Governor Beshear Announces KCTCS Career Transitions Initiative
, - March 24, 2009
Gov. Steve Beshear and Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) President Michael B. McCall announced today a KCTCS Career Transitions initiative designed to provide Kentuckians who have lost their jobs with workforce training in high-growth, high-wage fields.
“The KCTCS Career Transitions program is part of a workforce competitiveness initiative we have launched to enhance Kentucky’s capacity to meet current and future job needs,” said Dr. McCall. “As the primary provider of workforce training and education in Kentucky, we are working to ensure that our programs and services align with both current and future needs of business and industry.”
The KCTCS year-long initiative is being offered through its statewide system of 16 colleges and features a 50 percent tuition scholarship for up to six credit hours per term (spring, summer and fall) in open enrollment courses along with personalized assistance in navigating the college admissions process. Each KCTCS college will provide displaced Kentucky workers with a coordinator to acclimate them to the campus and its resources. The colleges will also provide: a streamlined admissions process; assistance in filing for state and federal financial aid; and advising and training sessions that maximize the students’ opportunity for success and re-employment. Kentucky residents who have become unemployed and have filed for unemployment benefits since Oct. 1, 2008 are eligible for the program.
“Our college is pleased to support the Career Transitions program as part of our continuing focus on workforce development, as well as student and community needs,” said G. Edward Hughes, president/CEO of Gateway Community and Technical College, Northern Kentucky’s KCTCS member college. “Our goal is to provide high quality, affordable, accessible, and inclusive career and transfer education that enables our students to start here and go anywhere – into the work place with highly marketable skills or on to complete a four-year degree.”
John Ferraro is one of those students. A former site manager for a Northern Kentucky cable installation company, Ferraro was laid off from that job in July 2006 after the cable installation business peaked. He enrolled at Gateway to gain new skills and will soon graduate with an associate’s degree in computer-assisted drafting and design. "I've been interested in mechanical drafting since high school, and I'm glad I'm getting back into the work world," he said.
Gateway provides a variety of Career Transitions Services. In a partnership with the Northern Kentucky Workforce Investment Board, the college provides displaced-worker admissions counseling at the two Northern Kentucky One Stop centers and at Gateway campuses.
The college is the largest provider/vendor for Workforce Investment Act training grants that prepare people to reenter the workforce. Gateway is currently retraining more than 50 students, representing a fourth of all persons using WIB educational vouchers.
Gateway also administers a $120,000 grant that supports regional workforce development. Under this grant, a regional workforce development coordinator works with the Indiana, Ohio, and Northern Kentucky WIBs to create regional initiatives, including displaced worker training.
For more information, contact Andre Washington, director of admissions and Career Transitions coordinator, at 859-442-4176 or andre.washington@kctcs.edu.
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