ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2014 Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk said Monday he hopes to capitalize on massive layoffs among federal government workers to add more talent to the city’s “amazing workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allentown is the second municipality \u2014 after Kansas City, Missouri \u2014 to join Work for America\u2019s Spotlight Cities program, \u201ca really cool partnership\u201d that could be \u201ctransformative,\u201d Tuerk said.<\/p>\n
The organization is set to help the city pitch itself to more than 11,000 displaced workers through its Civic Match platform while modernizing Allentown’s hiring systems. <\/p>\n
Job seekers have a \u201cchance to build a real future in a place like Allentown.”<\/p>\n
Caitlin Lewis, Work for America executive director<\/p>\n
More than 2,300 candidates \u201care actively looking for government jobs in Pennsylvania,\u201d according to Work for America Executive Director Caitlin Lewis.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can effectively tell the story [of] the city of Allentown, we can bring in a phenomenal group of people to help meet the needs of our residents,\u201d Tuerk said.<\/p>\n
‘Love of place’<\/p>\n
Allentown city government has only about 10 open jobs, but it soon will have to replace upcoming retirees and deal with regular employee turnover, Tuerk said.<\/p>\n
Those positions represent opportunities for candidates and for the city.<\/p>\n
Job seekers have a \u201cchance to build a real future in a place like Allentown,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cThere’s affordable living, there’s a walkable downtown, a thriving arts and food scene. <\/p>\n
“And most importantly, there’s a government that’s bold, that’s collaborative, and that’s ready to do things differently.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trevor Tormann, a senior planner for the city, said Allentown\u2019s 900 or so employees have a deep \u201clove of place.\u201d<\/p>\n
And they are enabled to demonstrate that love and \u201cleave their mark\u201d on the city through their work, Tormann said.<\/p>\n
\u201cInnovation comes from unlocking the potential that people have.”<\/p>\n
Mayor Matt Tuerk<\/p>\n
Those \u201cmeaningful opportunities\u201d to contribute are key reasons many employees are proud to work for the city, according to Tormann.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a place where you can innovate,\u201d Tuerk said, noting his administration is constantly looking for ways to \u201cinnovate in government services.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cInnovation comes from unlocking the potential that people have,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2014 Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk said Monday he hopes to capitalize on massive layoffs among federal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,3557,3551,121,3552,120,3558,3559,3553,3556,3560,3554,3555],"class_list":["post-3912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-city-workforce","tag-allentown-government","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-jobs","tag-allentown-news","tag-allentown-spotlight-city","tag-allentown-work-spotlight-city","tag-mayor-matt-tuerk","tag-work-for-america","tag-work-for-america-cities","tag-work-for-america-program","tag-work-for-americas-spotlight-cities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}