Justin Uwaife hasn't found a job doing anything close to matching his education level, nothing close to helping him comfortably pay off college loans.

In frustration, he said, "I went to college to go into debt."

He is equipped with a master's degree in education, an associate degree in marketing management, and a computer at the Eastside Neighborhood Employment Center in Garfield.

Mr. Uwaife is one of 120 to 130 individuals who visit the employment center every month.

Formerly on the second floor of a bank building, with a revolving door of directors, the center held its grand opening last week at a former health center at 5321 Penn Ave.

It is more accessible, under new management with an influx of funding sources. The Bloomfield-Garfield Corp. moved its Youth Development Center to the location as well.

The center brings expertise from AARP, AmeriCorps, the University of Pittsburgh and numerous nonprofits.

It recently recruited teenagers to work for Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's youth employment summer program and will be the Carnegie Library's computer learning lab during renovations that shut down the East Liberty branch.

It brings corporations, medical institutions and other potential hirers to the center for job fairs. It runs a program for young adults out of high school but not in college. It has taken public school students on hikes and tours of West Penn Hospital and Fallingwater. Its partnership with Wireless Neighborhoods, a 6-year-old nonprofit, focuses on after-school work with children in low-income neighborhoods.

The city spends about $707,000 on the center. The Bloomfield-Garfield Corp. directed $43,700 in Weed and Seed money to the employment efforts this year. Other funds, including those from banks, the state and other nonprofits bring the budget to just under $1 million.

"Our goal is to build as many collaborations as possible," said Rick Flanagan, youth development director for the Bloomfield-Garfield Corp.

Program manager Bill Woodward said the center just finished OSHA-10 training for potential hirees of contractors working with community development groups such as East Liberty Development Inc.

AARP is paying the salaries of Juanita Ross, 63, and Lon English, 60. Ms. Ross is managing the front office, with experience as an office manager at the Centre Avenue YWCA. Mr. English is on the maintenance staff at the center after retiring as a machinist.

"I couldn't stand not to work," he said.

Ms. Ross calls clients to find out how their job search is going, "and we ask if there's anything else we can do to help them," she said. "When we get job leads, we can refer them."

Across the age ranges the center serves, Mr. Flanagan said, "We know of about 20 people who get employment each month. We do phone follow-ups and some people don't call back."

For the first time late last week, Mr. Uwaife gained a little ground in his job search.

"I am starting to get some searches in the right direction," he said. Meanwhile, he is "definitely underemployed" working for a security company. He volunteers as a teacher at the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council.

Nicole Henninger, an employment specialist at the center, said Mr. Uwaife is one of the center's most educated clients but that he needed help on the computer. "We just revamped his resume and he's doing a cover letter," she said.