ONONDAGA — Onondaga Community College (OCC) had interest in two different applications that the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) was considering for job-training funding. One was the school’s individual application for funding. The other was a funding request from a consortium of community colleges in the State University of New York (SUNY) system that had […]
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ONONDAGA — Onondaga Community College (OCC) had interest in two different applications that the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) was considering for job-training funding.
One was the school’s individual application for funding. The other was a funding request from a consortium of community colleges in the State University of New York (SUNY) system that had submitted an application to the USDOL.
U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) had announced his support for the SUNY application during a visit to Byrne Dairy’s pasteurization plant in DeWitt on Sept. 22.
The USDOL made its grant announcements in late September.
“The SUNY grant, unfortunately, was not funded,” Casey Crabill, OCC president, said in speaking with reporters on Sept. 30. She was responding to a question from the Business Journal News Network.
The federal government did, however, award OCC a $2.5 million grant for job training in the agribusiness food-processing industry after reviewing the school’s individual application.
OCC announced the grant award in a Sept. 29 news release posted on its website
“Under this grant funding, those are separate streams. They don’t compete with each other,” said Crabill.
The funding comes from the USDOL’s Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grant program, OCC said in a news release.
The school plans to focus on the workforce-development needs of local employers and workers in the agribusiness and food-industry sectors.
It’s a “growing field,” said Crabill.
“It was cited in our region’s economic-development plan as a field for the future. I think that’s part of the reason our grant was successful is that we’re very tied in to a lot of community efforts in this industry already,” said Crabill.
OCC plans to refer to its program as the CNY Future Opportunities Onondaga Delivers Pathway Initiative (CNYFOOD), according to a news release about the OCC grant funding that Schumer’s office distributed on Sept. 29.
The school plans to partner with employers, nonprofit organizations, and the state of New York to develop the program, Crabill said.
The federal funding became effective Oct. 1, the beginning of the federal government’s new fiscal year.
“The first year is essentially a planning and curriculum-development year,” said Crabill.
The school hopes to create five “competency-based” learning programs that include food science, safety, and quality assurance; food production and processing; distribution and logistics; “train the trainer” supervisory training; and hospitality and food service, according to an OCC news release on the grant.
Those completing the program will have the skills to pursue more than 2,400 annual openings in Central New York and an estimated total of more than 12,600 jobs by 2020 at wage rates that “exceed regional averages for entry- and medium-skilled workers,” according to OCC.
Partners
The school has partnered with area employers on the job-training effort.
They include the Lysander location of Brecksville, Ohio–based Agrana Fruit US, Inc; Salina–based American Food & Vending; LaFayette–based Byrne Dairy, Inc.; Geddes–based Decorated Cookie Co.; Food Bank of Central New York; Van Buren–based G&C Food Distributors, Inc.; DeWitt–based Giovanni Food Co., Inc.; and Lynnfield, Mass.–based HP Hood LLC, which operates a location in Oneida; and Tops Friendly Markets.
Additional partners include CNY Works; New York State Department of Labor; CenterState CEO; the Work Train Collaborative, a local workforce-development initiative; Catholic Charities; Southwest Community Center; Small Business Development Center; JOBSplus!, a partnership between OCC and the Onondaga County Department of Social Services; the Troy, N.Y.–based Workforce Development Institute, which operates a local office at 731 James St. in Syracuse; the Manufacturers Association of Central New York, and the Onondaga Farm Bureau.
The list also includes education-sector partners, such as the Cornell University College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Morrisville State College, the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
OCC also lists partners that include the Global Food Protection Institute and International Food Protection Training Institute, which are headquartered in Battle Creek, Mich.; Washington, D.C.–based Grocery Manufacturers Association.
The community partners will help OCC develop “appropriate” training for the partner companies involved, said Crabill.
“The training has to meet employer needs, so we’ll be pulling employers in to make sure we understand exactly what kind of training people need but also the nonprofit side, which will help with referrals to our programs to get the right students into our programs,” said Crabill.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
