Goal of ‘Work Ready’ grant would see Clinton Schools acquire Clinton Center facility

Posted September 28, 2016 at 9:00 am

An idea that could see several groups working in partnership to provide technical and skills training for the local workforce was previewed this week to a small group of educators, public officials, and business community members.

Clinton County Superintendent of Schools Charlotte Nasief opened the meeting Monday afternoon by informing the group of about 15 in attendance that a pre-application that had been submitted for a grant had been approved, opening the way for the next step in the process, the completion of a full application.

The concept behind the grant falls under the Kentucky Work Ready Skills Initiative, a program announced earlier this year by Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin and Workforce Development Secretary Hal Heiner.

In a press release sent to the Clinton County News earlier this year, the Work Ready Skills Initiative was described as a $100 million statewide bond program that is aimed at developing a “highly trained, modernized workforce in the Commonwealth” that would better meet the needs of employers.

According to Nasief during her introduction Monday afternoon, it would be Clinton County’s hope to enter the program and provide a “one-stop shop” for workforce skills training for students of all ages.

She explained that the concept behind the grant application and the program that would be involved will hopefully see the Clinton County Schools being able to purchase the relatively new facility in the Snow Community of Clinton County that is currently operated by Somerset Community College known as the Clinton Center.

Also presenting additional details at Monday’s meeting was Stesha Flowers, principal at the Clinton County Area Technology Center.

The plan would basically see the Clinton Center being transferred to the Clinton County Schools and becoming a new Clinton County Area Technology Center (ATC) that would partner with Somerset Community College to provide skills training to the local workforce.

The Clinton Center, an ultra-modern facility that was constructed with several vocational training areas in place, is currently being utilized primarily for two areas of skills training, cosmetology and nursing.

Judy Tallent, the director at the Clinton Center, told the Clinton County News on Monday that the nursing program, a LPN training concentrate, utilizes the building five days a week, while the cosmetology program has students in class four days a week.

The Clinton Center is also involved in teaching several students who are working toward various other degrees.

“On Mondays and Wednesdays we offer general education classes for students who are working toward Associates of Arts or Associates of Science degrees as well as students who are trying to meet pre-requisites to apply for many of our other programs,” Tallent said.

Among those classes, Tallent noted that students were taking classes in biology, computer, communications, writing, history, math and psychology among others.

Flowers said that with the proposed program, the offerings that would be available to local and area students would be greatly expanded, especially by bringing skills areas now being taught at the Clinton County ATC such as welding and carpentry among others.

The advanced and larger facilities available for teaching at the Clinton Center facility, would likely allow students to acquire more in-depth educational opportunities in each field as well as specialty certifications that aren’t currently available locally.

She noted that it was often the case that local students who wanted to enter a particular field, when learning that travel to Somerset or London on a daily basis would be necessary, often dropped the notion of continuing their education or obtaining advanced certification.

The proposed expansion of training offerings and certifications, would allow local students to stay at home and would also attract students from surrounding counties who would seek shorter travel distances for training and certification opportunities.

Nasief explained that the grant application for the program in the new Work Ready Skills Initiative would be for about $9.5 million.

She also noted that if approved, a matching amount from the partners involved in the proposed program would be roughly one-half that amount, or about $4.75 million, adding that not all of the match funds would be pledged as a cash match, but could be included as “in-kind” matches.

Nasief further explained that those in-kind matches could be in the form of staffing, transportation for students, and other measures in addition to funding matches.

The Clinton County ATC is approaching 50 years in age, and although the facility has been well maintained, Flowers explained that it’s age alone was a drawback especially in the ability to keep training opportunities technologically modernized.

The current partnership with Cumberland County’s school system that sees the local technology center also being utilized by students from that neighboring community would continue.

Furthermore, with the change in location to the Clinton Center facility, the distance to Cumberland County High School would also be shortened, giving that system hopes of being able to increase the number of students able to take classes at the facility.

Members of the Cumberland County School System were also in attendance at Monday’s meeting as were staff members from Somerset Community College.

At Monday’s meeting, Nasief told the group that she had just that same day received additional instructions from the Education and Workforce Development Cabinet giving details about how to proceed with the next step of the grant application process.

When announcing the Work Ready Skills Initiative, Gov. Bevin noted that the program was being created to meet the needs that were being brought to his attention by employers across Kentucky.

“As I travel the state, I hear repeatedly from employers about the shortage of workers with the skills needed to get the job done,” said Gov. Bevin. “Making this problem worse, is the fact that Kentucky’s workforce, as a percent of its population, is currently one of the smallest in the nation.

According to information released by the Kentucky Workforce and Development Cabinet, grant applications will be accepted through mid-October and grant awards will be announced sometime in November.

The Clinton County proposal is just one of many applications that was submitted for a portion of the $100 statewide allotment.

In all, some 114 pre-applications totaling $540 million in requests were submitted to the Cabinet. Of those, 91 were invited to the next level of completing and submitting final applications for funding consideration.