News

View the complete W-JET 24 Story from Reporter Ken Brown here.

 

Donning scrubs and stethoscopes, 22 culturally diverse teens will host a health fair Friday, July 30, to demonstrate the skills they learned this summer during Mercyhurst North East’s (MNE) innovative Health Career Explorers Camp.

The health fair, scheduled from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Michele and Tom Ridge Health and Safety Building on the North East campus, will feature an assortment of booths and presentations on healthy living along with blood pressure screenings. The students have invited their families and friends, with upward of 100 people expected, including representatives of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, which funds the camps through the local Northwest Pennsylvania Workforce Investment Board (NWPA WIB).

Now in its fourth year, the summer camp series – one week for middle school students, one for high school, and one for returning camp participants who stage the annual health fair – has reached 250 minority students, providing them with hands-on experience in nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, medical lab technology, respiratory therapy and emergency medical response training. The campers work on human patient simulators, visit hospitals, and conduct medical histories of residents at Parkside Retirement Community in North East. The students often leave with an aspiring interest in a health occupation, which is the overarching goal of the program.

Research shows that reaching students in middle school and early high school creates a commanding learning experience that can be a life-changer. “Young people, and especially minority children, aren’t aware of all the marvelous career opportunities in health care. Our camps give them an experience where they can actually see themselves being a nurse, a paramedic or a medical lab technologist. And that’s pretty powerful,” said Dr. Linda Rhodes, director of Mercyhurst’s Hirtzel Institute on Health Education and Aging, who has spearheaded the development of the camps. 

Rhodes said this fall the institute will begin a study to determine how many of its campers have gone on to pursue health careers after high school. One such student, Corey Dantay Johnson, a 2010 graduate of Strong Vincent High School who wasn’t sure what he wanted to do after graduation, has earned a four-year college scholarship to study physical therapy. He credits the Mercyhurst program for piquing his interest and prompting his decision.

Each graduate of the camp receives a $2,000 scholarship toward any program at the college once they graduate from high school. Throughout the academic year students may also attend “Health Career Retreats” at the college, which offer activities to help them with their studies in high school and nurture their interest in a health care career.

“Healthcare will be one of the most in-demand occupations in our region over the next three to five years," said Michele Zieziula, chief executive officer of the Northwest Pennsylvania Workforce Investment Board. "It's why we proudly support this effort to help prepare our youth to enter the workforce in these careers.”

On hand at the event will be Rhodes, camp directors Elaine Stanton and Michelle Lukasiak, and Marion Monahan, chair of the Division of Nursing and Allied Health at MNE.

The 2010 High Priority Occupation (HPO) List for the Northwest Pennsylvania Workforce Investment Area is now available.  The PA Department of Labor and Industry's High Priority Occupation Policy can be viewed here.

To compete in today’s global economy, businesses need a skilled workforce, and our citizens need increasingly higher levels of education and knowledge. In the past, too many workforce education and training programs in Pennsylvania were not aligned with the actual skills required of jobs in our economy. The commonwealth’s workforce development strategy works to change that by targeting education and training dollars to High Priority Occupations, or HPOs.  For additional information on High Priority Occupations visit the PA Workforce Development sub page on this topic here.


To view the Northwest PA WIA list by SOC Code click here.

To view the Northwest PA WIA list alphabetically click here.

The PA Department of Labor & Industry has issued this guidance on Unemployment Compensation (UC) in response to questions from employers and contractors involved in PA's Way to Work initiative.  To view the guidance click here.

The US Department of Labor has announced $119.6 million in funding allocations for Trade Adjustment Assistance to states to assist workers who lose their jobs due to outsourcing and foreign trade. These allocations are from the second distribution for fiscal year 2010 and represent, along with previously distributed initial allocation and reserve requests, approximately 90 percent of the total amount available for TAA training for this year. The remaining funds are being held in reserve by the Labor Department for distribution as needed at the end of the fiscal year.

The TAA program seeks to provide workers with the opportunity to obtain the skills, resources and support needed to become re-employed. These funds will be used to provide career training and pay for associated administrative costs. They will be distributed by July 15. 

Trade Adjustment Assistance Webpage

View a complete listing of allocations by State here.

Among the 22 National Fund sites, which also include Rhode Island and 20 metropolitan areas, the Pennsylvania Fund is unique in that it brings together foundations and United Ways in four regions of the Commonwealth - Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Erie, and South Central Pennsylvania. In all of these regions, local projects supported by local philanthropy are helping to create new pathways into the middle class.They are also reinforcing Pennsylvania's bipartisan commitment to creating strong skill-development partnerships with employers in key industries, including health care and the green economy, construction and utilities, building services and hospitality.
 
In Erie, with funds from the Erie Community Foundation, the Northwest Healthcare Industry Partnership is test-driving a new approach that enables low-income community members to land entry-level health care jobs with great career opportunities.  
 
"The orientation, assessment, and job shadowing provide information so that jobseekers can make good choices, and we can meet applicants who are interested in working at the hospital," said Ed Pietkiewicz, Human Resources Manager at Millcreek Community Hospital. "This progressive approach has really made a difference: we've already hired a number of applicants this year."
 
