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Program to help black high school graduates prepare for jobs
Friday, August 20, 1999 By Carmen J. Lee, Post-Gazette Education Writer
Herman L. Reid Jr. is no preacher, but he sounded like one yesterday as he extolled the virtues of a new program that will provide high school graduates with the training they'll need to get well-paying jobs in one or two years.
As executive director of the Negro Educational Emergency Drive, Reid has promoted NEED's work over the past 36 years in providing financial help to more than 15,500 black students who attended four-year colleges.
Yesterday, Reid unveiled NEED's new Career School Program, which is to provide financial aid packages for black high school graduates, including working adults looking for career changes, to attend local vocational training schools.
The goal is to place those who complete the training in positions, such as medical assistant, aircraft technician, machinist and paralegal, that have starting salaries ranging from $18,000 to $25,000 but require less than two years of post-secondary education.
"Companies are crying out for workers, but young people aren't getting the information," Reid said during an informal news conference at the Pittsburgh Technical Institute, Downtown. "This is about skills education. If you've got the skills, you've got a job."
To begin with, Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Bidwell Training Institute, Boyd School, Bradford School, Career Training Institute, Dean Institute of Technology, Median School of Allied Health Careers, Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics, Pittsburgh Technical Institute and Sawyer School have agreed to take five students each from the program.
The career schools also are contributing $1,000 each to the program to help the 50 students with tuition costs, Reid said, and graduates of the schools will serve as mentors for participants.
Also committed to helping are 14 Western Pennsylvania companies that will provide internships for students in the program, and 10 churches that will help in recruiting candidates.
A meeting to explain the program to black families and to recruit students will begin at 9 a.m. Oct. 9 in St. Paul Baptist Church, 6701 Penn Ave., Point Breeze. While some students have already entered the program, the majority will start school in the fall of 2000.
Reid and the Rev. Bernie Manning, pastor of Mount Olive Baptist Church and former deputy superintendent for the Pittsburgh Public Schools, said the Career School Program was the only one of its kind in the country to forge such a coalition among companies, career schools and black churches.
They believe the collaboration will be important in reaching potential students for the program and making them aware of job opportunities.
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