Private, Public Sectors in a Successful Merger

From time immemorial, politicians have talked about forging partnerships with the private sector to benefit the common good. Often it doesn’t amount to much more than talk, but occasionally--when the business community is properly motivated and the task at hand is within government’s scope--it can work well.

An example of this is seen in the success of the Downtown Job Training Center, a project of the Private Industry Council that has helped train unemployed people to fill hundreds of the jobs created by the opening of Horton Plaza and the U.S. Grant Hotel. The PIC is an arm of the Regional Employment and Training Consortium, created to administer funds provided by the federal Job Training Partnership Act.

Months before the construction of Horton Plaza or the refurbishment of the Grant were completed, the training center was helping unemployed people acquire the skills needed for the new jobs coming downtown.

Now more than 1,300 previously unemployed San Diegans have found work after completing the center’s course. Many have taken jobs with various employers in Horton Plaza, and others will have a chance to work at the new Marriott hotel, opening soon in the Golden Triangle area.

But the business that has been most committed to hiring from this worker pool is the U.S. Grant. The hotel says it has hired 250 employees through the center, about 71% of its work force. Grant managing director Chris Venner said the hotel had planned to hire about half of its staff through the program, but the management was so pleased with the quality of the workers it hired more.

The newly opened Grant is a beautiful hotel, its marble columns highlighting an elegant mixture of the new and the old. One stroll through the lobby tells a visitor it is a place with class. It has also shown class and good corporate citizenship in the hiring of its staff. From the reports we hear and from observing the friendliness and enthusiasm of the doormen, waitresses, maitre d’s and others, we think the Grant not only has done well by the community, but also has done quite well by itself.