Program helps finish job training
State, Lehigh Valley schools, others help the ‘near completers’
Eileen Ortiz of Allentown and and Dion Andrews Sr. of Wilson don’t seem like “near completers.” The Lehigh Valley residents have been diligently pursuing high-paying careers, but they have not quite finished earning their credentials.
But to state and local officials, the pair served as models for a program unveiled Monday .
Acting Pennsylvania Labor & Industry Secretary Jennifer Berrier visited Lehigh Carbon Community College to announce Near Completers, a program she said will help Pennsylvanians with partially completed degrees or credentials gain remaining training or skills to find family-sustaining jobs.
The $7 million earmarked for the program will come from the federal government and go to statewide career centers, colleges and community agencies, she said.
Berrier, who became acting labor secretary in December upon the retirement of Jerry Oleksiak, said in general, 4 out of 10 undergraduates drop out, many of them from community colleges.
“If you are one of those individuals, we want you to know that you still have value in those college credits,” said Berrier, noting COVID-19 has put a rush on providing people with the kinds of “rapid reskilling, upskilling and skills transfers.”
Near Completers programs statewide are expected to begin in the fall, according to a news release. They are expected to benefit job seekers who have been displaced from employment due to the pandemic. To qualify, those job seekers also must have been making less than $15 per hour before becoming unemployed.
In Ortiz and Andrews, LCCC and Workforce Board Lehigh Valley sought to highlight students who have demonstrated persistence
and commitment in enrolling in previous programs developed through partnerships with schools like LCCC and Northampton Community College.
Ortiz, who came to Allentown about 15 years ago from Puerto Rico, earned a master’s degree in human resources in 2006, went to work, then left the workforce to care for her daughter, Cristina, a special education student.
She enrolled at LCCC through a CareerLink program and plans to earn a human resources certification in May.
“I’m going to complete the program, and I am looking forward to rejoining the workforce,” she said.
Andrews has participated in a pharmacy technician training program through B. Braun’s Central Admixture Pharmacy Services Inc.
Wearing his white coat adorned with his name and the letters CPhT (for certified pharmacy technician), Andrews is making $19 per hour at CAPS and expressed enthusiasm both for being able to support his wife, Tiffany, and their two children, and for the work partnership.
It appears neither student would be eligible for Near Completers, but that didn’t faze Andrews.
“If I can find a way to utilize this program, I’m doing it,” he said.
More information will be rolled out this month. Once it is available, people can search the Labor Department’s website, dli.pa.gov, for workforce development grants. Lehigh Valley CareerLink is at careerlinklehighvalley.org
The event was held outside the college’s Technology Center in North Whitehall Township, in order to abide by social-distancing mandates. Berrier said it marked the first in-person event for her since the pandemic erupted a year ago.
After the event, Berrier told The Morning Call that her department, which has undergone heavy scrutiny for its handling of unemployment compensation claims, is doing everything it can to address the backlog.
“I never realized all the moving pieces and how complicated the unemployment compensation program is,” said Berrier, whose nomination must be confirmed by state Senate.
Berrier said the system was hamstrung because of layoffs in the department. Since the pandemic, she said, L&I has nearly doubled its workforce to 1,600 to handle claims for unemployment payouts and several other federal programs instituted since the pandemic.
“We continue to build our workforce to address customer service needs and the backlog the department has,” she said.
The $7 million would be separate from the Wolf administration’s 10-year, $3 billion Back to Work PA proposal that was announced last month. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf wants to fund Back to Work PA via a severance tax on natural gas extraction, a move criticized by Republicans and others.