Mercedes Wilson was live inside the Northland Workforce Training Center. She spoke with Carolyn Storms-Stolt, vice president, enrollment and organizational advancement and Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown. Northland is the signature workforce initiative under the Buffalo Billion. They are an extension campus with two schools. All of their programs are set-up so they are 80% hands-on and 20% classroom. Carolyn says what makes Northland a little different than a typical college, because this is a college, is that each student is assigned a student success team, so they have outreach.” After outreach which will help you find out which program is best for you, they have admission and financial aid counselors that will help your through the enrollment process as well as career coaches and finally placement. They offer tours to the public every Tuesday at 6pm, Wednesday at 10am and Thursday at 4pm and you can find out more about their programs.
Mayor Brown says this has been a unique partnership between the city and the state. The city has a great relationship with the state of New York. He goes on to say this has been working, putting people into living wage, family sustaining jobs.
Inside Northland there is a restaurant called Manna. Mayor Brown says it is one of the best restaurants in our entire region, maybe one of the best in the state. He says people come to Manna from all across Buffalo and Western New York and beyond because the food is so delicious. Mercedes spoke with executive chef and co-owner of Manna Dale Holt and co-owner Reginald Ingram. They have been at Northland for three years now. Dale Holt says, “We’re not just soul food, we are cooking for the soul.” He goes on to say we are so fortunate to have some great young chefs that team with us. They have 14 chefs and on the weekends, Dale says it is all high school students who work there.
For more information go to Northlandwtc.org
