UcanB – 8th Grade – Highlight
Students begin 8th grade as children and leave 8th grade as young adults. Eighth grade tends to be an odd and often awkward school year for most young people. Social pressure sets in as kids really try to figure out who they are and who they want to be. Many 8th grade students make decisions about the extracurricular activities they will carry on in high school while others continue to dabble in a variety of options trying to make up their minds. It is a transition year full of self-exploration and choice. By the end of the school year, 8th grade students are asked to select their high school courses in accordance to their career interests while many have not thought that far ahead. (Post by Scott Albert, Vice President – UcanB Career Education) Eight graders who participate in Pittsburgh’s #UcanB Career Education Program receive guidance, resources and mentors to augment their Career Education. At Shaler Area Middle School, just north of Pittsburgh, 8th grade students meet every Monday with a #UcanB instructor. The #UcanB instructor guides Shaler’s 8th graders through a series of career assessments and discussions related to work, college, military or apprenticeship. All students leave the #UcanB program with a digital career portfolio, which they can continue to use throughout high school. At Hopewell Junior High, another Pittsburgh-area school, 8th graders also develop a digital career portfolio with #UcanB, but their program is supplemented with a series of guest speakers as well. Professionals from the US District Court, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Penn State University and Natural Capitalism Solutions have visited Hopewell’s 8th grade classes to discuss various career paths, green technologies, STEM degrees and the importance of safe social media. Pittsburgh Public Schools also participates in the #UcanB Career Education Program. For example, 8th grade students at Pittsburgh Classical Academy (PCA) participate in a version of #UcanB that is very similar to Shaler’s #UcanB class. PCA’s 8th graders spend every other Friday in a computer lab with their #UcanB instructor. The students complete a battery of O*Net career assessments and use the results of these assessments in the development of their digital career portfolios. These are three examples of over thirty Pennsylvania school districts that have adopted a version of #UcanB. As Pennsylvania’s requirements for Career Education and Work Standards (CEW) have recently changed, school districts find great value in their partnerships with #UcanB. The 8th grade classes are of particular importance. The #UcanB Program assists 8th graders with their transitions from middle to high school; #UcanB also assures that school districts meet the newly adopted CEW goals and outcomes. Every 8th grade #UcanB student completes the #UcanB Program with a Digital Career Portfolio, a Basic Resume, a Complete O*Net Career Assessment & Profile and Documented Participation Career-related Classroom Presentations, which are conducted by outside professionals. Some 14 year olds leave the 8th grade with very definite decisions and a game-plan for high school. Others are continuing to explore options. The #UcanB Program meets these young people where they are. The resources provided via #UcanB help some of these young adults to advance their plan while the same resources help other 8th grade students to continue exploration. While #UcanB serves many students in grades 6-12, the #UcanB organization is particularly proud of its work with 8th grade students. It is for this reason that #UcanB provides year-round career education to students in this age group. For more information about the #UcanB Career Education Program, contact Scott Albert at...
UcanB Education and Workforce -2018
Building Bridges for Business’ Education Department provides career education and job placement to thousands of Western Pennsylvania’s middle and high school students via its #UcanB Program. The organization’s Workforce Development Department coordinates and/or participates in a number of community events designed to advance the careers of working adults throughout the region. The Pittsburgh Community has rallied around the #UcanB Career Education Program. A vast array of organizations and individuals contributed time and resources to help educate youth in Western Pennsylvania. More than 50 guest speakers from more than 50 local organizations and businesses visited #UcanB classrooms thus far in 2018, participated in #UcanB events and hosted #UcanB students for tours. This allowed #UcanB the opportunity to expose students to a multitude of career paths and job opportunities. Students met with a diverse group of businesses representing government, retail, IT, entrepreneurship, military, media, advanced manufacturing and more! In addition, the Workforce Development Department received similar support in its efforts to provided services to working-aged adults. Businesses and individuals from Erie, Pa all the way to Charleston, WV contributed to this portion of Building Bridges’ mission. Building Bridges’ Career Fairs were fully booked within 24 hours. Over 1,500 adults received direct services through the Workforce Development Department even though the organization does not have a specific budget dedicated for these...
Job Fair with U.S. Probation Helped Hundreds
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...
Educational Webinars
Steps To Empowering Your Business Growth Creating business growth takes consistent planning and strategy. Educational webinars are a great source of information and can help you and your business grow. This can be achieved through business education, regular professional business development and presentations of business events. Check out these top 5 resources for Educational WEBINARs: Education For Business Sake Business education doesn’t end with an MBA. Education should be accepted as a lifelong opportunity for focusing on business trends and curves. By maintaining an attitude of continuous education, opportunities to seek out the most advantageous additional courses provide the extra edge for business growth. Professional Development Along with additional education enhancements, professional business development ranks among the necessary elements for business growth. Professional development requires marketing, sales, management, staffing and executive skills. Achieving the rank of professional isn’t just a matter of title. Development at each phase of business determines the quality of professionalism of the individual. Business Events That Affect Business Growth The business professional seeking optimum business growth employs a give and take attitude toward events that help their businesses. It’s as important to present an event as it is to take part in events. This is the basic structure of networking. Surrounding your business with a beneficial network helps grow business stature. To Grow Your Business Today’s webinars and seminars fill a particular gap that links direct offline events and business presentations with the internet world. For businesses, this is an unparalleled opportunity for growth. The hi-tech world can be a catalyst for advancing business image as well as name recognition, branding and ranking. Creating linked business webinars and seminars produces a well-structured microcosm of vested target markets. The links between webinars and seminars should be seamlessly woven to create an overlapping flow of interest and awareness of the specific business. This is also true for patrons attending webinars and seminars. Thus, the “give and take” attitude becomes the operative for giving patrons a direct link online and off while the business takes in a higher rate of growth. Educate, Develop, Grow Present webinars and seminars with a professional style and content. Contrast this by attending webinars and seminars that focus on educating, developing and growing your business. These may contain new ideas for management structure, creating cohesive team embodiment and financial and economic guidelines as well as current compliance regulations relating to business operations. A tightly knit program of webinars and seminars for patrons and businesses offering them are essential for business...
