Patrick Henry Community College and the PHCC Foundation are creating a scholarship opportunity to meet local employers’ training needs. This new workforce scholarship funding will come from the PHCC Foundation and will assist employers with the cost of professional development classes.
Recently, the college created several new professional development classes to directly address the needs of local employers. These training courses were developed in response to several community roundtable discussions where employers provided the college with specific feedback regarding their training needs. However, the college is finding that, because of the pandemic, many employers are cutting training budgets and cannot afford the training they requested.
“It’s a catch 22. They want training to better handle the issues the pandemic has brought to light, but in many cases, the pandemic is also limiting funding for training,” said Rhonda Hodges, PHCC Vice President of Workforce Economic and Community Development.
In response, the PHCC Foundation created a Workforce Scholarship fund that essentially will give employers a “buy one seat, get one seat free” option.
This offer applies to the following courses and is good for this semester only.
Leadership Series
Living & Working in a Virtual World
Leadership Series
Marketing/Social Media
Business & Professional Development
Computers & Technology
Food Service Safety
Tradesman & Basic Contractor Licensing
Innovation & Design
“This financial support could really help our local employers who were looking forward to these opportunities, but have had to cut back budgets,” Tiffani Underwood, director of the PHCC Foundation, said. “During a pandemic, things like recertifications, marketing, customer service, and technology are more critical than ever –yet are often some of the first things to get cut when budgets are tight. We’re hoping that this scholarship can help alleviate this catch 22 so local employees don’t have to sacrifice the training they need while budgets are tight.”
The “buy one: get one” assistance will not apply to Fast Forward programs or personal enrichment classes, such as motorcycle rider, Fab Lab Family Days, photography, or paper crafting. To take advantage of this offer, employers may contact the Workforce Development office at email wecd@patrickhenry.edu, or call (276) 656-0260.
