www.metropolitancareercenter.org Guest

Dear Friends of MCC and CTI,

Throughout my entire career, except for a few unusual years during the War on Poverty in the 70�s, the not-for-profit agencies I worked for have faced funding challenges. There�s always more need and more work to be done than there is money to support. But with this recession and Governor Corbett�s pledge to cut costs, coupled with local, state and federal deficits, the toll on those who depend on the services of social service agencies and workforce development organizations will be huge. Programs will be forced to curtail and staff will be cut. That said, as the Executive Director of MCC, I felt that we needed to brace ourselves for a difficult future at a time when we were already feeling the challenge of major funding losses in the last two years.

This June, 2011 our Board of Directors voted to enter a formal affiliation with Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC). They are a Philadelphia-based, long-standing multiservice organization with services in primary health care, disease prevention, homelessness, substance abuse and mental health. Their overriding mission is the amelioration of the effects of poverty through direct service, research, advocacy, policy and partnerships. To that end, they were looking for a partner who delivered workforce, career and vocational services. As per their growth strategy and to provide an integrated system of services, MCC and CTI are the 10th agency to affiliate with PHMC. We will be nourished and grow due to this affiliation with the help of their expertise in fiscal management, human resources, public relations and IT, to name a few. We will have access to relationships with the nine other affiliates and the over 200 programs run by PHMC themselves. Such partnerships will expand our ability to attract funding from government and private foundations who value collaboration at this level.

While a new Board will be elected on July 1, 2011, the current Board and many past MCC/CTI activists have pledged to help us see this affiliation through to its best potential. The current staff and I as Executive Director will continue our work. I join with Richard Cohen, the CEO of PHMC, and his whole staff of 1400 employees in a promise to expand the reach of CTI to more potential students and to continue the work of workforce development. Especially in times of a recession and a discouraging employment outlook, vocational and training services provided by CTI and our workforce programs, including STRIVE, are needed more than ever.

Click here for the official press release announcing this affiliation.

MCC is fortunate to have a very good friend in Citizens Bank who feels a duty to the Philadelphia community and therefore funds worthy programs. Citizens has given MCC a $10,000 grant to continue our work in STRIVE. STRIVE helps individuals gain a sense of pride and focus in their lives so that they can direct their energies into gaining new skills and looking for work that can sustain themselves and their families.

Philadelphia Foundation through the Marjorie and H. Donald Doak Fund will launch an advertising campaign to increase the number of prospective students considering CTI, MCC's Computer Technology Degree program. In recent years, ongoing analysis of how students learn about MCC/CTI has shown that increasingly we are found on the internet and much less through print advertising.

Our students are media savvy even before they enroll, so it is incumbent on us to use the most sophisticated media strategies we can. With the help of the Public Health Management media department, MCC will have short videos produced showing prospective students inspiring stories about recent graduates and how the MCC/CTI education changed their lives. These vignettes will be shown on YouTube and we will create a Twitter and Facebook conversation.

Once students learn the real facts of MCC/CTI, they will be attracted into coming for orientation and more information: our graduations rates are in the 90% range; our job placement rates are high too. The videos will highlight what is special about us and how students who had failed at other attempts at education or lacked self confidence thrive at CTI.

The McLean Contributorship has awarded MCC over $30,000 to upgrade the technology our students need to enhance their skills as computer support technicians. As a technology school, our equipment must be up to date and state of the art and the McLean Contributionship is one foundation that understands and supports that need. MCC was able to add three classrooms with state of the art computers running Windows 7. MCC's operating systems and emerging technology classes got all new desktop pc's and monitors, while the Health Information Technology program received new laptop computers. All classes have benefitted from the faster and more capable computers that are able to keep up with the demands of today's software.

MCC was also able to upgrade some "back office" components that the end-user never gets to see, but make a difference in their computing experience here. Two new firewalls were purchased, as well as enough components to upgrade two servers. One of the two servers will be MCC's new state of the art corporate email system, while the other will help keep MCC's networks more secure from the many threats that are online today.

MCC is thrilled with the generosity that the McClean Contributorship has shown both now and in the past. Their generosity has truly made an impact on the lives of MCC students, faculty and staff, and has greatly aided MCC's day to day operations.

Graduation one of the most moving and inspiring events in anyone's life will take place for MCC and CTI students on June 23 at 5:00 at the University of the Arts at Broad and Pine Streets. Close to 300 graduates in programs from Health Information Technology to Green Careers will walk to Pomp and Circumstance. Rob Carmona founder and head of STRIVE International will be our guest speaker. Rob is an expert on adult education and helping those with few resources excel and change their lives. He is a charismatic leader in the development of East Harlem and through the growth of STRIVE has made an impact worldwide. All who know graduates or who are friends to MCC and CTI are extended a warm welcome to join the festivities.

Both men and women are taking classes on energy conservation, worksite safety, concepts about the green economy and combining this with our nationally recognized STRIVE program, funded by a large grant from the Department of Labor. STRIVE helps individuals learn how to have success in the working world and stay focused on increasing self respect and self confidence. While employment in the green sector has lagged, our graduates will have earned their credentials for the time when the economy fully comes back.