PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia is giving $1.2 million to four workforce training programs, in hopes of securing jobs for some 250 students. The jobs are mostly in the medical field but also include some city jobs.
Employers such as Penn Medicine and Temple Health need medical assistants, and thousands of Philadelphians need jobs. The city’s Workforce Solutions Grants are designed to connect one group with the other by funding nonprofits that provide training and certificate programs — such as the Opportunities Industrialization Center.
“We are excited to further our health care program which includes phlebotomy, clinical medical assistant, administrative medical assistant and this allows us to expand our work into behavioral health,” said Sheila Ireland, who leads the OIC.
Not long ago, Trenay Dantzler had no job, was living on unemployment.
“And I was ready to change my life. Now I am an engineer A-1 at the Water Department and I review the utility plans,” Dantzler said.
Dantzler is a graduate of Rodriguez University, a training program started by civil engineer Lou Rodriguez, during the pandemic.
Like the other grantees, Rodriguez will enroll students, including those without high school diplomas or returning citizens, and train them for specific jobs that are understaffed. Most of the students will get medical assistant certificates.
Allyson Saccomandi of Temple Health said there are jobs waiting for them.
“Providing young people across our city not just jobs but foundational roles in the Allied Health field is really important to us,” said Saccomandi.
Other grantees were Congreso, Propel America and Hopeworks, which includes an infrastructure boot camp to create a pipeline to jobs with the city’s Water Department and Department of Streets.
Mayor Cherelle Parker, announcing the grants, said this is what she means when she says “economic opportunity for all.”
“This represents for us upward economic mobility [that] feels impossible right now for a whole lot of people who are living in deep poverty,” Parker said.
Parker has proposed putting $10 million in similar workforce programs, including a city worker college within Community College of Philadelphia.
Workforce Solutions Grants are in their fourth year. Last year, 70 out of the 200 students enrolled in the program got jobs. In 2022, 146 out of 220 students found employment.
The Commerce Department has other workforce programs, including the Workforce Professional Alliance, the Fair Chance Hiring Initiative and Career Connected Learning.
In addition, several other city departments run their own training-to-hire programs.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly spelled Lou Rodriguez's name.