September is the month for celebrating workforce development and associated programs and professionals. Workforce Development Professionals Month was created in 2005 by the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals (NAWDP) to raise awareness and bring attention to an industry that is growing and heavily impacting the national economy.
Originally celebrated in May, it was agreed upon to move the month to September starting in 2012. Since, the United States Senate passed a resolution in the fall of 2021 to change the name to Workforce Development Month from the original name of Workforce Development Professionals Month. This year, Northern Pennsylvania Regional College is using this month as an opportunity to celebrate alumni from our workforce development programs and highlight the programs we offer.
Our Child Development Associate (CDA) courses have been some of our largest throughout the history of the college. NPRC has grown to offer multilingual courses in this subject area beginning earlier this year and has helped several program alumni take the next step in their career. One of the more recent alumni is Madison Winters, a current resident of Erie who is enjoying success as a mentor teacher for Creative Learning Childcare in Erie.
“I enjoyed the school and all the flexibility it had to offer,” said Winters about her experience. “I worked full time, attended school, and maintained exceptional grades. My teacher (Stephanie McIntosh) was amazing and took the time to explain everything that I needed help with. It was an overall great experience.”
In addition to our Child Development Associate courses, we have transitioned to offer our applied technology courses within the workforce development space. Stephen Haeseler is a recent alumnus from Erie who spoke about the direction he received from Instructor of Industrial Technology, Frank O’Connell. “He put a lot of effort into what he did. His availability was unprecedented and the support he gave me was absolutely wonderful.”
NPRC also offers courses in emergency medical services (EMS), medical and dental, manufacturing, quality systems and continuous improvement, supervision and leadership, truck driver training, and other customizable programs for employers. One thing that helps NPRC stand out is being able to create customized training programs for local businesses to educate and train the region’s workforce.
Adam Johnson, the college’s Director of Workforce Development, shared insight about how being able to customize training helps NPRC to stand out in this region. “Workforce development goes beyond providing training. We want to ensure the training provided meets the needs of the local employers and employees. In order to meet those needs, we need to be flexible in terms of programming and delivery. This includes conducting a needs assessment, creating a solution, developing the content, and delivering the training. We realize that we need to adapt to the labor market and not expect the labor market to adapt to us.”
For more information about NPRC’s workforce development department, including courses and customized training opportunities, visit regionalcollegepa.org or email workforcedev@rrcnpa.org.
NPRC acknowledges that the information contained in this content is complete and accurate at time of publication. It is descriptive in nature and the college reserves the right to make any adjustments it deems necessary or desirable. Updates to programs, tuition, or other academic-related items will be reflected in the online College Catalog or on the respective College web pages. Questions regarding accuracy of content may be emailed to marketing@rrcnpa.org.