Job training gets money, but little praise

By Timothy Pratt

Wednesday, March 1, 2006 | 7:14 a.m.

A $1.1 million federal grant program to train lower-skilled and non-English speaking workers for Red Rock Resort and other casinos is going fine, or not very well, or is the subject of political infighting - depending on whom you ask.

There are few clear answers.

Concerns include few people taking classes, little to no hires among graduates, a curriculum that cost $50,000 in taxpayer funds but couldn't be seen by the agency handing out the money, and a back-and-forth about whether Nevada Partners, a nonprofit agency with Culinary Union ties, could be part of the program.

Station Casinos, which is a partner in the program, is a nonunion company.

Chester Richardson, vice chairman of the Southern Nevada Workforce Investment Board - the agency that channels the federal money to Community College of Southern Nevada - said he may recommend cutting the grant, mainly, he said, because Station Casinos has not hired any of the 300 or so people who have completed the training since December.

"I'm not recommending spending taxpayer dollars ... if Station is not hiring people," he said.

Red Rock Resort, Station Casinos' newest hotel, is expected to open April 18, at West Charleston Boulevard and the Las Vegas Beltway.

A Station Casinos spokeswoman declined to comment beyond what was in a press release announcing the grant.

The grant pays for a series of free 40-hour classes to people seeking work in any one of 17 job titles, from porter to bartender.

The goal is to train a total of 10,000 workers during three years, the vast majority of whom will be existing Station Casinos workers, according to the grant. The training is designed to help those employees improve their skills and advance within the company.

The 300 people who have completed one of the more than 25 classes offered since the grant's December launch have been off the street, however.

Ardell Galbreth, deputy executive director of the workforce investment board's staff, said many of those classes have had two to five students, a concern because of the $4,800 price tag for each class.

"We're not getting the anticipated numbers," Galbreth said.

A review by his staff completed Jan. 19 recommended that all three principals in the grant - the board, CCSN and Station - "immediately begin to develop an effective media campaign that will inform the general public of this project."

Debra Solt, who is overseeing the classes day to day at CCSN, said she hadn't seen the recommendation but said CCSN and Station already have campaigns to attract more people to the program.

The other issue - whether those being trained are being hired - was not answered with any precision.

Solt said keeping track of hires was the board's job.

Galbreth said, "My first guess is very few have been hired," but that he would have to compile data to answer the question.

Richardson said Station had hired no one from the program.

Additionally, Richardson mentioned problems in pulling Nevada Partners into the grant and in being able to review a copy of the community college's curriculum.

A series of e-mails beginning Dec. 29 among Galbreth, CCSN President Richard Carpenter and Richardson shows Galbreth wanted to include Nevada Partners but was then told by Carpenter that "Stations had made it quite clear that they will not accept non-CCSN training."

In an interview, Carpenter said the issue didn't die there - a conference call came weeks later with the Labor Department, the grant's funding source. Carpenter said the call was "tense" and upheld the idea that a new agency could not be pulled into the grant, essentially because contracts were already drawn up.

Carpenter said there were also conversations on the subject between Sen. Steven Horsford, D-North Las Vegas, and president of Nevada Partners, and Jim Rogers, chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Carpenter said those conversations ensued because Horsford was "not satisfied" with the decision to leave his organization out of the grant.

The CCSN president said allegations that Station was opposed to working with Nevada Partners because of union ties was "absurd."

Horsford would not answer questions about the issue. Rogers did not return calls seeking comment.

Galbreth said having Nevada Partners on board might help bring more people in to the training, since the organization has what he called a "flow of clients" already seeking training and employment in hotels and casinos.

"Logically speaking, Nevada Partners should have a leg up (over CCSN)," Galbreth said.

As for the curriculum CCSN is using to train potential and existing employees, Solt described it as a state-of-the-art program published by the National Association of Hotel and Lodging "that's never been used before."

But David Lee, a Workforce Investment Board member, said his organization was not able to get a copy of the curriculum because it was "proprietary."

"We have a problem with not being able to see the curriculum," he said.

Eventually, he said, a compromise was agreed upon - the board can see the curriculum, but not take a copy of it.

He also said the board was surprised to get a bill from CCSN of $50,000 for "instructional materials" - the cost of the curriculum.

"We would have preferred knowing about it (the price of the curriculum) beforehand," he said.

Richardson said he wants to meet with Station officials and get information on the hires from the program or else he'll recommend terminating the grant.

Timothy Pratt can be reached at 259-8828 or at [email protected].