Blair Milo, the former mayor of LaPorte, who left that position to fill in the recently created state cabinet seat secretary of career connections and talents, addressed the crowd at Inventrek, which included Mayor Greg Goodnight, Howard County Commissioner Paul Wyman, State Rep. Mike Karickoff and other officials.
2017 saw 30,158 new job commitments across Indiana – a new record, she said. 2018 is poised to surpass that number.
“It’s exciting to be able to see that kind of growth, but as we’re thinking about things here today of how we develop those talent pipelines to be able to fill those opportunities, it’s key for us to focus on the solutions that help develop those pieces that connect the talent to the opportunity. And what’s the fastest way to do that? It’s growing Earn & Learn programs,” Milo said.
Tony Stewart, owner of SHC, teamed up with Carrie Lively, state director of Apprenticeship & Work-Based Learning, to form the new program that offers high school juniors certified nursing assistant (CNA), phlebotomy and Lean 6 Sigma certifications on top of job training.
“My background’s in education and I’m very familiar with the limitations of students getting into the healthcare field, being that across the state of Indiana really the only way a high school kid can get into the world of CNA or healthcare is by going to a career center and going through that model,” said Lively.
High school seniors in the Earn & Learn program will continue to build on that experience and earn further certifications.
“Students are graduating from high school withseven credentials, 10 whole credits with Ivy