled to begin in May; a wrecking ball already has hit a satellite office building. Groundbreaking for the Wellstone Center could begin as early as June, with completion targeted for fall 2005, Johnson said.
Because the center will be the official memorial to the late senator and his wife ? who died in a plane crash Oct. 25, 2002 ? most of the money from the new building already is committed from government sources. Congress appropriated $10 million; the State of Minnesota and City of St. Paul are contributing $5 million each. That leaves about $7 million to raise; a fund drive has been going on for a year and a half.
Union training opportunities, too
The current building not only is too old and too small, but ?the structure couldn?t be altered,? said Johnson, who is also a board member of Neighborhood House. ?It wasn?t feasible to work in there any more. We couldn?t do all the things that needed to be done.?
The Wellstone Center will expand classrooms, meeting rooms, computer capabilities, and space for education, recreation and community programs. It will be ?built union? under a project-labor agreement, Johnson said.
The new building also provides an opportunity for an unusual training program, he said. The Saint Paul Building and Construction Trades Council is using a special workforce training grant to place 10-12 minority workers into union apprenticeship programs, then assign these apprentices to the Wellstone Center project.
An open house to benefit the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Center for Community Building will be held Thursday, April 29, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the office of Operating Engineers Local 49, 2829 Anthony Lane South, St. Anthony Village. For more information or to make a contribution, call 612-788-9441.
Adapted from The Union Advocate, the official newspaper of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. E-mail The Advocate at: advocate@mtn.org