Grant helps start program
By PAUL GIANNAMORE, Business editoArticle Photos
STEUBENVILLE - A $55,000 boost from the Appalachian Regional Commission will help electrify the work force for the future through Jefferson Community College.
Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, led a ceremony at the JCC Pugliese Training Center on John Scott Highway Wednesday afternoon to hand over the check, which will help JCC establish a power utilities technician program, expected to begin to be offered to students in the fall of 2009. The program is being established through a partnership between American Electric Power and JCC=
Voinovich said the program will serve the development of the area work force, where many people have the talent and manual skills to take the power line service jobs, "but they need that theoretical training to back that up."
Susan Rossi, dean of business, information and engineering technologies and humanities and social sciences, said work between now and the fall of 2009 will be to convert AEP's training into a program that will lead to an associate's degree.
JCC already offers a power plant technician program in partnership with Youngstown State University.
Rossi said AEP has provided the college with a detailed list of equipment it will need for the program, including everything from line service trucks to utility poles to trenching and digging equipment. The college also is working on establishing a commercial driver's license program for students in the program.
Rossi said the goal is to have students go through the hands-on JCC power utilities technician program and be employable as what is known as a "D1 Lineman," meaning they've already had part of their apprenticeship goals met.
Rossi and Jim Baber, JCC's executive vice president for academic and student affairs, said the program is being established because the need for power linemen is great.
Rossi said the average age for linemen is 45 and at that age, they're ready to retire.
"It's not just at AEP," she said. "There is a need for trained people to fill those jobs throughout the nation."
Rossi said the lineman jobs aren't for everyone. She and Baber said applicants will be screened to be sure they're physically able to do the job and are aware they'll be working on high poles and at times when other people are off, such as late at night, on holidays and during major storms. They said the opportunity for good earnings potential for lineman is great.
Voinovich said, "This industry is going to need people. They are suffering the same thing as many businesses are suffering: People are retiring and who is going to take their place?"
AEP's Paul Prater, community affairs manager, said the program enhances the work force, not only for AEP, but also "for the people who live where our facilities are, so that they can have a good future."
Laura Meeks, JCC president, welcomed Voinovich. She noted that through a public-private partnership between AEP, the Charles M. and Thelma M. Pugliese Charitable Foundation, the Ohio Board of Regents and the college, the Pugliese Training Center serves the need for business and industrial training and the people of Jefferson County and the surrounding area. She said there were 1,700 events, serving 26,000 individuals held at the center in 2007. She credited AEP, Rossi, the Brooke-Hancock-Jefferson Metropolitan Planning Commission, the college's trustees, Voinovich, the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Ohio Mid-Eastern Governments Association for helping make the grant possible.
Voinovich said the Appalachian Regional Commission is up for reauthorization, which he anticipates will occur when the Senate goes back into session in September. Voinovich said the reauthorization is for $510 million during a 10-year period for the commission.
The Appalachian Regional Commission includes funding and services for 406 counties spanning 13 states, including Jefferson and 18 other Ohio counties.
He noted previous recent expenditures from the ARC locally include $200,000 for the Mingo Junction downtown streetscape project and $57,000 for multimedia and journalism equipment for the Jefferson County Joint Vocational School.
Lou Gentile, assistant director of the Governor's Office of Appalachia, said ARC has spent $32.94 million in Ohio, leveraging $83.5 million in other funds between 2003 and 2007. He acknowledged that Voinovich was instrumental in getting the program reauthorized, along with the rest of Ohio's congressional delegation.
Voinovich said ARC grants individually are sometimes small, but they represent important issues for areas. He has been touring Ohio's Appalachian counties and said he recently has been in talks about broadband computer access in Logan County, a jobs program in Athens County, oil and the economy in Gallipolis, and ARC assistance for health care in the Marietta area.
"This is the yeast that raises the dough," he said of the ARC grants.
(Giannamore may be reached by e-mail at pgiannamore@heraldstaronline.com.)
