DCCC earns grant to help expand education and business partnership
MARPLE » A bump in state support will help Delaware County Community College prepare its students for the local workforce.
State Department of Labor and Industry Secretary Jerry Oleksiak came to the college’s Marple campus to announce a $100,000 Business-Education Partnership grant to the Delaware County Workforce Development Board, a portion of the $2.4 million in grants that went to workforce development boards across the state.
Gov. Tom Wolf formally announced the grant awards Thursday morning, calling it the investments a way to “ensure our students have the skills they need to succeed in today’s economy.”
The workforce board will partner with the workplace development company Educational Data Systems Inc. to expand the two-generation career exploration and education program that serves Delaware County adults and high school students interested in manufacturing or health care careers. The program has been active for six years.
“The partnerships that we’re seeing here today and the opportunity that that’s giving to so many of the residents in Delaware County, high school age, adults, the opportunity to learn the skills they need to be a key part of the workforce,” said Oleksiak.
Educational Data Systems Regional Director of Operations Roe Falcone said the grant took a threepronged approach to educate and train people for high priority occupation. Step one was career panels at area high schools; step two was a career awareness fair held at DCCC; and industry-specific boot camps complete with curriculum vetted by, and with the collaboration of employers, was step three.
“The boot camp presented hands-on activities, allowing students to explore career pathways in the industry they prefer,” said Falcone. The boot camps took place over the last summer, and will continue in the next couple of months for adults in the county.
“All of these efforts build a pipeline to the manufacturing and health care field. It’s critical that employers in the region have the talent needed to be successful. By providing the education and training for individuals in the county, we are helping to close the skills gap and provide the region with a better, more prepared workforce that will yield such positive results for our community.”
DCCC has three degree and nine certificate programs for manufacturing and 10 nursing degree programs plus five more certificate programs in that discipline. According to Labor & Industry, 564,000 people were working in manufacturing as of November 2019, down 5,000 positions from the year prior.