It could be months before the Majestic Star casino starts building on the North Side, and a year or more before it does most of its hiring, but community officials have begun discussing potential job benefits for a needy population.

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Mark Fatla, executive director of the Northside Leadership Conference, told other members of the city-county gaming task force yesterday about an employment agreement the neighborhood umbrella group signed last year with Majestic Star owner Don Barden.

It states the conference will identify and recruit suitable workers and guide them into training programs as part of a broader agreement covering various issues. The conference will not do actual hiring for Majestic Star, Mr. Fatla said, but is to have a contract where it would receive payment for preparing qualified workers.

Mr. Barden committed to give hiring preference to low-income residents of the North Side and other parts of the region whose community development block grant designations target them for help, Mr. Fatla said. Mr. Fatla said the casino's location next to Carnegie Science Center would make many North Siders likely candidates to work there, though not exclusively.

"We wanted to get low-income people into living-wage jobs," Mr. Fatla said. "We're trying not to be selfish, about not just holding these for the North Side, but we figure [neighborhood residents] have a leg up because of the proximity."

He and Community College of Allegheny County officials have begun discussing course offerings for the fall that may be good preparation for those hoping to enter the casino industry, such as learning more about hospitality and accounting issues. He expects one-day workshops to be offered months from now, under a heading such as "So You Think You Want to Work in a Casino?" for people interested in hearing from the casino and education officials about employment needs and issues.

Among the obstacles that could affect many low-income job applicants is a Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board prohibition on casinos hiring anyone with a felony conviction in the prior 15 years.

Mr. Fatla said individuals will have to be counseled in how to get such records expunged, build up their math skills and take other steps to satisfy a future casino employer.

Uncertainties exist about details of some of that, Mr. Fatla said, but not about interest in the 900 to 1,200 jobs the Majestic Star says it will provide. A consultant to the state gaming board estimated 80 percent of employees would be from Allegheny County.

"I've got people wanting to give me their names all the time," Mr. Fatla said. "It's a new industry, and any time there's a new industry, there's opportunity."