Pittsburgh, PA – Feb. 13, 2023 — News Century Careers, a nonprofit manufacturer and technical skills development organization serving Southwestern Pennsylvania, today announced the release of its 2022 Impact Report. New Century Careers offers technical training opportunities, some tuition-free, while helping employers find and develop technicians for the region’s advanced manufacturing workforce.
“This report recounts the advancement of the New Century Careers inclusive training mission in more expansive ways through technology enhancements and productive multi-county partnerships to meet workforce demands in the region,” said Neil Ashbaugh, NCC’s president and CEO.
Throughout the year 30 trainees completed the MANUFACTURING 2000 program, 173 industry-standard NIMS credentials were earned and 21 job placements were made. NCC reached over 100 schools, community based organizations and companies through tours, presentations, and career events.
Prominent among the highlights of 2022 are curriculum digitization, recruitment of women through EmployHER, and an expanded presence in Westmoreland and Fayette counties.
New Century Careers partnered with Rewyndr and World-Class Industrial Network to develop and introduce a digitized MANUFACTURING 2000 (M2K) curriculum to improve and modernize training experiences. The project is thought to be unique among training centers in the country. Funded by a Richard King Mellon Foundation Career Readiness for All Ages Grant, NCC uses a platform developed by Rewyndr, a Pittsburgh-based company that provides a mobile web application for visual work instructions and remote training for workers performing physical work. The platform significantly enhances content, lowers the entry-level skill required for participants, accelerates learning and enables feedback from remote site coaches and trainers while also helping manufacturing workers and companies adopt digital learning.
Women have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. In Pittsburgh, 75% of poor families are headed by women and two-thirds of those are Black single mothers. To address this issue, New Century Careers benefitted from a grant awarded by the Richard King Mellon Foundation to fund EmployHER, a partnership of New Century Careers, Dress for Success Pittsburgh and When She Thrives. EmployHER aims to empower Allegheny County women heads of households to become financially independent by providing better employment, personal development and education opportunities. Combining the successful programming of the three partners and others who choose to participate, EmployHER offers long-term supportive services and greater connections to resources through opportunity events in underserved communities. Each participant has a personal success partner to help ensure her individual needs are met and to assist in developing an action plan of next steps for her life and career.
NCC was invited to participate in a Manufacturing Industry Partnership funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry and led by the Westmoreland-Fayette Workforce Investment Board, along with Catalyst Connection. Through this new collaboration, the partners are providing input and engaging key Westmoreland and Fayette county manufacturing stakeholders. The partnership extends NCC’s involvement in those counties through workforce development, incumbent training and other resources to strengthen operations. New Century Careers has 31 partner companies in Westmoreland and Fayette counties and offers its tuition-free Manufacturing 2000 pre-apprenticeship program at Eastern Westmoreland Career and Technical Center (EWCTC) in Latrobe.
“NCC gratefully acknowledges the strong support of foundations and other funders, over 130 partner companies, and community-based and professional organizations,” said Ashbaugh.
The New Century Careers 2022 Impact Report is accessible online at Advancing the Mission: New Century Careers 2022 Impact Report
