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Utah’s Skilled2Succeed Honors First Graduates and Job PlacementsOREM, Utah – June 1, 2005– Adecco, DirectPointe, Certiportand UVSC’s Turning Pointtoday announced the creation of Skilled2Succeed, an alliance committed to helping underserved Utahns achieve employment and self-sufficiency through certification and validation of critical job skills. The organization recently completed the initial pilot training course that will create a potential pathway to better paying jobs for underserved populations in Utah. Graduates are being honored today at proceedings hosted by UVSC President, William A. Sederburg and joined by Lt. Governor Gary Herbert, Certiport CEO David Saedi, Adecco Senior Regional Vice President James Bowmer,DirectPointe CEO Michael Proper, Provo/Orem Chamber of Commerce President, Steve Densley, and other education and corporate stakeholders. “We are pleased to spotlight this unique partnership of private and public organizations and to recognize these individuals as they reach for their full potential in the workforce,” stated Tim Bridgewater, Deputy for Public Education in Utah. “Creating pathways for all Utah citizens to fully participate in the digital economy advances the cause of industry, education, and families in the State.” Skilled2Succeed provides the final link in the chain from job retraining to meaningful advancement in the workplace. Certified program graduates have already been placed in professional positions at companies like Coldwell Banker and Novell, among others. The program merges the existing momentum of UVSC’s Turning Point center for personal and career development in an innovative partnership with DirectPointe, a private sector technology provider; Certiport, world computer certification leader; and Adecco, a leading staffing services provider. “When you are a single mom, sometimes it feels like everything is working against you and you will never get ahead,” said Karen Love, mother of five and graduate of the program. “In this program we are all working together and supporting each other. Now that I have the right skills, I am confident that I will find one good job instead of two minimum wage jobs. I can spend more time with my children and really be there for them.” Highly motivated Turning Point trainees participate in an evening computer and Internet training course twice weekly for nine weeks. With technology and classroom provided by DirectPointe for the pilot course, trainees prepared for certification testing using curriculum tracking to Certiport’s globally recognized standard for digital literacy, Internet and Computing Core Certification (IC³). Upon certification, individuals receive job placement assistance through Adecco, which recognizes IC³ as an important validation of computer skills. “Certiport IC³ measures current computer and Internet skills that are in demand by virtually all employers,” stated James Bowmer, Senior Regional Vice President of Adecco. “We are satisfied that those holding this credential along with life and work skills taught through programs like Turning Point, possess the ability to be immediately effective in a wide variety of work environments.” Class material is delivered in a nurturing, self-directed environment allowing participants to move at their own pace. Even those with no computer background are able to advance. A participant reports, “This has been a wonderful experience for me – to realize I can still learn new concepts even if I am in my 60’s. Also, the skills I am learning in this computer class will help me take a giant step forward to obtain work and become financially independent. More than 14,000* single parent Utah families live in poverty and 26** percent of Utah’s children live in working poor families. Research indicates that two thirds of disadvantaged adults find employment with a significant increase in income after training***. Skilled2Succeed leverages a successful cost-effective model developed by Certiport over the past three years in similar efforts in several states. With the tremendous certification and job placement success already achieved by Skilled2Succeed participants, founding stakeholders hope to certify and find employment for many of the 1,000 yearly Turning Point participants and other public retraining programs. In turn, it is hoped that additional partners and area employers will become aware of the value of Skilled2Succeed and choose to become involved. Employers and job retraining programs seeking more information about Skilled2Succeed may send email to Michelle Scott at mscott@certiport.com . For more information on current alliance partners see www.adecco.com, www.certiport.com, www.directpointe.com, www.uvsc.edu/conted/cpcd. Certiport and IC3 are registered trademarks of Certiport, Inc. in the United States and other countries. *Source: U.S. 2000 Census **Source: Utah Children ***Source: Center for Public Policy and Administration – University of Utah Press Contact: |