Center will provide youth job training

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - A window of opportunity is opening for high school students and job seekers in downtown Buffalo.

Four local groups are joining forces to create the Buffalo Arts and Technology Center. The facility will take shape at Artspace Buffalo on Main Street.

The new program will have something to offer for both high school students and unemployed adults. The center will hold after-school visual arts programs for hundreds of at-risk students. And qualifying adults can receive training in health sciences.

The courses are expected to help fill certain jobs at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

John R. Oishei Foundation President Robert Gioia said, "This is what we are all about. It's allowing our youth the opportunity to succeed and providing the necessary training to place people in the jobs that they so badly need."

About $3 million in public and private money is expected to help the center open by the end of the year.