McHenry County College receives grant for pre-apprenticeship program

McHenry County College received a $20,000 grant to help students facing barriers to employment gain access to pre-apprenticeship programs in their fields, according to the Crystal Lake-based college.

The grant from First National Bank of Omaha will helps students in the health care, information technology and manufacturing fields have better financial access to pre-apprenticeship programs to help them advance their careers and opportunities for employment after graduation, according to a news release. Adults who need extra training to advance their employment are eligible to receive funding from the grant.

“Each year, we ask for feedback from local employers to strengthen our workforce training programs, and the message is clear: a lack of skilled workers is threatening their businesses,” Catherine Jones, Associate Vice President of Workforce Development, said in a news release. “Employers rely on us to help develop a pipeline of workers with technical and problem-solving skills, and this program’s mission is to do exactly that.”

Students in the program complete 115 hours of technical training, 30 hours of skill training to improve someone’s chances of finding employment and 36 hours of industry training, according to the college.

Students are also assigned to a “success coach” who help guide the students through the program.

MCC’s pre-apprenticeship program has been around for two years and has enrolled 39 students in four fields, according to the college.