Business

On Thursday, March 15, with Rep. Dan Deasy and in partnership with Building Bridges for Business and U.S. Probation & Pre Trial Services, Senator Fontana hosted a Job Fair for interested job seekers. The Job Fair was held in the Social Hall at St. Catherine of Siena Parish, located at 1810 Belasco Avenue in Beechview. The Job Fair featured local companies looking to fill positions now. There were also representatives who talked about apprenticeships and other technical training programs to help individuals gain information on acquiring new skills to become gainfully employed. Many job seekers face barriers to employment like issues related to a past criminal record, a suspended driver’s license, lack of high school diploma or necessary job skills. The Job Fair included three breakout sessions that address these barriers.   From 4:30-5 p.m., attendees can join a breakout session to learn more about the driver’s license restoration process. From 5:30-6 p.m., a session on pardons and record expungement will take place. Anyone wishing to learn more about improving job skills and short-term training programs can attend the session from 6:30-7 p.m. Hundreds of community members attended this...

When you make a difference in the life of a young person, you create a better future. I know because I’m lucky enough to experience it every day as a teacher for the UcanB program. With UcanB, I provide career skills education for students who wouldn’t otherwise have access to it. I connect communities, employers, and schools to provide economic opportunities for students and their parents. I am helping to build a strong, revitalized Pittsburgh region, for today and tomorrow. The best part is, you can join in. I’d like to personally invite you to learn more about this incredible program, and how you can make a difference for young people right here in our region. UcanB is a unique hands-on career education program for students in grades 6-12. Consisting of over 76 weeks of customizable curriculum, UcanB focuses on in-demand fields, STEM careers, entrepreneurship, and soft skills like leadership, teamwork, and time management. Schools choose the areas that are the best fit for their students and communities, and UcanB brings teachers, business and civic leaders, and our unique “Coffee With…” series, that includes interviews with entrepreneurs in a wide array of industries. Students participate in classes, small group projects, mentorship, and portfolio building. During the program, students have the opportunity to interact face-to-face with mentors in the career fields they want to pursue, asking questions and getting real world insight into the most in-demand industries in our region. I’d love to share with you what our students are saying about the UcanB program and the difference it’s making in their lives today. Here are some reactions from students who have experienced UcanB: “I believe that the speakers were helpful and well spoken. The topic of health care careers was most helpful to me. I want to be a paramedic. I believe that I have more understanding of my career plans. They did address me and answered my questions and that was appreciated. I also liked how they saw the potential in each and every one of us. They actually believe in people like us. They came to encourage us. We need more speakers like these.” M.B. Shaler High School “I want to get a career that I LOVE!! I learned this through the UcanB classes. My next step is to explore internships in an interesting field.” 11th Grade Propel student U can B Teacher, 2018...

Career education for schools in the region expands into the Mon Valley. The UcanB program has succeeded in schools around the Pittsburgh area, and has expanded to schools throughout Pennsylvania. In many of the schools where our program has been offered, students are experiencing mentorship, technology, and the first time they were ever given information on planning a successful career. We reach students in communities, and build stronger connections between students, parents, schools, and area businesses with our opportunity fairs, that match community members with local employers. How do I become a UcanB Speaker? The process to becoming a speaker is straightforward and will work to ensure that Building Bridges and UcanB career education is the best fit for you. The process includes: 1. Complete the online information session by phone (15 minutes) 2. Apply online (8-10 minutes) 3. Complete an in-person interview with staff (30 minutes) 4. Pass a background and finger print screening (15 minutes after in-person interview) 5. Participate in Training (1.0 hour) Please reach out to info@BuildingBridgesforBusiness.org if you are interested. What is Building Bridges for Business? Building Bridges is a 501(c)3 organization that educates and empowers through: • U can B Career education program (Educating 6th-12th grade students on careers) • Job fairs and job placement for students and adults • The Coffee With Show • Building the Bridges across the business and workforce ecosystem Other Ways that you Can You Get Involved? • Donate to our U can B career education program and help provide students with the skills they need to succeed. All contributions are tax deductible and support classroom education and job placement. • Ask us about our EITC, Education Improvement Tax Credit, program for your business. • United Way Donate Now –...

