Grant Deliverables

 

The following is a proposed outline of the components of the Pennsylvania Plastics Initiative.

  1. Training:  Approximately $2.5 million will be used to directly enhance high growth job training opportunities for occupations within Pennsylvania’s plastics industry. 
    1. Incumbent Worker Training: This grant will seek to train over 1,200 incumbent workers in the plastics industry.

    2. Instructional Material Transfer: Penn State will work with Pennsylvania College of Technology and Penn State Erie to develop supplemental instructional materials to aid in the knowledge transfer of complex plastics concepts and processing models, as well as instructor training that will enable the materials to be extended to other regions of the Commonwealth.
  1. Innovation/Research & Development:  “Economic Research and Modeling” – Approximately $350,000 of the grant would be used to develop intelligence on the statewide plastics industry, providing the local Centers of Excellence with much needed strategic information to retain and grow this cluster.

    1. External Evaluation & Research: Together the partners in this project, via the Steering Committee, would procure a research/evaluation group associated with the plastics industry to work together with an external consultant to ensure that research efforts stay aligned to the needs of the industry and/or on the type of research product that the publicly-funded agencies require to effectively support the industry. 

    2. Occupational Forecasting:  This component will identify the future evolution of the industry as it relates to occupational/skill-sets and developing three-, five-, and ten-year scenario forecasts to begin the process of identifying future occupational demand.

    3. Supply Chain Analysis:  This component of the research will be used to identify supply chains and other industry linkages, and bridge the initiatives simultaneously occurring in the economic development arena. The purpose of the research will be: 1) to identify opportunities for economic expansion that will create new jobs and increase support to the statewide plastics industry clusters, and 2) identify those key occupational areas within the supply chain that may need additional resources to ensure the viability of the larger cluster.
  1. Workforce Pipelines/Emerging Workforce:  Approximately $1.1 million of this grant will be used to directly engage youth, parents, and teachers on occupational opportunities in the statewide Plastics Cluster.

    1. Plastics Occupations Toolkit:  The Toolkit will consist of an interactive CD, a DVD, a workbook, and support material that can be used by individuals or as an impetus for schools to create plastics career clubs or academies. This information would target students, parents, and teachers in middle schools, but may also have implications for students in high school.

    2. Internships/Co-ops:  The Pennsylvania’s WIB’s Youth Council will solicit applicants to serve as sites apart of an internship pilot program that will create plastics industry-specific internships for high school students. This approach will use successful best practices from other industries to attract students into specific sectors. Once fully developed, the program would allow employers to begin training students through the internship, possibly leading to job offers upon earning a high school diploma. This component will also include consultation with postsecondary institutions, including community colleges, on potential articulation to college credits and advanced standing toward Associate’s degrees. 

    3. Scholarships:  This component would reserve funds to provide at least 100 partial scholarships for youth to receive Associate’s degrees in plastics-related area of study, designed to cover roughly one-half to two-thirds of the tuition for students to access this training.
  1. Technology Transfer:  An industry R&D Symposium will directly engage industry in discussions and learning opportunities around research and development.  Industry representatives will gather in a central location to learn about emerging technologies and applications (i.e. nanofabrication) for their product lines. The Symposium will bring together academia, research organizations, technology companies, etc. to showcase the latest innovation and provide access to training, research partnerships, and technology integration.

 

Plastics SourceNet
Pennsylvania College of Technology, One College Ave., Williamsport, PA 17701
Phone: 1-877-PENPLAS (1-877-736-7527) | Fax: 570.320.5248
E-mail: psn@pct.edu

If you have any comments or questions, please let us know.

© Plastics SourceNet

Plastics SourceNet is financed by a grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Community & Economic Development.

This product was funded by a grant awarded under the President’s High Growth Job Training Initiative as implemented by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment & Training Administration. The information contained in this product was created by a grantee organization and does not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Labor. All references to non-governmental companies or organizations, their services, products, or resources are offered for informational purposes and should not be construed as an endorsement by the Department of Labor. This product is copyrighted by the institution that created it and is intended for individual organizational, non-commercial use only.