Keystone Today

The Bedford County Technical Center (BCTC) was recently awarded $200,000 in grant funds to be put toward implementing a video contest and a community campaign to promote careers in the manufacturing industry.

According to a release by Gov. Tom Wolf’s office on Oct. 7, the funds are through the Manufacturing PA Training-to-Career Program (MTTC) and BCTC will be using the money to create the “What’s So Cool About Manufacturing?” video contest and a community campaign to go along with the contest. The campaign is to promote opportunities in the region to youth and underserved residents.

“Both students and local manufacturers will benefit from this wonderful awareness campaign,” Wolf said. “It will start to build a pipeline of talent for local manufacturers and will show students and their parents the many exciting and rewarding opportunities available in the manufacturing industry.”

The video contest will take place in 10 schools in central Pennsylvania making up 10,000 students. This includes six schools in Bedford County that are in the first year of the program, as well as four spots in the second year from Blair, Fulton and Huntingdon counties.

“We are excited about the opportunities the Manufacturing Training to Career grant will provide the students, educators, and employers in Bedford County,” said Michael O’Dellick, Administrative Director, Bedford County Technical Center. “The grant will serve a dual purpose in the county-focused student engagement in local manufacturing and community awareness.” 

The Training-to-Career grants are focused on job placement and readiness for work in the manufacturing field. Since the Manufacturing PA Initiative was launched in 2017 it has funded 85 projects through $17.8 million in investments.