Governor Tom Wolf joined the opening celebration today of the Johnson Controls Inc. (JCI) Commercial HVAC Pathways Vocational Lab. The North Philadelphia facility in the Energy Coordinating Agency’s (ECA) Knight Green Jobs Training Center will prepare high school students, reentrants and underemployed workers for good heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVACR) careers in the growing clean energy economy.
The Department of Education provided a $277,500 grant through the Job Training and Education Program to support the new lab.
Governor Wolf has launched an ambitious and bold strategy for Pennsylvania to have the strongest workforce in the nation. The governor’s initiatives include:
- Creating PAsmart, a new innovative $30 million investment in STEM and computer science education, apprenticeships and job training that prioritizes partnerships among schools, employers and communities. The governor is proposing an additional $10 million for PAsmart to expand job training to more adult workers.
- Proposing the Statewide Workforce, Education, and Accountability Program (SWEAP) in the 2019-20 budget. SWEAP builds on the success of PAsmart to provide opportunities for Pennsylvanians from birth to retirement. The plan expands access to early childhood education, increases investments in schools, and partners with the private sector.
- Establishing the Keystone Economic Development and Workforce Command Center that brings together commonwealth agencies and the private sector address the skills gap, worker shortages, and other workforce challenges.
- Establishing the Keystone Economic Development and Workforce Command Center that brings together commonwealth agencies and the private sector address the skills gap, worker shortages, and other workforce challenges.
- Starting the Manufacturing PA Initiative to support critical training in the important sector of that economy.
- Joining the Skillful State Network, a nonprofit initiative of the Markle Foundation to emphasize the importance of skills so workers, particularly those without four-year college degrees, can get good jobs in the changing economy.
