ECTC Workforce Solutions team presents at Facility Managers Meeting

Our thanks to the Elizabethtown Community and Technical College (ECTC) Workforce Solutions Team for presenting at our March Facility Managers Meeting. Presenters at the meeting included Chief Community and Economic Development Officer Mike Hazzard, Apprenticeship Coordinator Rebecca Maddox, Career Skills Program Coordinator Craig Johnson, Director of External Essential Skills Beth Cassity and Workforce Development Liaisons Chistine Shelton, Pam Cook, Mike Barbieri and Melissa Hodge. The meeting took place at ECTC’s Occupational Technical Building and lunch was provided by the college’s Culinary Arts program.
During their remarks, presenters discussed many of the programs Workforce Solutions offers to advance its mission to foster economic development in the region through strategic partnerships and resources, including KCTCS TRAINS, KY FAME, the Fort Knox Army Career Skills Program, the Greater Knox Coding Academy, the Nursing Assistant Extern Program, CDL training, the ECTC Mobile Training Unit and more.
Workforce Solutions helps meet Kentucky’s talent pipeline needs through customized training for business and industry. By collaborating with Workforce Solutions, area employers can increase retention, attract a skilled and reliable workforce, and improve employee productivity and satisfaction. Workforce Solutions offers new-hire to incumbent worker training, apprenticeships, work-based learning connectivity and much more. In fact, through KCTCS TRAINS funding, Workforce Solutions can offset the cost of training by up to 75 percent.
In addition to remarks from the Workforce Solutions team, the meeting also included remarks from Megan Stith, Chief Institutional Advancement Officer at ECTC. Stith discussed a new initiative at the college known as Gearing Up for Manufacturing. The new initiative will focus on solutions to address the shortage of qualified job seekers in the region’s growing advanced manufacturing sector, bolstered by developments such as the emerging BlueOval SK battery park in Glendale.
ECTC Workforce Solutions launched the initiative in August thanks to a $178,000 grant from the Kentucky Workforce Trust Fund. The initiative’s chief goals are raising awareness of careers in manufacturing, providing memorable hands-on experiences that teach about advanced manufacturing and removing barriers to education and training.
As part of Gearing Up for Manufacturing, ECTC has taken several new steps to help fulfill the mission of the initiative, including hiring Patrick Grey, a new recruiter who specializes in hands-on demonstrations for local students both on-campus and in the community. In addition, ECTC is offering paid summer externship programs for middle and high school educators, tours of manufacturing facilities, hands-on industry training from Workforce Solutions, support with project-based learning and more.

ECTC is also offering 360-degree virtual tours of local manufacturing facilities for students through virtual reality technology during engagement events. Kenny Rambo, President and CEO of Heartland Communications, demonstrated this technology with EHCIF Vice President Andy Games during the meeting.
To fund the Gearing Up for Manufacturing program, ECTC is offering two tiers of sponsorships, including a Gearing Up Partner level at $10,000 per year for three years and a Gearing Up Presenting Sponsor level at $25,000 per year for three years. Local employers interested in sponsorship opportunities can contact Stith at Megan.Stith@kctcs.edu and 270-706-8721.
“If we can continue to build these partnerships between K-12, between higher education here at the college and between employers, there is so much potential for us to do even more together to really shine a light on this sector, get people excited about these careers and work on the challenges that are keeping people from these roles,” Stith said.
To learn more about ECTC Workforce Solutions, visit elizabethtown.kctcs.edu/workforce-solutions.
Next month’s Facility Managers Meeting will be held at our Elizabethtown headquarters on Ring Road and will feature speakers from You Decide, Kentucky and the Metals Innovation Initiative.
For more information, or if interested in attending the next Facility Managers Meeting, please contact the Elizabethtown-Hardin County Industrial Foundation at 270-737-0300.