Ice Gala – January 27, 2018 – I received a distinct honor tonight from the the German American Chamber of Commerce for the work I’ve done through the Building Bridges U Can Be Education Program. A program that I’ve been working with High Schools in the area. Visit https://buildingbridgesforbusiness.org/u-can-b-program/ I was completely humbled and caught off guard. I wanted to share this with you.  – Alexander Nichols on Winning award at ICE GALA Apprentice background – No other apprenticeship system is as widely applied and successful as the German system. Every year, 1.5 million people train in the German system. Because of this, Germany enjoys the lowest youth unemployment of any industrialized nation (7.1%), and youth unemployment far below the United States (16.8%) and the Eurozone average (22.3%). With over 125 German companies in the Pittsburgh region, there is an enormous demand for skilled employees with specialized training and education. Following the completion of our pilot program, GACC Pittsburgh Chapter and our Partner, UCanB are proud to introduce the German Style Apprenticeship Program to the Greater Pittsburgh Area. Partners for the pilot included VEKA Industries, Seneca Valley High School, Rosedale Technical College. GACC Pittsburgh Chapter collaborated with partners to develop a curriculum specific to VEKA’s job requirements and based on the IHK’s “Verfahrensmechaniker fuer Kunststoff- und Kautschuktechnik, Fachrichtung Halbzeuge” curriculum. Seven senior students began the apprenticeship for extrusion operation with VEKA Industries, the world’s largest extruder of uPVC profiles in January 2016. The program has now expanding to include seven companies with a range of the IHK’s apprentice modules, providing skilled workers to Pittsburgh businesses and job security to local students. OUR PARTNER Certification The German American Chamber of Commerce, Pittsburgh Chapter’s Dual Apprenticeship Program has been registered by the State of Pennsylvania’s Department of Labor and Industry and approved by the Pennsylvania Apprenticeship and Training Council and the Federal Committee on Apprenticeship. The certification will be recognized on a state and federal national for the Process Mechanic in Polymer Technology (includes Extrusion and Blow Mold Operators) and Mechatronics Technician. Upon completion, the apprentices will receive certification by the German American Chamber of Commerce, Pittsburgh Chapter and recognized by the State of Pennsylvania and throughout the US....

  Welcoming a seasoned Pittsburgh resident and veteran real estate agent, the Coffee With Show is excited to have Dani Gundlach on the show to talk about all of the reasons Pittsburgh is the place to live. Today on the Coffee With Show we are having Coffee With a Real estate Expert. Dani is the founder of INHABIT Pittsburgh, a real estate collective that uses an innovative cooperative approach to produce amazing results for their clients. Dani is time-after-time one of the most successful and accommodating real estate agents in Pittsburgh, having been recognized for her excellent service on multiple occasions. Dani has been working in Pittsburgh real estate for 15 years, and has been living in the East End for 20. After observing that the city and its real estate climate was quickly changing, Dani took the initiative to found a brokerage unique and innovative enough to keep up. Enter INHABIT Real Estate Collective. At INHABIT Real Estate Collective, Dani offers traditional realty services to homebuyers and sellers along with commercial and development accommodations. INHABIT Real Estate Collective’s team-based approach means that Dani has more power to innovate her business processes and accelerate results for the team’s clients. Dani has used her experience in realty and in Pittsburgh to redefine the capabilities of real estate, and her efforts have gained lots of attention. She’s been named a five-star real estate agent by Pittsburgh Magazine and Trulia. https://www.trulia.com/ In her spare time, Dani develops a weekly podcast, Houses and Hills. Houses and Hills is a weekly conversation with people who are making a mark on the Pittsburgh Landscape. They’re talking with Makers, Shapers, Collaborators, and Innovators about their work and life in the City of Bridges. Never miss an episode when you subscribe on iTunes. Look up Houses and Hills on Facebook or at http://www.housesandhills.net/ Learn more about why Pittsburgh’s real estate becomes more attractive every day by tuning in to this episode of Coffee...

The skills training system in Germany is a widespread and popular way to prepare young people to be effective contributors in the workplace. In the German dual training model, theory and practice are combined in a nationally standardized curriculum designed for each of 300+ careers; a young person is employed by a company in a training position and, at the same time, is also enrolled in a vocational educational program to acquire needed classroom knowledge. The two parallel experiences reinforce each other. No other apprenticeship system is as widely applied and successful as the German system. Every year, 1.5 million people train in the German system. Because of this, Germany enjoys the lowest youth unemployment of any industrialized nation (7.1%), and youth unemployment far below the United States (16.8%) and the Eurozone average (22.3%). This approach has been adapted for use in the United States, often with support from the German Embassy’s Skills Initiative. One example is South Carolina, where German-owned companies faced a shortage of skilled workers to fill open positions that offered good pay, job security and a career path. The same problem exists in Pittsburgh, where some of the local employers cannot easily find the right mix of skills and education in job candidates. At the same time, Pittsburgh’s youth unemployment rate remains at 18% (above the national average) because of the skills gap that exists. In order to address this need, the partnership between Building Bridges for Business and the Pittsburgh chapter of the German American Chamber of Commerce has adapted the German dual training model for application in the Pittsburgh area. The project connects young people seeking skills training and employment with apprenticeship programs at Pittsburgh area companies. The apprenticeship program, facilitated by Building Bridges and the GACC involves time split between traditional classroom education and on-the-job training in the field that the trainee is interested in. The trainees are recruited as high school seniors, and they will be given the opportunity to finish their high school degree during the program. The curriculum for the program is based on the existing standardized German curriculum for each profession. The goal is that at the end of the program, the trainee will have a job waiting for them in the skill area from their host company, and the company will have a well-trained future employee so that both employer and trainee will benefit from the program. As a result of that, the local economy will have more resilient companies with a globally-minded, competitive workforce, and lower youth unemployment....