Houston Councilman launches employment website to help fight crime

Another crime-fighting tool is now being used here in Houston

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The new weapon is actually a website that takes you to hundreds of available jobs here in Houston. How does that crackdown on crime? 

"When you think about crime, most times it’s not because people want to commit crimes," explains Houston City Councilman Edward Pollard. "It’s because they may have lack of training, lack of education opportunities, lack of employment."

So in an effort to combat crime, the city councilman, who represents District J on Houston's southwest side, created a new job fair at your fingertips, if you will. All you need to do is only visit the website titled: District J Jobs to access this employment expo, which has hundreds of Houston job openings listed. 

"The great thing about the District J Jobs is it has everything from entry-level positions to job opportunities for those with post-graduate degrees," says Councilman Pollard.

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"This is a website that houses so many different professions in one area. So you won’t have to go from site to site to site." Pollard adds. Some of the employers you’ll find on the site include. "We have the City of Houston as a major employer. We have all of our universities, our public school system, different real estate opportunities, law firms." 

Houston METRO is also hiring and featured on districtjjobs.com. Bus operators, for instance, start at $17 an hour, and METRO Mechanics, $28 bucks an hour. 

"And we’re offering big incentives to attract the best and the brightest. New bus operators will receive a $4,000 incentive pay and new mechanics up to $8,000," says Houston METRO CEO Tom Lambert, and he also points out employees get to ride METRO for free.    

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Speaking of METRO, at all District J bus shelters you can simply scan a QR code on fliers that are now posted to access the new jobs site. "You hold your camera up to this code. You click. It will take you to districtjjobs.com." Pollard demonstrates using his phone.  

"I think that’s the best idea," says Houston Resident Lakorra Mason. "Especially with COVID there are so many people who are unemployed who need jobs and don’t know where to look. So this will be a great resource." 

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