Three local employers have received state awards for outstanding workforce development success that will be presented at an upcoming conference, the Luzerne/Schuylkill Workforce Investment Board has learned.

Michael Foods/Papetti’s Hygrade Egg Products of Klingerstown, Dollar General of Wilkes-Barre and Lowe’s Home Improvement of Pottsville will receive their awards at the 2012 Annual Employment, Training and Education Conference in Hershey, presented jointly by Pennsylvania Partners and the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. The awards will be presented to employers during a special Employer Awards Luncheon held during the conference on May 17.

(Wilkes-Barre, PA, April 12, 2012) A recent launching was held at Wilkes-Barre Area School District's Kistler Elementary swimming pool on March 31, 2012. The event was part of Arbor Education & Training seventh and eighth grade STEM (Science Technology, Engineering, and Math) project known as Robotics 101.

Twenty four students designed and built watercraft utilizing only corrugated boxes and duct tape as raw materials. Teams comprised of three to four students built the watercraft to bear the weight of the team of builders. Many of the designs were quite stylish and were capable of enduring a two minute circuit of the pool. The boats were the product of six weeks of labor including instruction on concepts including calculating volume, density, and displacement. Each team presented their respective boat concept and then determined if the craft would stay afloat. Each craft was successfully launched and stayed afloat.

This Saturday morning program is a partnership with the Wilkes-Barre School District, Arbor Education and Training, and the Luzerne Schuylkill Workforce Investment Board through an award of TANF Development Funds.

Students in the program are also involved in a literacy and financial literacy program made possible though this funding. 

(Wilkes-Barre, PA, April 12, 2012) The local office of Volunteers of America (VOA) presented  a “Dinner with the Professionals,” an event that is part of Learning Works, a new VOA program designed to increase the involvement of local families in their child’s education, teach students skills that lead to school success, and present information on a variety of career options.  More than 100 people were in attendance, including fifth through eighth grade student participants from the Wilkes-Barre Area School District, their parents, and siblings.

The program took place on Tuesday, April 10, in the Sheehy Farmer Campus Center at King’s College. The program provided the students an opportunity to speak with professionals from the communications, law enforcement and athletics field.  Meanwhile, their parents received information from the Commission on Economic Opportunity and PA CareerLink®’s  EARN (Employment, Advancement and Retention Network).

Learning Works is an innovative after-school and in-home program that combines weekly family visits from a VOA staffer with one-on-one tutoring and mentoring for 33 students from Dodson Elementary, Kistler Elementary, and Meyers Junior/Senior High schools. Since late January, King’s College students and faculty members have served as tutors and mentors who have been visiting the campus once a week since January. The weekly home visits from one of the program’s Learning Coaches provide tutoring for all school-age children in the home, and help families set and reach monthly goals geared toward school success and family bonding.

Local school officials have indicated they have witnessed positive changes in homework assignments and classroom focus among the participants. The students have learned about a number of career fields from guest speakers at their weekly on-campus sessions and site visits to date, including social work, law, engineering, public service, emergency response, farming, and restaurant management.  Each student will complete a project detailing a career that interests them: they will each give a presentation at the program’s conclusion in June.

Funding for the Learning Works program comes from the Luzerne Schuylkill Workforce Investment Board (LSWIB). The LSWIB receives TANF Development Funding for youth aged 5-18.  This is one of four programs being funded through the LSWIB in program year 2011.

For additional information about the VOA program , contact Shannon Doyne of at 825-5261.

(PINE GROVE, PA, March 12, 2012) – A U.S. Congressman and state representative toured the cleanup of the September 2011 flood-ravaged sections of Pine Grove, Schuylkill County, today with members of the Luzerne/Schuylkill Workforce Investment Board to assess the progress being made by federally funded programs.

Congressman Tim Holden and state Rep. Mike Tobash visited several sites in Pine Grove, meeting with the workers and learning more about the $1,050,255 National Emergency Grant being administered by the L/S WIB in Schuylkill and Luzerne counties.

Holden and Tobash said they were impressed with the progress that has been made to assist communities with cleaning up debris along creeks and waterways, with Holden saying the ongoing work in Pine Grove is “a good investment of federal money.” Eight locations in Pine Grove that were severely affected by the flooding are part of the recovery project.

Pine Grove was among the local communities in Schuylkill County hit hard by the flooding from Tropical Storm Lee and Hurricane Irene. Many communities in Luzerne County were devastated and are receiving assistance as well.

Through the National Emergency Grant, 100 temporary jobs have been created with all workers receiving training through the WIB. The funding will enable more than 50 projects to be completed in Luzerne County across 15 municipalities and the county itself. In Schuylkill County, more than 25 projects in 12 municipalities and additional county-owned property will be completed.

Workers for the projects are selected through Pennsylvania CareerLink offices for engagements of approximately six months. Additional workers are trained and ready to continue progress on the projects. The WIB hopes to place the temporary workers into permanent positions. In fact, several of the workers have already found permanent jobs.

The WIB has applied for an additional $1.7 million in funding for projects in Schuylkill and Luzerne counties and is waiting to hear from the state if the funding has been approved. The money would create 44 more jobs, for which the WIB has already selected projects that need to be completed.

(WILKES-BARRE, PA, January 23, 2012) – Workers hired through a National Emergency Grant (NEG) have been deployed throughout Luzerne and Schuylkill counties during the past month to repair damage to public property by the 2011 twin floods of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee.

As a result of the floods, the Luzerne/Schuylkill Workforce Investment Board (L/S WIB) secured a $1,050,255 National Emergency Grant that temporarily expands the services of the Workforce Investment Act Dislocated Worker Training and employment programs at the state and local levels. The funding responds to the needs of dislocated workers and communities affected by large, unexpected economic events. This grant opportunity not only delivers temporary employment opportunities to numerous unemployed Americans, but also builds the capacity of the workforce investment system in the months to come while assisting in economic recovery to communities affected by the devastating flooding from the catastrophic storms.

PA Sen. John P. Blake, a member of the Senate Labor and Industry Committee, sought information and input directly from a group of job seekers in hopes of finding new ideas that may help the unemployed.

In November, the senator joined members of the PA CareerLink® Job Club of Wilkes-Barre at one of the group’s weekly meetings in the PA Wilkes-Barre CareerLink® office.