When hospitality leaders in Kentuckiana realized their industry was in need of more highly skilled culinary talent, they reached out to the award-winning Workforce Development team at Ivy Tech Community College in Sellersburg. The result is an affordable culinary skills program that Ivy Tech will launch in January 2024. With help from Prosser Career Education Center's industrial kitchen facilities in New Albany, students will attain the necessary culinary skills as they embark on a career in a burgeoning industry.
Responding to that type of need is nothing new for the Workforce Development team at Ivy Tech Sellersburg, which has helped countless students find new careers, and numerous employers throughout Indiana and Kentucky enhance their employees’ competencies. Whether it’s teaching industrial maintenance to employees at Amazon and GE Appliances, offering a nursing assistant’s credential to workers at CCMA Baptist Health, or training truck drivers for Mister "P" Express, the goal is always the same: to create more skilled workers, benefitting both employers and employees at the same time.
“Our program is structured to help our employer partners, students and community members upskill their workforce,” said Matthew Cupp, Workforce Development Consultant at Ivy Tech Sellersburg. “There is a huge skills gap in the workforce, and we are working to help train and develop employees, so they are more productive for employer partners and our community.”
Ivy Tech Sellersburg offers open enrollment courses that can help both adult learners looking to improve their resume, as well as traditional college-age students trying to figure out a career path. The program can be life-changing, given that some pursuits like an HVAC technician can pay upwards of $80,000 a year—more than what many four-year graduates make. But the crux of Ivy Tech's Workforce Development Program is the kind of custom skills training offered to employers like GE Appliances, which uses the Ivy Tech program to train about 80 employees each year.
Training at the workplace
The approach is known as “short-term skills training,” which refers to programs that can be completed in just eight to twelve weeks, helping employees put their new skills to work as quickly as possible. “We condense training down to the core of what is needed to succeed,” Cupp said. “We work quickly to ensure minimal disruption to an employer’s daily workflow. And once employers make the investment, they see it's worth it.”
Plus, most of the custom skills training is offered on-site at the employer's workplace. “When we develop training, we do it around the employer’s needs,” Cupp said. “Often, it's outside of regular business hours so it's easier to take employees out of the workplace and provide the skills training. Or if an individual signs up, we work around their regular job schedule so they can still work while earning the training.”
The workforce development program solutions at Ivy Tech Sellersburg reflect the needs of the 10-county area it serves in Indiana and Kentucky. These needs range from industrial maintenance, which also teaches basic mechanical aptitude, to EMT, HVAC and welding programs. There are also CDL certification programs to help close the nationwide shortage of 80,000 truck drivers as well as a new culinary skills program, healthcare programs, and more. Furthermore, Ivy Tech Sellersburg can develop short-term skills training programs to meet employer needs in a variety of different fields.
The success of the Workforce Development Program was further evident in September when Ivy Tech Sellersburg received the Healthcare Workforce Leadership Award at the OPTIMIZE Awards, presented by the Louisville Healthcare CEO Council. The award recognizes organizations that connect people to meaningful careers. Ivy Tech Sellersburg has over 1,000 students enrolled in its Schools of Health Sciences and Nursing, and the college awarded over 600 healthcare degrees in 2022.
“Ivy Tech has helped us fulfill our mission to provide high-quality healthcare in all the communities that we serve,” said Cheri Glass, System Vice President of Employee Experience at Baptist Health.
The training offered by Ivy Tech Sellersburg clearly produces real-word results, and there are a variety of ways employees and students can offset the cost. Employers can apply to the state of Indiana for Workforce Ready grants and apprenticeship funding. Community partners like Southern Indiana Works and River Valley Resources can help fund training for certain eligible students. And the Indiana Career Accelerator Grant, a zero-interest loan that can be paid back over 72 months, can help pay for programs like CDL certification. Much of that funding is reserved for Indiana residents only.
Higher wages, better lives
But in both Indiana and Kentucky, the benefits of upskilling or short-term skills training can be transformative, for employers and employees alike. “It's a culture-builder for employers, and it helps with retention,” Cupp said. “Several people we see in our short-term trainings have never experienced college or talked to a professor, so this is their first experience. It often encourages students to begin pursuing academic degrees. It's a great self-motivator, and we've seen it change lives.”
Higher credentials generally lead to higher wages, which can result in better lives—not just for an employee, but for an entire family as well. “This type of life change is what motivates me every day. I was a first-generation college student raised by a single mom myself who didn't have any post-secondary credentials,” said Connor Caudill, Vice Chancellor of Workforce and Development at Ivy Tech Sellersburg.
“I’ve seen the impact on students who never had the same opportunities as others have had. Several of our students have never had any formal interaction with higher education, and this may be the pinnacle credential they receive. This training has the potential to not only change the income and the arc of their career for themselves, but also change the lives of their families, too.”
Are you an employer in Kentuckiana interested in enhancing your workforce, or an individual looking to learn skills that can open the door to a better career? Contact Ivy Tech Community College in Sellersburg about workforce development options at (812) 246-3301, or visit their website at IvyTech.Edu/Locations/Sellersburg.
