MVMC Highlights Success of WorkAdvance Programs

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A new home for the Mahoning Valley Manufacturers Coalition’s Youngstown WorkAdvance program is likely to expose those seeking entry-level positions in manufacturing to future opportunities, the organization’s executive director said.

Earlier this year, MVMC’s WorkAdvance Youngstown cohort relocated its program to Youngstown State University’s Excellence Training Center, which contains a variety of manufacturing training hubs in robotics, machining and additive operations, Alex Hertzer said.

“It’s a really beautiful facility,” Hertzer told MVMC members during its quarterly meeting Thursday. “For our participants, it really opens their eyes to all those other opportunities.”

The WorkAdvance program is a five-week, paid training initiative that helps prepare unemployed or underemployed workers – especially those in underserved populations with little or no industrial experience – for entry-level positions with local manufacturers.

“We are helping them get into an entry-level position, but seeing the machining lab, seeing an industrial maintenance lab shows them that those opportunities are available and accessible,” Hertzer said. This exposure, he added, could empower these employees to upgrade their skill sets as they move forward in their new careers.

Through the first nine months of 2024, the Youngstown WorkAdvance initiative has graduated 56 participants from the program, 39 of whom were placed in good manufacturing jobs, added Christi Dunlap, project manager. 

“Many more applications are pending,” she said.

Last year, MVMC kick-started its Warren WorkAdvance program, Dunlap reported. That program’s four cohorts produced 40 graduates with 22 job placements, she said.

“It’s been an interesting year running two programs very similar to each other, but communities are different,” Hertzer said. “We learned a lot about how the Trumbull County community operates and some of the barriers they have.”

The program works with approximately 20 employers – or “committed employers” – that meet every two months, Hertzer said. These meetings are used to educate these employers on topics affecting underserved populations such as minorities, to inform them on updates and progress of the program, and to receive feedback from these manufacturers.

Among these topics is fair chance hiring, Hertzer said, a method of hiring those with past criminal backgrounds. “We really wanted to educate our employers on fair chance hiring,” he said.

Lola Simmons, executive director of Home for Good, a social services organization designed to reduce barriers and help those who are justice impacted reenter the workforce, said that among the most important steps is for this population to earn a Certificate of Qualification for Employment, or CQE.

“It’s really big,” Simmons said. “The work that we do is about bringing people up from where they are or where they’ve been. That involves getting them employed.”

Under a CQE, employers are assured that a court has determined that employment is necessary for the person to live a law-abiding life, and that granting a CQE petition would not pose an unreasonable risk to the safety of the public or individual.

There are some exceptions, she noted. Those convicted of more violent crimes – such as murder or rape – are less likely to be granted a CQE.

A CQE, Simmons added, also makes it possible for those convicted of a misdemeanor or a felony to petition the state board for occupational licensing. Licensing boards, she said, would not consider those without a CQE or sealed records.

Barry Franks, human resources manager at JetStream International, said the Niles facility has hired three employees out of the WorkAdvance program.

“We wanted to make sure we were giving back to the community,” he said. “Being able to bring people up from where they might have been actually gives back to the community.”

Franks said he’s grateful to MVMC and the WorkAdvance program. “It’s been a big success for our company.”

MVMC members also received updates from the organization’s K-12 youth outreach initiatives, including new equipment such as a 3D welder and a hand-tool test that the organization uses throughout the community during youth events, said Allison Engstrom, project manager.

Other programs over the past three months included STEAM University at Kent State University at Trumbull this summer, advanced manufacturing night at Eastwood Field during a Mahoning Valley Scrappers baseball game and working with Mahoning County Career & Technical Center’s mobile unit.

Pictured at top: Alex Hertzer, executive director of the Mahoning Valley Manufacturers Coalition.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.