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When PN Hoffman Inc. and its development partner begin construction on the Southwest waterfront next year, they will need to hire nearly 3,000 construction workers and thousands more to work permanently at the mixed-use destination on the Washington Channel.
As it frequently does with private partners, DCwill require Hoffman and Baltimore-based Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse to attempt -- a key word -- to hire DC residents for 51 percent of new jobs. The question is: Will they be able to find qualified employees?
They don't plan to chance it. The developers, the city and a nonprofit are creating an organization, known as a work force intermediary, that will identify the jobs required and train residents for them. Hoffman-Struever is providing $1 million to start the nonprofit, which will try to raise money on its own and, if successful, help place workers with other projects and industries too. A planning board is already in the works, and the nonprofit expects to hire a chief executive officer by the end of the summer.