By La Prensa Staff
Cherry Street Mission Ministries is partnering with local community college programs to offer short-term job training programs in accessible locations. Some of those programs are now enrolling new students who want to pursue a new or different career path.
Owens Community College and Northwest State Community College offers the workforce development career paths that train individuals in various trades and soft skills. Students develop the tools they need to achieve business success. Students invest their time to learn the latest skills, best practices, master technology and how to provide the highest quality of work.
“We’re looking at the whole person and helping them make that transition from being without a home or being in poverty to working toward successful employment and leading a fulfilling life,” Tami Norris, Cherry Street’s VP of workforce development recently told WTOL-TV 11.
Programs include auto technology, building trades, culinary, digital literacy, manufacturing production, office specialist, pre-GED, welding, as well as tool and die. Some of those potential careers pay as high as $25 per hour.
“As these programs have been designed, we’ve worked with those employers. We’re talking to them about the skills that they are looking for—those hard skills, as far as the technical, as well as the work readiness skills that they like to see those employees have, so we’ve incorporated those into our programs,” said Ms. Norris, who formerly worked as a computer training specialist at Northwest State.
The overall program focuses on the underemployed or those looking for a fulfilling career. Students learn in-demand skills that will increase their employability and earning capacity. The workforce development programs also assist with personal plan development, transportation, child care, temporary employment, disability employment and access to social services.
Owens Community College received funding through Ohio TechNet, the Department of Labor, and the Gene Haas Foundation to improve welding and CNC/machining training through its partnership with Cherry Street Mission Ministries. An on-site machine tool technology training program was established in downtown Toledo. Participants will receive a tool and die certificate upon successful completion of training.
For more information about the available programs or to enroll, individuals can call Cherry Street Mission Ministries at 419.214.6776 or go to www.cherrystreetmission.org/workforce-development.