Career Link offers scholarships for more training
Reprinted from the Quad City Times
By Jennifer DeWitt
After helping hundreds of students hone their skills to land jobs with area manufacturers, a Career Link program now wants to help its graduates move up the career ladder.
Eastern Iowa Community College District said that Career Link will offer scholarships for its graduates to pursue a variety of certificate and other programs.
“We have always worked closely with our business partners to find jobs for our graduates, but now we can also offer them a means for getting training in specific career areas,” said Chris Banker, Career Link’s project director. “This is really a great benefit for our program graduates.”
Students first must successfully complete the Career Link program, have perfect attendance and meet certain income guidelines to qualify for a scholarship. Scholarships will range from $420 to $3,000.
Funding is being provided by contributions from the area business partners and Grow Iowa Valley Funds, state funding received by the community college district.
Banker said the program has a total of $100,000 available for scholarships. “Our goal is to spend it all in a year.”
Since its inception in 2000, Career Link has assisted 685 students by teaching them skills that employers require of all entry-level employees. Launched with help of several Quad-City area manufacturers, the business partners helped identify the required skill sets and then guaranteed job interviews to all the graduates. The students are given preference in hiring, but not promised jobs.
Banker said about half the graduates have continued on with additional training, but he hopes that with the new scholarship program that about 75 percent will continue their education.
Money often was a barrier for further education, he said, adding that a typical Career Link graduate would see pay increase from $6.15 to $10 an hour. “But even with that it’s still hard to make it. We’re trying to get them past the entry-level jobs.”
For instance, he said a Career Link graduate who pursues a welding certificate can expect to begin at $13 or $14 an hour.
The Career Link program now will be separated into a manufacturing and a non-manufacturing program. The manufacturing path is a four-week evening program designed to build skills that manufacturers want in computers, OSHA/safety, teamwork, communication, blueprint reading and industrial math. The non-manufacturing path is a two-week program in computers, teamwork and communication.
“Once a person completes the program, with perfect attendance, they become eligible for a full or partial scholarship in a number of different certificate programs at Clinton, Muscatine and Scott Community colleges,” he said.
The certificate programs for graduates of the manufacturing track include: production welding, industrial electricity, logistics, truck driving, CNC machinist and industrial maintenance. For graduates of the non-manufacturing track, the programs include: child development associate, medical transcription, food service/dietary manager technician, clerk/receptionist, accounting assistant, nurse aide, customer service, home care aid and pharmacy.
Career Link Essentials
Career Link classes are held throughout the year by the Eastern Iowa Community College District.
To get enrolled, students must attend an orientation session and pay a one-time $25 fee that covers both the Career Link program and a Work Keys Job Assessment.
Orientation sessions, which are from 6-9 p.m., are scheduled for:
-- Blong Center, Davenport: Today and Oct. 16, Nov. 20 and Dec. 10 and 18.
-- Graphic Arts and Technology Center, Clinton: Tuesday and Dec. 11.
-- Muscatine Community College: Oct. 15 and Dec. 17.
For more information, contact Chris Banker, (563) 441-4367.