Up Close and Personal
May 27, 2014
As previously seen in the Daily Herald
Up close and personal
Friday, 5/16/14
Congressman Brad Schneider, left, and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, right, get a tour of Oakton Community College’s manufacturing lab from Dave Geller, the college’s chairman of manufacturing. The elected officials visited Oakton’s Skokie campus to discuss the growing manufacturing skills gap – and how to close it – with students, educators and industry leaders. Currently, more than 600,000 manufacturing jobs remain unfilled because employers can’t find workers with the necessary skills. Oakton offers a wide range of courses, degrees and certificates, workshops and customized training programs that provide students with the hands-on experience and skills necessary to compete in 21st century economy. Durbin introduced the Community College to Career Fund Act to help create partnerships between two-year colleges and businesses that will train 2 million Americans for jobs in high-demand industries such as healthcare, advanced manufacturing, clean energy and information technology. Schneider introduced the America Works Act, which creates an industry-recognized, nationally portable set of credentials for these skills.
