The Monroe Community College Foundation has been awarded a $320,000 grant from JPMorgan Chase to create a middle-skill bridge program and expand accelerated certificate programs at Monroe Community College.
The grant is part of a larger, $1 million JPMorgan Chase investment to support advanced manufacturing training programs in four upstate New York regions—Albany, Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse. The grant is associated with the firm’s New Skills at Work initiative, a $250 million commitment to address skill gaps in communities around the world.
In collaboration with JPMorgan Chase, MCC aims to increase the pool of qualified workers available to employers in high-demand, middle-skill workforce clusters where skill gaps exist within the Finger Lakes economy.
A portion of the grant award will go toward developing a middle-skill bridge program, aimed at ensuring participants are academically prepared prior to their enrollment in one of MCC’s accelerated certificate programs, including a planned accelerated certificate in mechatronics to be launched in fall 2016. Individuals will receive intensive developmental education to improve their literacy and math skills. Upon completion of the bridge program, they will begin their accelerated training. The accelerated programs enable students to earn a certificate in half the time and gain employment upon completion.
Mechatronics is a multidisciplinary field that incorporates engineering, mechanics, electronics and other technical work.
The grant will also enable MCC to bolster its labor market intelligence efforts and conduct a more holistic assessment of the region’s workforce climate. It will allow for an expanded collection and analysis of data on MCC graduates and the local workforce and for broader dissemination of regional labor market information. Among MCC’s initiatives is the creation of a one-stop online resource designed to serve anyone in the community seeking accurate and timely data-driven information on middle-skill occupations within the Finger Lakes region. The website will promote regional planning targeted at closing the middle-skill gaps in the workforce as well as create a strategic framework for addressing the gaps, such as providing educational requirements for specific careers.
Photo caption: From left are Todd Oldham, vice president of MCC’s Economic Development and Innovative Workforce Services; Richard Warshof, development chair of MCC Foundation Board of Directors; Cecelia Tanaka, Sandy Wolcott (vice chairman of the Northeast region), Divani Lopes-Little, Debbie Gentile, Hollie Calderon and David Gooding, all with JPMorgan Chase; Dan Burns, chair of MCC Foundation Board of Directors; and Diane Shoger, executive director of MCC Foundation.
Hency Yuen-Eng
Marketing and Community Relations
06/12/2015
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