Community Services Consortium (CSC) is using stimulus money for an accelerated course in fabrication/welding designed by CSC staff to train dislocated workers in 20 weeks instead of the year and half normal course time. The goal is to get the 12 adult dislocated workers enrolled back in the workforce as soon as possible to resume their normal lives.
CSC’s Workforce and Education program designed the 20-week course by consulting the local community employers “We did a lot of research before we designed this class,” said Sue Mcguire-Thompson, Operations Manager for the CSC Workforce and Education Program. “By consulting local employers, we found the field that needed workers and we found what qualifications the workers needed to get jobs."
The dislocated workers, now half-way through the course, are learning to read blue prints, design work to specifications as well as other fabrication skills in addition to welding. “It is my dream come true,” said one participant. “This is just the training I need. And after being laid off from work, I realize an often heard saying is true – ‘When one door closes, another door opens’.”
