A program to train more than 1,000 unemployed Ohioans to work in the logistics field is underway in Columbus.
Funding for the $4.6 million Logistics - Attracting and Retaining Talent (ART) program at Columbus State Community College comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) via the US Department of Labor.
Mike Dempsey is one of 52 people to graduate the four-week program since it launched in July.
"I got let go from a warehouse job in January because i didn't have basic computer skills," Dempsey said. "It's not enough just to be able to be a box-kicker like it was when I first started back in 2004."
Logisitics is a targeted industry for growth in central Ohio. By 2013, the stimulus-funded training program will teach 1,082 out-of-work Ohioans about inventory systems, box scanning technology, and other knowledge needed to break into the logistics industry in an entry-level position.
"For right now, we can't get enough people through the program to even begin to fill the jobs they have currently," said Cheryl Hay, a director leading the training program at Columbus State Community College.
Hay said hiring projections call for local logistics companies to add more than 500 workers by early 2011. Hay described the selection process as having several layers
"They must pass a drug screen, they must pass a background check because warehousing has certain limits as to what they'll accept in both of those areas," Hay said. "They also go through a screen for job fit to determine, are they likely to be successful in a warehousing environment? Can they handle the pace of warehousing? Out of the first class we had screened, 40 individuals and only 24 got through the screening."
"Participants in this program have a leg up on anyone walking in off the street," said Steven Youll, a human resources administrator with Midwest Express Group, one of two local companies providing field training for the logistics program.
Youll said the logistics program at Columbus State does more to help workers and the entire logistics industry in central Ohio, than it helps any one business.
Participants receive free equipment for training and can earn a stipend to offset transportation costs.
"This program, to me, is like light at the end of the tunnel. Light at the end of the unemployment line, so to speak," Dempsey said. "Once I get full time employment, I'll be contributing rather than taking from the economy. And i'll feel much better about myself."
Hay expects local logistics businesses to pay for program in the future once stimulus money runs out.
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