Workforce Development Center Offers Students Another Chance at Success

In trying economic times, guidance through the maze of training and employment can be a lifeline for the unemployed and underemployed. At York Technical College, that lifeline leads straight to the Workforce Development Center.

Run through a federal grant from the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), the Workforce Development Center connects participants with intensive services and training aimed at getting them back on their feet financially and contributing to the community.

“This is an investment,” said Jerome McKiver, WIA department manager at York Technical College. “The federal government is helping to retrain participants for today’s jobs.”

When his manufacturing job disappeared, Ronnie Miller of the Rodman community knew he needed retraining, but couldn’t afford tuition on his own. With WIA funding and help from the Workforce Development Center, the 57-year-old is ready to start a new career.

“Without WIA, I probably couldn’t ever have gone to York Tech,” said Miller, who has since earned his commercial driver’s license and is enrolled in the college’s heavy equipment program.

“It’s something I really wish I’d gotten into a long time ago. I’m really enjoying it,” he said. “It’s something where I can get in there and get back into the workforce.”

Miller said he hopes to find a job in road construction that may arise out of recent federal legislation or at nuclear reactors being built near Gaffney and Jenkinsville.

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