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Erie Opportunities Industrialization Center crew working on the Bayfront Ballet Studio, Erie, PA, 1978.
Credit: Courtesy of the Erie County Historical Society
Founded by Baptist minister Leon Sullivan in 1964, the Opportunities Industrialization Center became an important provider of job training for African Americans in Philadelphia. By the late 1960s OIC, supported by the federal grants, had established centers in eight other cities, including Harrisburg and Erie.