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Connections

Coming up on Connections: Thursday, April 6th

npr.org

First hour: Geneva 2020

Second hour: Reviving careers in the traditional trades

In 2010, the Geneva City School District was on a New York State watch list because of its low graduation rates and other deficiencies. Seven years later, graduation rates are up 14 percent. This is just one of the successes of Geneva 2020, a community-wide initiative aimed at increasing graduation rates, improving literacy, and boosting college and career readiness for all of the city’s students. The team behind Geneva 2020 joins us to discuss the project’s progress and its goals moving forward. In studio at WEOS:

  • Mark Gearan, president of Hobart and William Smith Colleges
  • Matt Horn, Geneva City Manager
  • Trina Newton, superintendent of Geneva City School District

Calling all carpenters, masons, painters, and craftspeople: New York needs you. State and federal tax credits are making it more financially feasible for property owners to restore historic buildings, but there’s a challenge when it comes to finding people with the skills to do the work. While there are veteran craftspeople of the traditional trades in our area, many are approaching retirement, leaving a valuable skills gap. The traditional trades were on the Landmark Society’s “Five to Revive” list last year, and creating more pathways to these careers has been identified as a priority for the New York State Historic Preservation Plan. So how can we inspire and train the next generation of craftspeople? The Landmark Society of Western New York will explore this question during its upcoming “Preservation NYS” conference. Our guests preview the conference and discuss efforts to revive the traditional trades. In studio:

  • Caitlin Meives, preservation planner for the The Landmark Society of Western New York
  •  Wayne Goodman, executive director of the The Landmark Society of Western New York
  • Amy Nicole Swift, principal and owner of Building Hugger
  • Daniel McEneny, public outreach coordinator for the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation

Connections
Evan Dawson is the host of "Connections with Evan Dawson." He joined WXXI in January 2014 after working at 13WHAM-TV, where he served as morning news anchor. He was hired as a reporter for 13WHAM-TV in 2003 before being promoted to anchor in 2007.