In Pennsylvania's electric, water, and gas utilities, the Keystone Utilities Partnership, with funds from The Foundation for Enhancing Communities, is a unique statewide effort that brings employers and unions together to address skill shortages and grow green jobs. In the past year, the Partnership leveraged a grant from the Pennsylvania Fund to identify 100 entry-level job openings at Pennsylvania American Water, PPL, UGI and in the IBEW Northeast Apprenticeship and Training lineworker program.
 
"These unionized jobs pay family-sustaining wages and include benefits," said Stu Bass, Director of the Keystone Development Partnership."Now, the Keystone Development Partnership is tapping labor and management subject matter experts to help design pre-employment training that gives new workers the skills to succeed."
 
In addition to investing in individual partnership projects, the Pennsylvania Fund brings industry-led partnerships together to learn from one another and to receive guidance that has helped Pennsylvania access $10 million in America Recovery and Reinvestment Act dollars for green "Pathways Out of Poverty" projects.
 
The Pennsylvania Fund has also been a champion for institutionalizing Pennsylvania's state investment in innovative workforce partnerships known as Industry Partnerships. The support of the Pennsylvania Fund, business leaders, and other workforce advocates contributed to the Industry Partnerships legislation receiving the unanimous support of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and the Senate Labor and Industry Committee earlier this year.
 
"The Industry Partnerships program has been very successful for both employers and employees, and we should continue to offer this program in the future to build a strong, skilled workforce," said Pennsylvania Senator Mike Brubaker. The legislature will have the opportunity to make this legislation law when lawmakers return from the summer recess in September.
 
"Millions of Americans are desperately seeking jobs with wages and benefits to support their families," said Fred Dedrick, National Fund Executive Director. "The National Fund for Workforce Solutions, exemplified by the work of the Pennsylvania Fund, shows that when communities truly understand what skills employers are looking for, they can develop innovative initiatives to deliver the necessary training and education to workers and job seekers."
 
The Pennsylvania Fund for Workforce Solutions and all of the funding organizations that comprise The National Fund for Workforce Solutions are the recipients of the 2010 Distinguished Grantmaking Award for Collaboration, bestowed by the Council on Foundations. To learn more about the National Fund, visit www.nfwsolutions.org. To learn more about the Pennsylvania Fund, go to www.pfws.org.

Please be advised that on August 4, 2010, 10:00 AM, North Office Building, Hearing Room One, SEPTA and the Dept of Transportation will hold a hearing on public transportation during which the disability community is welcome to give testimony and/or support.

This hearing presents an opportunity for the transit industry with its unions, passengers, businesses dependent on public transportation for employee transportation to work, and industries which support the public transportation industry to testify to the importance of public transportation to individuals, to the community and to the economy. 

Please make every effort to contact your customers and partners and urge them to attend this hearing.  If our legislative leaders see the faces of individuals dependent on and impacted by public transportation:

•           commuters

•           senior citizens

•           persons with disabilities

•           union leaders

•           corporate executives

•           medical center executives

•           industrial park representatives

•           drivers/union leaders

The necessity of addressing public transportation funding gaps and the impact of failing to remedy them would be clear and compelling.

The Employment and Training Administration has published the workforce system results for January 1 - March 31, 2010.

ETA notes in the introduction:

Record numbers of participants are being served by the workforce system in response to the demand for services created by the continuing economic challenges our Nation faces as individuals seek more assistance with income maintenance as well as skills upgrades and job search assistance. The programs highlighted reinforce ETA`s commitment to good jobs for everyone -- helping people find good jobs and connecting employers to qualified workers. This commitment supports the Department of Labor`s strategic goals of preparing workers for good jobs and ensuring fair compensation, ensuring workplaces are safe and healthy, assuring fair and high quality work-life environments, securing health benefits and, for those not working, providing income security and fostering fair working conditions in the global marketplace.

In February 2009, President Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). This legislation provides unprecedented opportunity for the Workforce System to help our nation`s workers retool their employment skills to reconnect to jobs. Results from these additional funds added to the workforce investment system by the Recovery Act are included in the Workforce Investment Act program results.

I In general, this overview presents program outcomes and results for the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter in the prior year. Although many programs report common performance measures outcomes, several programs have specific performance measures. A glossary of performance measures, included in this overview, provides specific definitions for each program. Common performance measures, applicable to many of ETA`s programs, focus on gaining employment, employment retention, earnings, and other elements to ensure that the nation`s youth, adult, and dislocated workers have the skills necessary to succeed in a global environment. For further information about this overview, individuals are encouraged to contact the Officce of Policy Development & Research at (202) 693-3700.

View the document here.

The Northwest Pennsylvania Green Economy Taskforce (NW PAGE) has received the Green Power: Turn it On! Award from Citizen's for Pennsylvania's Future (PennFuture).  For additional information please visit the NW PAGE Ning site.

The 2010 - 2011 Northwest Pennsylvania Workforce Investment Board meeting calendar is now available.  All meeting dates/times are subject to change.  Please contact the RCWE Office at 814-333-1286 for the most up to date meeting information.

View the .pdf version of the calendar here.