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Power Training
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Metropolitan
Education and Training (MET) Center responds to region’s workforce
development needs.
By C. B. Adams
In January 2001, local business leaders announced the creation of
the Midwest Telecommunications Preparatory Academy (MTPA)—one of
the bi-state region’s first training programs that will prepare
young adults for entry-level jobs in the telecommunications industry.
The goal of the Academy is to increase the number of high-tech skilled
telecommunications workers, increase diversity in the high-tech
skilled workplace and to educate prospective regional trainees about
employment in this industry cluster.
The academy is a $1.3 million public-private initiative between
St. Louis Community College, St. Louis Regional Empowerment Zone,
SBC Southwestern Bell/SBC Foundation, St. Louis County Government
and the RCGA. The first training class began in fall 2001 and 14
students completed the session in January 2002. New classes are
formed every eight weeks.
“A rewarding aspect of my public service is the opportunity to enter
partnerships that forge positive outcomes for all citizens. The
Midwest Telecommunications Preparatory Academy, inspired by Southwestern
Bell Telephone Company, energizes the community, supports the workforce
needs of businesses, and empowers those unemployed and underemployed.
This corporate partner gives credence to a tried and true saying
that, ‘a rising tide lifts all boats,’” says Buzz Westfall, St.
Louis County Executive.
Above:
Students train to operate state-of-the-art computer-controlled
machining equipment.
The Academy was the latest successful development at the Metropolitan
Education and Training (MET) Center, located in a renovated factory
in Wellston. The Center is part of a 67-acre tract scheduled for
major industrial, commercial and residential development. Wellston
is a community undergoing revitalization within the St. Louis Empowerment
Zone.
The MET Center itself is an innovative collaboration between partners
that include St. Louis County, St. Louis Community College, St.
Louis Regional Empowerment Zone, SBC Southwestern Bell, East-West
Gateway Coordinating Council and the RCGA. Since 2000, the Center’s
goal has been to become the region’s premier job training center
and “one-stop shop” for employment training and related services
in the bi-state region. St. Louis Community College oversees and
provides the training at the center and Saint Louis County maintains
the facility.
Worker training has been one of the top priorities of Westfall’s.
As a result, Saint Louis County government has played a central
role in the establishment and growth of the MET Center.
“Buzz Westfall helped coin the name ‘MET Center’ to acknowledge
the facility as a truly regional initiative,” says Joseph Driskill,
director of the Missouri Department of Economic Development. “He
has taken a leadership role pulling together public-private partnerships.”
The Center was established to provide multifaceted training opportunities
and life skills to help prepare workers for jobs in emerging industry
clusters. “We specifically target people who would fall under the
category of disadvantaged or disenfranchised,” says Karen Reece,
director of training programs at the MET Center. “To locate these
people, we perform outreach that includes local clergy coalitions,
battered women shelters, homeless shelters, the Department of Family
Services, area high schools and other community-based organizations.”
The goal of the center is to provide employees who meet the needs
of area employers and to stabilize and enrich the lives of those
who are underemployed or unemployed. “The MET Center specifically
trains people for the work where there are jobs. It is called an
‘agility web.’ If jobs shut down in a particular industry cluster,
the Center won’t train in that cluster. Instead, the Center will
ramp up and train in a cluster with emerging needs,” says Molly
Bunton, special assistant to Westfall.
In addition to the Academy, other current training options include:
- Construction
Prep Center—prepares workers to enter the carpenter, cement
mason, craft laborer, iron worker, operating engineer
or Teamster apprenticeship programs.
- Manufacturing
Technology Learning Center—offers state-of-the-art training
in computer numerically controlled precision machining
and manufacturing.
- A+
Certification—offers personal computer training and test
preparation for one of the most sought-after certification
in the computer industry.
- WorkLink/Project
R.E.S.P.E.C.T.—offers job readiness training and placement
programs that provide jobs and support services to chronically
unemployable people.
- Diesel
Technology Center—St. Louis Community College at Forest
Park offers courses for both certificate and degree programs
in diesel technology.
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“The MET Center
has grown and evolved in recent years. It initially started off
as just a manufacturing training program, but has grown to include
other needed training programs. The training we offer is very hands-on,
industry-specific and real-life. Our participants learn on the instruments
and tools that they will use in the workplace,” Reece says.
Since 1998, the MET Center has enrolled almost 2,300 students, and
approximately 74 percent of students graduate. Nearly 75 percent
of graduates have found jobs with an average beginning wage of $11.16
per hour.
“The Center is certainly a success by any measure,” Bunton says.
“For a while, people thought that a certain segment of our society
was unmotivated, untrainable and uneducable. The MET Center breaks
that myth. When you walk down the halls, you meet people who understand
and embrace the work ethic and who are motivated to be responsible
citizens.”
C. B. Adams is a St. Louis-based writer, communications consultant
and adjunct faculty member at University of Missouri–St. Louis.
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