Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today joined Forest City Ratner Companies Chairman and CEO Bruce Ratner to announce a plan to fill approximately 2,000 jobs at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn using the City’s Workforce1 services. Priority hiring for the jobs, which will include full- and part-time positions, will be for residents of Brooklyn Community Boards 2, 3, 6 and 8, graduates of Brooklyn United for Innovative Local Development’s training program, and New York City Housing Authority residents of Ingersoll, Whitman, Farragut, Atlantic Terminal, Wyckoff Gardens, Warren Street, Lafayette Gardens and Gowanus Houses. Job fairs will be held in June, July and August in locations near the arena to fill the majority of the positions. Beginning next week, Forest City and Barclays Center partners, including AEG, which will assist in the management of operations for the Barclays Center, and Levy Restaurants, which will oversee all food services, will meet with local community boards and elected officials to discuss hiring plans. The Mayor made the announcement at the Barclays Center construction site and also was joined by Borough President Marty Markowitz, Department of Small Business Services Commissioner Robert W. Walsh, New York City Housing Authority Chairman John Rhea, Brooklyn United for Innovative Local Development President James Caldwell and Charlene Nimmons, Executive Director of Public Housing Communities, Inc.

“Tens of thousands of people will soon come to the world-class Barclays Center, and that means more economic growth, more tax revenue, and more jobs,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “Local residents should have every opportunity to get these jobs, and we are working closely with Forest City Ratner to make sure that happens.”

“We are very excited that we are close to opening and even closer to hiring,” said Bruce Ratner. “From the start, we’ve been focused on how Barclays Center and the larger Atlantic Yards project can provide opportunity for the people of Brooklyn. Over the next few weeks and months, we will be posting approximately 2,000 jobs, everything from food service to security and ticketing, as we prepare for the arena’s grand opening on September 28^th.”

The Nets also announced that they have completed their corporate relocation to Brooklyn. The Nets, together with the sales and marketing team for Barclays Center, have 150 employees working in their corporate offices at MetroTech in Downtown Brooklyn. As of last week there were 837 construction workers on the site, including 442 from New York City and 186 from Brooklyn. In addition, contracting purchases to date on the arena have exceeded $550 million, with 16.3 percent going to minority-owned business enterprises and 6.3 percent going to women-owned business enterprises.

As many as 800 people will work at the arena at any given event, and it is expected that there will be more than 220 events a year at Barclays Center. Each employee will be trained by the Disney Institute which, as part of its comprehensive and customized approach to Barclays Center, will offer unique experiential services and best practice training for arena staff. Once the arena has opened, Forest City Ratner will report quarterly on the number of employees and the neighborhoods that they are from.

“Under Mayor Bloomberg's leadership, Downtown Brooklyn is thriving, and the opening of the Barclays Center this September will be another catalyst for long-term growth,” Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert K. Steel said. “This project will also have an immediate impact, with 2,000 jobs created in a matter of months.”

“Bringing the Nets to Brooklyn means more than exciting, in-your-face basketball with a Brooklyn attitude – it will create 2,000 sorely-needed full- and part-time opportunities for jobseekers, with priority placement for Brooklynites in the neighborhoods and NYCHA housing surrounding Barclays Center,” said Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. “Kudos to Mayor Bloomberg, Bruce Ratner, Commissioner Walsh, Chairman Rhea and all of their partners for ensuring that the Nets and Barclays Center provide not just ‘lobs’ – but jobs.”

“We will work closely with FCRC, BUILD and the Housing Authority to ensure that local residents know about these jobs and benefit from this project,” said Department of Small Business Services Commissioner Walsh. “The arena will provide a great diversity of employment, which means greater opportunity for a wide range of people.”

“The New York City Housing Authority applauds  the Mayor, Forest City Ratner, the Barclay’s Center partners and our sister-agency SBS for their commitment to the neighborhood, especially in connecting local residents to meaningful employment with opportunity for growth at the new arena. This is, and will continue to help build a strong future for so many NYCHA families.”

“New York’s economy gets stronger every time we put another New Yorker back to work,” said President, CEO, & Commissioner of Empire State Development Kenneth Adams. “With nearly two thousand new jobs being filled with the help of the State Department of Labor’s Jobs Express Website, we are creating an extraordinary employment opportunity that will make an immediate and lasting impact in the lives of families and communities that need it most. Under the leadership of Governor Cuomo, and working with our partners in New York City government and the private sector, we are building the foundation for a brighter economic future for all New Yorkers.”

Scheduled to open in September 2012, Barclays Center will be a major sports and entertainment venue in the heart of Brooklyn. Developed by Brooklyn-based real estate developer Forest City Ratner Companies, and designed by the award-winning architectural firms AECOM and SHoP Architects, Barclays Center will have one of the most intimate seating configurations ever designed into a modern multi-purpose arena, with unparalleled sightlines and first-class amenities. Barclays Center will offer 18,200 seats for basketball and up to 19,000 seats for concerts, and will also have 100 luxury suites, four bars/lounges, three clubs, and a restaurant. Located atop one of the largest transportation hubs in New York City, Barclays Center will be accessible by 11 subway lines and the Long Island Rail Road.

Barclays Center will host an extensive variety of events, including premier concerts, monthly major professional boxing cards, top college basketball, family shows, professional hockey, and NETS Basketball. Some of the special programming that is already scheduled includes JAY Z, who will open the building on September 28 with the first of his multiple concerts, Andrea Bocelli, Barclays Center Classic men’s college basketball tournament, Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball Championship, Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, Legends Classic, Islanders vs. Devils game, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and Disney on Ice, and the New York Masters equestrian show jumping. Current programming alliances with Barclays Center include Golden Boy Promotions, IMG, Feld Entertainment, Lagardère Unlimited, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. In addition to Barclays, the naming rights partner, founding partners for Barclays Center include Cushman & Wakefield, EmblemHealth, Foxwoods Resort Casino, MetroPCS, and Stolichnaya. Other sponsors include: Anheuser-Busch, The Coca-Cola Company, Haier America, HighPoint Solutions, LIU Brooklyn, New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge, Phillips-Van Heusen, Tyco, and Willis.

Job openings are also posted online at www.BarclaysCenter.com