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Work force training helps jobless find work in growing industry

U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown is greeted by Cincinnati State Technical and Community College President O'Dell M. Owens, MD, during an appearance at the school, where Brown outlined a plan to help unemployed people find jobs in growing high-tech industries. Cincinnati State has a program to train workers for the Bioscience Industry. Brown's plan is to link training programs like this to the needs of local businesses.

Staff photo by Greg Lynch U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown is greeted by Cincinnati State Technical and Community College President O'Dell M. Owens, MD, during an appearance at the school, where Brown outlined a plan to help unemployed people find jobs in growing high-tech industries. Cincinnati State has a program to train workers for the Bioscience Industry. Brown's plan is to link training programs like this to the needs of local businesses.

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By Chelsey Levingston, Staff Writer 9:45 PM Tuesday, January 10, 2012

CINCINNATI — Thousands of people in the region remain unemployed even though 68,000 Ohio jobs have gone unfilled. Programs that train dislocated workers in growing industries such as bioscience can help close the gap, said Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.

Brown on Tuesday highlighted the work of Ohio Bioworkforce Training Partnership. It is a collaboration of BioOhio — a nonprofit focused on growing the state’s bioscience industry — and six community colleges in the state, including Cincinnati State Technical and Community College and Sinclair Community College of Dayton. Colleges in the partnership offer short-term training in the bioscience industry.

These types of short-term work force development programs that focus on industry-specific training can help fill available jobs because some of the people who are unemployed don’t have the skills to do them, Brown said.

He spoke Tuesday in a bioscience lab at Cincinnati State’s campus about his plans to reintroduce the Strengthening Employment Clusters to Organize Regional Success Act, which would give work force development funding to regional organizations to grow industry clusters. Brown said he plans to include the act in a bill this year to reauthorize the federal Workforce Investment Act.

BioOhio’s program, which runs out funding in 2013, is an example of programs that would benefit, Brown said. He would tell local workers whose jobs have been cut by plant closings these efforts help put them in jobs again.

“I’d tell them we’ve got a lot of work to do to enforce trade laws and pass tax laws to benefit our country,” Brown said.

Ohio’s bioscience industry — which consists of medical and testing laboratories, medical device and equipment manufacturers, and research and development — employs more than 62,500 people, according to BioOhio. The industry has grown jobs 19.5 percent since 2000, according to BioOhio.

“One of the things that fuels the growth of these companies is the right talent,” said Anthony Dennis, BioOhio president and chief executive officer. “This is a key program to feed that talent.”

In this area, the Bioworkforce Training Partnership led to a partnership between Cincinnati State and Sinclair to develop and offer a seven-week course for a bioscience certificate.

The courses are offered at Cincinnati State’s Workforce Development Center in Evendale. Seven classes involving 139 students have graduated since December 2010, said Jim Kleemeier, Cincinnati State project manager.

“If it wasn’t for the program, I wouldn’t have a job,” said Wendy Terwilliger of West Chester Twp.

Terwilliger was unemployed for about two years until she completed the certificate program a year ago. In August, the 43-year-old got a job at Amylin Pharmaceuticals, which has a drug manufacturing facility in West Chester Twp. She is also pursuing an associate’s degree in biotechnology at Cincinnati State.

Mike Sieron, president and CEO of Centerville-based DG Medical, said some of his employees upgraded their skills with the bioscience certificate.

“When we go and look to hire more people, we’re going to look for these same skill sets,” Sieron said. “It’s not easy to get.”

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