Thank you so much for being here and thank you for the work that you're doing. We were just together earlier. EMSCO is in Councilmember Jones' district in West Philadelphia. After hearing this full conversation, do you have anything to add about what we really need to do as a city to prepare our workforce and what role the City of Philadelphia can play in that?
I think it's just essential that our young people really see for themselves what's available to them and what opportunities exist and that this industry calls for more than just Ph.D.s or M.D.s, but it calls for men and women who are genuinely interested in assuming a career in life science. We need to really educate them on what exactly is life science. All 3/25/24 - COMMERCE - RES. 240031 right? So we need to make it -- we need to deliver a message that it's palatable to everyone, not just the researchers at Penn or Temple, but young men and women in schools, in high schools across the City. I started my career at -- I was a student at WB Saul High School years ago, and at that time, I knew -- I became interested in science. I knew I was good at it. And so along with my parents and teachers, many teachers encouraged me and said, hey, you could do it. That's what we need to be intentional about, is encouraging our students, letting them know they're capable and they can achieve in the sciences, and then give them some idea what these careers look like. Here in Philly, West Philadelphia, as I said, we've been in existence since 1980. We just completed a new 70,000 square foot facility that we built from the ground floor up, and we 3/25/24 - COMMERCE - RES. 240031 welcome all of you to come and see it. We had the pleasure of having the Councilwoman there this morning along with Councilman Curtis Jones. And that's just an example of what men and women with a like-mind and like-thought can do, and ultimately to employ men and women of all communities in Philadelphia to work in this thriving economy.
Thank you so much. We're really proud of you and we hope to help you grow even more. Thanks so much for being here today.
Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Oates. Just one question. Have you seen -- you've been listening to the testimony today. Have you seen similar issues around workforce development at your particular company and finding the right people to do those jobs? 3/25/24 - COMMERCE - RES. 240031
What I find most challenging -- and thank you for your question, Councilman Young. What I found most challenging is finding men and women from across the City of diverse backgrounds. I remember at one time I needed someone -- this is probably about five to six years ago. I needed an account manager to handle the account at the University of Pennsylvania, and that called for a person to come and to actually walk the halls and to meet with researchers, and I needed -- I preferred someone of color. So I put a call out to -- I think I used Indeed. And I was flooded, flooded with resumes, but, you know, as a minority company, we want to try to do our best to identify men and women of color to work in the life science industry, because historically it's white dominated. And so we wanted to identify men and women of color to work in this space. But we had many, many candidates that applied, but no one 3/25/24 - COMMERCE - RES. 240031 of color, quite frankly. And so that's been our biggest challenge, is to really find men and women from Black and brown communities throughout Philadelphia who are able to work and who are skilled and able to assume a role within the company. So now we've been -- what I've tried to do is to look at the talent that's coming out of schools. I ended up hiring a young Hispanic woman out of Thomas Jefferson University to fill that role, and she came to me through a recommendation from someone else.
Thank you. Thank you so much for your testimony, and we really appreciate everyone's testimony today on this great subject. Thank you, Councilmember Gauthier, for your hard work and bringing 3/25/24 - COMMERCE - RES. 240031 this to the attention of the City as a whole and looking forward to improving it and making it better. There being no further questions from any members of the Committee and no other witnesses to testify, I'll ask if there's anyone present in this hearing whose name we have failed to call and wishes to offer testimony on this resolution being considered today? (No response.)
Hearing none and seeing none, this concludes the business before the Committee on Commerce and Economic Development. We will now recess the hearing to the call of the chair. Thank you all very much for your attendance. Have a great day. - - - (Committee on Commerce and Economic Development concluded at 5:22 p.m.) CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. -------------------- MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)