Muhlenberg College Receives $100K Government Grant For Workforce Investment
U.S. Senators Rick Santorum (R-PA) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) announced that Muhlenberg College has been awarded $100,000 to establish the Muhlenberg Resource Center.Wednesday, March 26, 2003 00:25 PM
U.S. Senators Rick Santorum (R-PA) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) announced that Muhlenberg College has been awarded $100,000 to establish the Muhlenberg Resource Center. Funding will enable Muhlenberg College to partner with the Lehigh Valley Workforce Investment Board, the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation and the Lehigh Valley Partnership in an initiative that will accomplish two major goals: (1) to measurably enhance ability of the Lehigh Valley Workforce Investment Board to improve the quality of its services to employers, unemployed and dislocated workers, and (2) contribute to the efforts of all three partners to enhance the number of local job opportunities for unemployed and dislocated workers.
The funding is part of the Fiscal Year 2003 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Act.
The announcement was made March 26, at a meeting of the Lehigh Valley Workforce Investment Board meeting at CareerLink Lehigh Valley.
“This is important and exciting for the Lehigh Valley,” says Nancy Dischinat, Executive Director of the Workforce Investment Board. “Our goal is to increase the job opportunities and keeping the Valley an economically productive region.”
The Muhlenberg Resource Center will be charged with surveying and assessing the Lehigh Valley Workforce Investment Board’s 3,000 employers and 30,000 clients to determine satisfaction relevant to workforce development initiatives. Results will insure the efficient delivery of appropriate services to the unemployed and the local business community.
Dr. Christopher Herrick will be the Director of the Resource Center, which will be part of the political science department. It will incorporate the College’s Institute for Public Opinion and utilize the College’s existing Global Information Systems.
In addition, the Center’s skilled staff and existing geographic information system will contribute to the efforts of the Lehigh Valley Partnership to create a consistent and compatible computerized mapping of the Lehigh Valley’s 65 municipalities. Information from this undertaking will enhance efforts begun by the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission to market the existing Lehigh Valley workforce to current and potential Valley businesses.
“Our interest is to augment, and not duplicate, the fine workforce development services and programs currently available in the Lehigh Valley,” says James Steffy, interim president of Muhlenberg College.
