» DPI grant:
Funds will bolster efforts of state technical colleges
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction receives a $2 million grant aimed at better preparing high school students to meet the workplace needs of employers.
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has received a $2 million grant aimed at better preparing high school students to meet the workplace needs of employers, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers announced Wednesday.
The three-year grant, one of 10 awarded nationally by JPMorgan Chase through the Council of Chief State School Officers, will be used to bolster existing efforts by the state’s 16 technical colleges and fund a pilot program that collaborates with local industry to expose students to careers as early as high school.
“It’s going to make a difference in kids’ lives,” Evers told education and business leaders at Apache Stainless Equipment Corp., a Beaver Dam manufacturer that is taking part in the new initiative. “It’s a testament to our ability to collaborate and cooperate around making sure kids are college- and careerready and improving our kids’ lots in life.”
The funds will support the DPI’s new Regional Career Pathways Project, in which schools are working to better align their curricula and training programs to local industry needs.
It’s being piloted in four technical college regions: Milwaukee, Madison, Moraine Park in Fond du Lac and Chippewa Valley in Eau Claire.
Funds will be used to hire staff to recruit and connect employers and schools.
The initiative was supported by a broad coalition of education and business organizations, including the Milwaukee, Madison and New Berlin school districts; the CESA Statewide Network; the regional economic development partnership Milwaukee 7 and Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce; and the state Department of Workforce Development.
Other businesses poised to take part include Nexen Group Inc. in Webster in northwest Wisconsin; and OEM Fabricators, which has facilities in Woodville, Neillsville and Phillips.
The JPMorgan Chase funds are part of a five-year, $75 million global initiative to address youth unemployment and workforce needs of its business customers, according to the company.
“We hear every day about the ongoing need to develop careers in businesses that a four-year college doesn’t necessarily give to our children. And this grant was created to really spur that education,” said Michelle Williams, a Wisconsin native and executive director of JPMorgan’s Chicago region.
Apache President Ed Paradowski, whose company has long collaborated with its local school district and technical college, pointed to the experience of employee Nick Buchda, who started as a 16-year-old youth apprentice while at Beaver Dam High School.
“He started on the floor; he was one of our best welders. But he had an interest and aspirations to get into the office,” Paradowski said of Buchda, now an outside sales manager who just this week secured a $10.3 million contract.
“I did some estimating, I learned the (business software) system, then I took on sales roles until I became regional sales manager,” said Buchda. “The youth apprenticeship program ... provided the pathway for me to do that, and manufacturing provided the landscape for me to get here.”