Wanted — a Skills Gap Solution
Wanted: A Skills Gap Solution Stevie Miller The formula for career success was supposed to be simple: go to college, get a bachelor’s degree, and find a job doing what you love that pays a decent living. As our newest generations of college graduates have discovered, the reality isn’t quite so simple. While more and more college educated employees are available, fewer employers want to hire them. Underemployment, that is, either working part time when you want to work full time, or working at a job that doesn’t utilize your education and training, is a persistent problem that has outlasted our recession-inspired unemployment. PayScale reports in a recent study [1] that 46% of American workers identify as underemployed. The problem is caused by what’s known as the skills gap. Despite a large number of people who would like to find more or better work, industries that require skilled workers–but not necessarily the kind of education you get with a bachelor’s degree–are coming up short. The skills gap is most evident in STEM fields, or industries requiring the use of technology, including healthcare, computer science, and especially manufacturing. It’s difficult to find the right employees for these fields, observes the Harvard Business Review [2], because the technology is changing so quickly that many schools don’t offer the right training. Soft skills, such as communication and teamwork, are in increasing demand by employers, but also aren’t offered in schools, particularly because they require one-on-one efforts with students. Employers, meanwhile, increasingly expect prospective employees to shoulder the burdens of training themselves, the US Department of Labor reports. [3] Yet prospective employees are reluctant to take on this training when the technology is changing so quickly that the skills required by one employer are unlikely to translate to the next job opening. Jeff Selingo, author of New York Times bestseller “There is Life After College”, notes: “The goal of universal college has actually done more harm than good because it banished anything that smacks of job training to second class status.” He further writes: “We need more than just one pathway to good jobs in the U.S. What we need is a place like Harvard–both prestigious and rigorous–that will attract students who have talents and interests to pursue skilled jobs critical for the economy that don’t necessarily require a four-year college degree.” [4] 1: http://www.payscale.com/data-packages/underemployment 2: https://hbr.org/2014/08/employers-arent-just-whining-the-skills-gap-is-real 3: http://www.careeronestop.org/businesscenter/recruitandhire/identifyyourhiringneeds/the-skills-gap.aspx 4:...
U can B Career Days on the Northside
U can B @ Clayton High School will conclude in May with ‘Career Days at Clayton High’! Career Days will begin with an Interview Competition on May 1th. This will be followed by an in-school Career Fair on May 20th. The Building Bridges for Business U can B Program, a series of career awareness classes aimed at high school and middle school students, launched its first classes at Clayton Academy in Pittsburgh’s North Side on March 2, 2016. U can B classes at Clayton were provided through support of the Verizon Foundation. Topics for middle and high school students ranged from Career Interests to STEM-related Careers to Job Readiness Classes. Students in the middle school were registered for FREE online career profiles via STEM Premier. Students in the high school at Clayton focused specifically on topics such as Work Readiness, Job Search, Interview Skills, and Networking in preparation for Career Days. May 11th Interview Day Students are currently working on resumes and cover letters as a class project. These will be completed and reviewed by Clayton teachers prior to the Interview Day. On May 11th, students will participate in a panel style interview. U can B teachers, Clayton staff, and volunteers from the community will make up three panels. Students will cycle through for individual interviews. A scoring rubric will be used by the panelists to assess students’ interview performance. Three Awards will be selected: Best Interview, Best Resume, Best Cover Letter. Certificates and prizes will be presented to the winners. Certificates of Participation are to be presented to all students who completed the U can B Program. Winners to be announced at the May 20th Career Fair. May 20th Career Fair The U can B team has organized a Career Fair which will take place at Clayton on May 20th between 10:00-12:00. The Fair will be followed by a cookout and celebration. Students, teachers, U can B staff, employers, and volunteers are invited to attend the cookout. Approximately 65 students are expected. Awards will be presented during the cookout and celebration. The Career Fair and Cookout will be a wonderful way to conclude the school year. Students have put a lot of time and effort into the U can B Program at Clayton, and the May 20th event is their reward for that hard work. In addition to the celebration, students will have the opportunity to discuss jobs and careers with representatives from several Pittsburgh-area businesses including but not limited to United States Probation & Pretrial Services of Western PA, Allegheny Health Network, IBEX Global, Career Talk on KDKA, Legal Shield, and Arias Agencies. Arias Agencies, a division of American Income Life, has agreed to participate and present certificates of completion to the students. Title sponsor of Career Talk on KDKA, Arias Agencies has been an on-going supporter and hiring partner of the...
