Cleveland City Council’s Workforce, Education, Training and Youth Development Committee Visits MAGNET Headquarters

Apr 05, 2023

Cleveland City Council’s Workforce Education, Training & Youth Development Committee organized a tour of the recently opened MAGNET headquarters. MAGNET’s headquarters, located at Chester Avenue and East 63rd Street in Midtown, operates as a  manufacturing hub —a hub that officials predict will create 30,000 jobs and boost the regional economy by $40 billion by 2032. 

Cleveland City Council, recognizing the need to prepare Clevelanders for the manufacturing jobs of the future, approved financial support to MAGNET with Ordinances 93-2023, passed on Monday, April 3, 2023, and 885-2021, which was passed on October 25, 2021. 

WEYTD committee members Chair Jasmin Santana (Ward 14), Vice-Chair Stephanie Howse (Ward 7), Deborah Gray (Ward 4), Charles Slife (Ward 17), Jenny Spencer (Ward 15), and Joe Jones (Ward 1) toured the new MAGNET facility. Council members Kris Harsh (Ward 13), Danny Kelly (Ward 11), and Michael Polensek (Ward 8) also toured the facility with the WETYD committee. 

MAGNET’s headquarters are located in the former Margaret A. Ireland Elementary School, which served as the preschool of Councilwoman Stephanie Howse. The renovated facility serves as a manufacturing training hub for a variety of ages, ranging from high school seniors to middle-aged and “more experienced workers.” 

Thus far, MAGNET has partnered with John Marshall HS, Lincoln-West HS, Garrett Morgan HS, Collinwood HS, Ginn Academy, and East Tech HS to earn credentials and college credits to prepare them for the jobs of the future. 

Monday’s tour demonstrated that manufacturing careers have evolved, and are no longer the dirty, grimy careers that come to mind for many. During the tour, council members interacted with a robotic dog, viewed autonomous/self-driving carts, participated in line work, and created Ohio-shaped cookie cutters. In true school fashion, they even enjoyed recess on a STEM playground. 

MAGNET works with small and mid-sized companies in northeast Ohio and is working to connect Clevelanders to more than 3,000 open manufacturing jobs in Cuyahoga County, with an average salary of $82,000. Through apprenticeships and hands-on learning, MAGNET is working to make that happen.

For more on MAGNET, and its apprenticeships, mentorships, and job-training opportunities, visit https://www.manufacturingsuccess.org/