Joe Star­ck, Pres­i­dent of The Great Lakes Tow­ing Com­pa­ny attend­ed a round­table dis­cus­sion with U.S. Sec­re­tary of Edu­ca­tion John B. King Jr., U.S. Sen. Sher­rod Brown (D‑OH), U.S. Rep. Mar­cia L. Fudge (D‑OH-11), and Cuya­hoga Com­mu­ni­ty Col­lege Pres­i­dent Alex John­son on August 19, 2016 to dis­cuss col­lege access and afford­abil­i­ty at Tri‑C. Local stu­dents and cam­pus lead­ers shared their sto­ries and strate­gies to increase col­lege access, make col­lege afford­able, and improve out­comes for all students.

The Great Lakes Tow­ing Com­pa­ny kicks off the 2016–2017 school year by con­tin­u­ing to part­ner with three Cleve­land schools to pro­vide intern­ship and on-the-job train­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for local stu­dents, includ­ing Cuya­hoga Com­mu­ni­ty Col­lege, Max S. Hayes High School and St. Mar­tin de Por­res High School.

Cre­at­ing a work­force pipeline has become increas­ing­ly impor­tant. This is espe­cial­ly true for the trades indus­tries and some­thing that the Com­pa­ny has a his­to­ry of incor­po­rat­ing into their cor­po­rate cul­ture. This year, the Com­pa­ny is par­tic­i­pat­ing in an intern­ship pro­gram spon­sored through the MAGNET Work­force and Tal­ent Devel­op­ment Pro­gram by Ohio Means Jobs and the Make it in Amer­i­ca Grant that Med­i­na Coun­ty Work­force Devel­op­ment is pro­vid­ing to North­east Ohio weld­ing stu­dents. The Make it in Amer­i­ca Grant has been fund­ed by the U.S. Depart­ment of Labor’s Employ­ment and Train­ing Admin­is­tra­tion (ETA); U.S. Depart­ment of Commerce’s Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment Admin­is­tra­tion (EDA) and Nation­al Insti­tute of Stan­dards and Tech­nol­o­gy Man­u­fac­tur­ing Exten­sion Part­ner­ship (NIST MEP); and Delta Region­al Author­i­ty (DRA).

“It was good to hear about the work that Tri‑C is doing to align their pro­grams with the prac­ti­cal skills and com­pe­ten­cies employ­ers want and need, so that the hard work of stu­dents to advance their skills lead to real career oppor­tu­ni­ties,” King said. “We must con­tin­ue to work to make all insti­tu­tions of high­er edu­ca­tion- includ­ing com­mu­ni­ty col­leges- acces­si­ble, afford­able and respon­sive to the needs of today’s diverse stu­dents as well as to the needs of employers.”

“Meet­ing stu­dents and cam­pus lead­ers at Ohio’s com­mu­ni­ty col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties helps inform the work I do in Wash­ing­ton to ensure that all stu­dents can real­ize the promise an edu­ca­tion can pro­vide,” said Sen. Brown.

“As a Mem­ber of the House Com­mit­tee on Edu­ca­tion and the Work­force, mak­ing col­lege more afford­able is one of my top pri­or­i­ties. Col­lege is a path­way toward finan­cial sta­bil­i­ty and career suc­cess; we must ensure every stu­dent has access to these oppor­tu­ni­ties,” said Rep. Fudge. “Today’s dis­cus­sion with Sec­re­tary King, Sen­a­tor Brown, Cuya­hoga Coun­ty Col­lege Pres­i­dent John­son, and stu­dents, is time­ly. The con­ver­sa­tion leads our state and nation one step clos­er to devel­op­ing pol­i­cy solu­tions that will make high­er edu­ca­tion afford­able for all.”