Erie Together's Career Exploration and Pathways Efforts Close Out the Year STRONG!
Erie Together convenes and facilitates the Erie County Career Pathways Alliance (ECCPA), which is shepherded by a cross-sector Leadership Team and includes several industry advisory groups. Below are some pretty impressive recent highlights of this dynamic network! Want to be part of it? Contact Mary Bula at mary@erietogether.org!
Working with Intentional Focus LLC, we created a “Skilled Trades Showcase” video that features four skilled trades unions with a presence in Erie County. These include the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 56, United Association of Plumbers Local 27, United Association of Steamfitters Local 449, and United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers, and Allied Workers Local 210. The seven-minute video can be found here!
Next, we created more focused videos on each of these four unions and will be moving into coverage of additional skilled trades unions shortly. We are distributing all these videos widely through our school districts and other ECCPA partners, and through the skilled trades representatives in our region. All videos, as they are created, can be found here!
The Skilled Trades Showcase video and the first four more focused videos were supported 100% by the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor as part of an award totaling $37,000.00 with 0% financed from non-governmental sources. Erie Together secured this funding in partnership with NWPA Job Connect.
In December, our Career Street director facilitated several skilled trades-related tours for local students and chaperones, including trips to the United Brotherhood of Carpenters Local 420 in Pittsburgh, and the roofers, plumbers, and steamfitters training centers. More than 70 students representing several school districts took part.
In September 2023, we launched the fourth of our industry advisory groups, with this one focused on the Human Services Career Pathway. The group has met several times and is focused on developing and deploying impactful career exploration experiences in each of the five industry clusters included in that pathway: Education & Training, Human Services, Hospitality & Tourism, Law & Public Safety, and Government & Public Administration.
Additionally, we recently facilitated several Human Services-related tours for students and chaperones, including trips to the Erie County Courthouse and Erie County 9-1-1 Center which highlighted careers in government and public safety, the Erie County Department of Human Services which highlighted human service careers, and PennWest Edinboro, which highlighted teaching careers. Approximately 100 students benefited.
Our human service-related efforts have been made possible through a grant from Erie County government.
We recently launched and are now piloting a new student log-in for our Career Street career exploration platform so students (in addition to educators and employers) can access the wealth of career-related informational resources housed on our site.
And finally, working with national consultant YouScience, in June of 2023, we finalized our local Profile of a Graduate. School districts are now using this to evaluate and refine activities within schools to help develop the attributes reflected in the profile, and Erie Together will be using the resource to solicit the community’s assistance in doing the same.
The collaboration among employers, educators, and workforce developers on career exploration experiences and career pathways development has never been stronger, and we always welcome newcomers! Want to be part of a winning initiative? Email mary@erietogether.org!