Central Pennsylvania Career Education Partnership (RCEP)

 At a Glance

Purpose:         

• Help youth (in conjunction with their parents and teachers) make informed choices about the education and training they need to pursue high priority occupations. 

• Create and expand career awareness activities and generate increased employer support for these activities.

Design:           

• Convene and connect the existing business education partnerships through a Central Pennsylvania Career Education Network. Coordinated by CPWDC and Penn College Outreach for K-12.

• Make funds available to business education partnerships in the Central Region to support the expansion of existing and/or development of new career education programs for students, teachers and parents. 

Funding:         

• $100,000 PA Department of Labor and Industry

Status:            

• 7 business and education partnerships from around the region have been coordinating activities for teachers, students and employers since August 2007; detailed information on each of the partnership activities can be accessed through the quick links at the left

Contact:          

• Kate Lomax, CPWDC Youth Council Coordinator, 570.522.0600

• Jeanette Carter, Penn College Outreach for K-12, 570.320.8003

 Overview

The proposed Central Pennsylvania Career Education Network focuses on regionalizing the relationships that the Central Pennsylvania Workforce Development Corporation (CPWDC) and other local intermediaries have developed with employers in the Central Pennsylvania Workforce Investment Area of Centre, Clinton, Columbia, Lycoming, Mifflin, Montour, Northumberland, Snyder and Union counties.  The partnership will strategically look for ways to streamline interaction between the region’s business education partnerships, the Workforce Investment Board, economic development agencies/initiatives, employers and facilitate broader participation of the region’s youth in work-based learning opportunities. 

A proposal that connects the region’s various business education partnerships with the Workforce Investment Board (WIB) and providers of services to targeted youth allows for the sharing of best practices across a large geographic area.  While allowing for local innovation, the Career Education Network supports regionalization, minimizes duplication and will expand the impact of activities on students, teachers and parents.  The proposed model also acknowledges that the existing business education partnerships are at various stages of development.

The goals of the Central Pennsylvania Career Education Network will be to:

• Help youth (and their parents) make informed choices about the education and training they need to pursue high priority occupations.

• Create and expand career awareness activities and generate increased employer support for these activities.

While the network itself will be a new undertaking, it brings together a myriad of partners that have been engaged in career education and workforce development activities.  Forming the Career Education Network will bring together the many successes of these separate organizations and allow them to continue to operate as autonomous organizations serving their respective constituencies but formalize connections, communication, resources and activities to reach more youth.

As envisioned, the proposal will include the following elements:

• Convene and connect the existing business education partnerships through a Central Pennsylvania Career Education Network.

• Make funds available business education partnerships in the Central Region to support the expansion of existing and/or development of new career education programs for students, teachers and parents.

 RCEP Activities Include:

• Collaboration with CPWDC to introduce WorkKeys™ assessments for non-college bound high school students to provide work-based remediation and earn work readiness credentials.

• Student, teacher and/or parent linkages to one of the region’s key industry partnerships (Food Processing, Health Care, Factory Built Housing, Plastics, Building and Construction).

• In-service instruction for classroom teachers focused on career education resources and the local skill needs of business and industries in their region.