Training in hospitality industry and welding to be offered at Huntington Station facility
The Huntington Opportunity Resource Center will offer some new programs as 2016 begins, helping to provide training in the hospitality industry to disadvantaged and displaced workers and offering a site where the aged, blind and disabled can sign up for public insurance/assistance programs.
The employment training is being offered as a result of two state grants, each for $50,000, the Town obtained through St. Joseph’s College, which has partnered with the Opportunity Resource Center on a number of programs and which will conduct the training in conjunction with Suffolk County Community College.
The first grant provides $50,000 in Workforce Investment Act funds for occupational skills training of dislocated workers to prepare them for full-time jobs (35 hours or more per week) needed by a business group or businesses in the region. A “dislocated worker” is defined as an individual who: either who has been terminated or laid off, or who has received notice of termination or layoff, and is unlikely to return to a previous industry or occupation; has been terminated or laid off, or has received notice of termination or layoff, as a result of any permanent closure of, or substantial layoff at, a plant, facility or enterprise; was self-employed, but is unemployed as a result of general economic conditions or because of natural disasters; is a displaced homemaker --- an individual who has been dependent on the income of another family member, but is no longer supported by that income; or is unemployed or underemployed and is experiencing difficulty in obtaining or upgrading employment.
The second grant provides another $50,000 in Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act funds to train dislocated workers in special populations (for example, ex-offenders, limited English proficiency, individuals with disabilities, recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and veterans) who require classroom-based occupational skills training in order to be qualified to be hired for full time employment in the region.
“These grants enable the Opportunity Resource Center to provide additional services to Town residents and become an even more valuable resource for all those who can benefit from the center’s programs,” Huntington Supervisor Frank P. Petrone. “We value the partnership with St. Joseph’s College and thank them for their active role in helping to obtain this grant.”
“We are always looking for new ways to broaden the way the Opportunity Resource Center addresses the need for services that will help residents improve their lives, whether by linking them to assistance programs or by preparing them for jobs that are in demand,” Councilwoman Tracey Edwards said. “These training programs have the potential to be life-changing, and the Town is pleased to be able to serve our residents this way.”
In addition to basic courses preparing people for entry into the workforce, including basic workforce skills, the training programs will offer two specialized sequences in the hospitality industry and in welding and soldering.
The hospitality sequence will provide students with customer service training, basic server skills, interpersonal relations, problem solving and listening skills, as well as basic hospitality finance and computer skills that align with the industry. Those skills are required for entry level positions in areas that include, but are not limited to, customer service, receptionists and information clerks, housekeeping staff, healthcare support workers, activities aides and food service workers. The goal of this training is to ensure entry level proficiency of the various un/underemployed and special populations that will enable them to advance into higher and better positions over time.
St Joseph’s, whose instructors will offer the course, has developed a highly respected hospitality and tourism management undergraduate program that has a proven track record with successful job placement of students prior to and upon graduation.
The soldering and welding sequence will be run by Suffolk County Community College’s Advanced Manufacturing Training Center, under an agreement with St. Joseph’s. The training will begin at the Opportunity Resource Center and continue at the college’s Brentwood campus. The sequence will lead to American Welding Society certification.
The Opportunity Resource Center will also be a location for the Nassau-Suffolk Hospital Council’s Consumer Assistance for the Aged, Blind and Disabled Program. That program, which is overseen by the Suffolk County Department of Social Services, provides in-person enrollment assistance for programs and services. The target groups are people who fall into one of three categories: certified blind, certified disabled or 65 years of age or older. Additionally, Medicare recipients looking for supplemental Medicaid insurance, as well as people looking for Medicare savings programs to help with Medicare expenses can apply for those programs with help from the enrollers.
The enrollers will be at the Opportunity Resource Center one day a month: January 14, February 11, March 10, April 14, May 12, June 9, July 14, August 10, September 8, October 13, November 10 and December 8.
For more information on the job training programs, call the Opportunity Resource Center at 631-385-2305. For more information on the Consumer Assistance for the Aged, Blind and Disabled Program, call 631-435-5000.
Opened in 2014, the Huntington Opportunity Resource Center (HORC) s an economic development/quality of life initiative involving shared Town/County resources that was spearheaded by Huntington Councilwoman Tracey Edwards and supported by Huntington Supervisor Frank Petrone and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone along with Huntington Town Board members and Suffolk County legislators.
HORC provides resume preparation, helps with job searches, explores career options, provides access to training, gives tips for interview success, job readiness, DSS applications assistance, not-for profit service referrals and fields general human services questions. It also offers at English as a Second Language classes as well as other on-site training opportunities. It is located at 1264 New York Avenue, Huntington Station, and is open Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Walk-ins are welcome but an appointment is appreciated. Call Michele Foulke for more information at (631) 385-2305.