NEW CASTLE —
(Bill Strickland, the 63-year-old president and CEO of Manchester Bidwell Corp., wants to establish the New Castle Center for Arts and Technology at the vacant Cascade Center at the Riverplex.)
Bill Strickland can identify with the downtrodden and displaced people that his company was designed to help.
That’s because the 63-year-old Pittsburgher was once in their shoes.
Now the president and chief executive officer of Manchester Bidwell Corp. and its subsidiaries, Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild and Bidwell Training Center, Strickland attained success by creating a program to give the chronically unemployed the necessary tools to succeed.
But until his path crossed with a high school art teacher in 1963, Strickland was going nowhere fast.
He grew up in Manchester, an inner-city neighborhood of Pittsburgh. “I’m from a place where guys were getting shot and strung out on drugs,” said Strickland, who was close to dropping out of high school. “I was headed in the wrong direction.”
But things took a drastic turn when he met Frank Ross, a skilled artisan on the potter’s wheel. The relationship that Ross and Strickland initiated with a revolving mound of clay gave form to the vision of Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild.
It began as an after-school arts program in a donated North Side rowhouse that Strickland secured while still a college student at the University of Pittsburgh. In 1969, he graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in American history and foreign relations.
His dream to assist others with job training helped to re-energize them and revitalize an entire city. Now he’s unleashed his program on America.
HISTORY OF SUCCESS
Strickland is replicating the enterprise throughout the country. During the past eight years, training centers have opened in San Francisco, Cincinnati, Grand Rapids, Mich., and Cleveland.
“Long enough so that we have seen the positive results,” Strickland said.
But the model program remains the original, which has been active in Pittsburgh for 40 years. “What I’m proudest of is although we are located in one of the toughest neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, we haven’t had an act of violence or theft at the center for 26 years. And we’ve never had a racial incident.”
“If this country has a future, it’s because of the ability to form visions and partnerships,” Strickland said. “I believe that we can change America. But we’ve got to change the way this country sees itself.”
Strickland wants to include Lawrence County in that change. A presentation earlier this month by local advocates was made to establish the New Castle Center for Arts and Technology at the Cascade Center at the Riverplex. They are seeking the remainder of a state grant received by the city — nearly $2.5 million — to purchase the property at South Mill and East Washington streets. The total budget for the arts and technology center is $5.65 million, which includes operating expenses for the first three years. The center would provide training for unemployed, underemployed and displaced adults along with after-school digital arts, design and ceramic classes for high school students.
A written proposal given to New Castle officials states that a commitment by the city “will solidify the implementation of this project within the downtown area.” The program could be launched in about 18 months.
BUILDING A PARTNERSHIP
Strickland said each center is anchored by community, corporate and philanthropic sponsors.
“The idea is not to ask for a handout, but to establish a sustainable partnership in the community — a symbiotic relationship that ends up producing more than it receives.”
Strickland adds that the attitude of major employers located within each center’s service area is essential to its success. This attitude, he says, has to do with how a company values its assets. Rather than champion the goods or services it produces as its primary asset, a corporation needs to consider its employees as its prime asset, Strickland said, and the community in which it is located as that company’s next important asset. Everything that follows, goods and services included, will reap the benefit in a “pay it forward” fashion.
Strickland, who authored a book entitled “Making the Impossible Happen,” was appointed by President Obama to the newly formed White House Council for Community Solutions. He is nationally recognized as a visionary who delivers educational and cultural opportunities to students and adults within an organizational culture that fosters innovation, creativity, responsibility and integrity.
One of Strickland’s achievements included developing a training program to provide the Bayer Corp. with a skilled labor force that was lacking in the area.
Strickland said prospective students are given an interview. “If you do well, we give you an aptitude test for math and reading. And if you’re not at the high school level, we can get you up to speed in less than a year.”
“The first part of the process is spending time in New Castle and talking to folks to make sure we don’t duplicate something that already exists,” Strickland said. “We want to understand what others are doing and complement those efforts.”
“We put 80 to 85 percent of our graduates into the work force each year, even during this recession,” said Strickland, who noted the national standard is 70 percent.
He said at many graduates work for major corporations in Pittsburgh. “Without the center, I don’t know where some of them would be.”
(Email: d_burcham@ncnewsonline.com)
In the video from the 2002 TED Conference, Bill Strickland tells
a quiet and astonishing tale of redemption through arts, music, and unlikely partnerships.
