Richland Community College’s Industrial Job Skills Training with Essential Skills, a program within the EnRich project, has been awarded the 2019 Illinois Council of Community College Administrators Innovation Award.
The program was recognized for its innovative approach to training delivery methods, combining the Industrial Job Skills Training (IJST) with Essential Skills. The IJST program not only provides basic technical skills in Welding, CNC, Occupational Safety, precision measuring tools, hand tools, Technical Math, blueprint reading, and heavy equipment operation; it concentrates on the Essential Skills that are indispensable to making the most out of life and work.
According to Courtney Carson, Executive Director of External Affairs, “Essential Skills is an amalgamation of life skills, job readiness, and a trauma sensitive practice termed Motivational Interviewing. In this training, Richland combats the trauma that is associated with the participant’s psychologically, and teaches important skills that participants require for success in work, learning and life.”
In just over a year the program has seen some outstanding results with 95% of IJST graduates receiving employment with various manufacturing companies and 100% of employed Essential Skills Training students remaining employed after three months.
Dr. Cristobal Valdez, President, noted that the EnRich program was designed and developed to change lives by offering quality training that connects individuals to employment and livable wages resulting in stronger communities. He said, even we have been a bit surprised by the extremely high levels of completion and employment persistence that have resulted from the EnRich project and we are dedicated to continuing these and other training programs that we believe can exact positive change for both the participants and the communities Richland serves.
Valdez and John Oliver, Director of Workforce Development, accepted the award at the ICCCA conference in East Peoria.