Florida MEP: Florida Manufacturing Extension Partnership

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 13, 2009

For more information please contact:
Gene Lussier, Florida MEP Chair
(954) 565-0047

Job Training and Placement Program Rolls Into Palm Beach County
Palm Beach residents participate in job training that opens doors to employment

RIVIERA BEACH, FL - A two-week intensive job training and placement program has rolled into Palm Beach County to offer out-of-work Floridians a chance at employment. The Mobile Outreach Skills Training (M.O.S.T.) program, in partnership with the Florida Manufacturing Extension Partnership (Florida MEP), is a state-of-the-art mobile training unit that provides an opportunity to not only receive job training, but also the promise of a job interview, at the end of the two-week session which began yesterday.

“While many job training programs can offer participants the education and skill building to start a new career, Florida MEP’s M.O.S.T program is unique in that it actually provides a bridge to employment,” said Florida MEP Board Chair Gene Lussier. “Almost all of our program participants – 95 percent – leave with a full-time job and benefits. It’s an incredible return on the dollars invested and immediately contributes to Florida’s economic rebound.”

According to data released last month by the Agency for Workforce Innovation, 11.3 percent of Palm Beach County residents are currently out of work – higher than Florida’s average unemployment rate of 10.7 percent. With the unique advantage of mobility, the M.O.S.T. traveling training facility outfitted with cutting-edge training equipment is able to take its services to the parts of the state where jobs and potential employees are located. For the next two weeks, the mobile unit will be housed on the premises of ITW VersaChem Corporation in Riviera Beach.

“This program has rigorous standards and combines practical skills, theory and hands-on curriculum to provide participants with the tools and knowledge to get employed,” said Claudia Follet, Florida MEP Director of Grants and Partnership Development. “By contacting local employers before the program begins to secure job interviews, our participants can almost certainly expect to be gainfully employed immediately following graduation day. Not only has our program had success in placing our participants in jobs, but an overwhelming majority have kept their jobs after months of employment.”

Fifteen candidates for the Palm Beach County M.O.S.T. program were selected by Florida MEP with the Workforce Alliance, a private, non-profit organization funded by state and federal dollars which connects businesses with jobseekers, and Manpower Inc., a worldwide company with locations throughout Florida that screens, recruits and reaches out to the unemployed. To be eligible for the program, each M.O.S.T. participant must pass a basic education test and drug screening. Prior to selection for participation in the program, each candidate is interviewed by a M.O.S.T. representative.

“Even though there are many people looking for jobs in Palm Beach County, it is very hard to find skilled and qualified workers. We are thrilled to be working with this program because it provides an easy way for us to locate potential employees,” said Andres Budo, President of Control Logistics, Inc. “We look forward to expanding our company with workers who are ready to start on day one.”

This program is funded in part by a U.S. Department of Labor grant of $856,000. Additional funds for this class were contributed by state, local and private-sector funding.

For more information on Florida MEP or the M.O.S.T. unit, visit www.floridamep.org or www.timewisemost.com.

###

The M.O.S.T. mobile unit will be stationed on the ITW VersaChem Corporation premises, located at 2107 West Blue Heron Blvd., Riviera Beach, FL 33404, from Monday, Oct. 12 through Friday, Oct. 23. The unit will be available for media tours on Thursday, Oct. 15 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Program participants and instructors will be available for comment at these times.

Florida Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) is a non-profit service available to every manufacturer in the state to help them compete more effectively in the global marketplace. In the past five years Florida MEP clients reported $719.8 million in increased and retained sales, 2,318 jobs created and 4,608 jobs retained as a direct result of guidance received by the program.¹ The nationwide system of MEP centers is linked through the U.S. Department of Commerce - National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), with the common goal to strengthen the global competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers.

-END-

####