ICTC Gets $200,000 State Grant for Electrical Operations Program

State Department of Community and Economic Development Secretary Rick Siger has announced a $200,000 Manufacturing PA Training-to-Career grant award to the Indiana County Technology Center (ICTC) to support a new Electrical Occupations Program available to all students in grades 10 through 12 in Indiana County.

School officials said the program was developed in response to local manufacturers who expressed a need for trained employees in areas of electric motor controls, AC frequency drives, motor starter circuits, temperature sensing, process control circuits, and programmable logic controls.

ICTC will launch the three-year program, which will contain all the competencies required by local manufacturers, during the current school year. Through existing relationships with local manufacturers and its cooperative education program, ICTC will ultimately provide a student pathway to employment upon completion of the program.

“The Training-to-Career grant will help the Indiana County Technology Center further its mission to prepare students for their future careers by bridging the gap between industry and education,” ICTC Administrative Director Michael McDermott said. “Students benefit from rigorous, relevant, real-world educational opportunities. The skills students will obtain will prepare them to enter the workforce in high-demand occupations needed in our area.”

“This job training program will help meet local manufacturers’ need for workers with specific electrical skills and is exactly the type of workforce development investment the Shapiro administration is focused on making,” Siger said. “The Electrical Occupations Program also gives students looking for a career in manufacturing technology fantastic skills training in high school – allowing them to step seamlessly into a well-paying and rewarding career when they graduate.”

The grant is part of a 2023-24 state budget that includes $23.5 million in workforce training and career and technical programs, aimed at preparing more students for skilled careers in the building, construction, and infrastructure industries, as well as $6 million in pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programming so Pennsylvanians can earn-while-they-learn and secure a job that leads to family-sustaining wages.