Dewey Center location helps student access UpSkill training

We are in the midst of UpSkill Waco’s first industrial maintenance training course at the Dewey Recreation Center. It’s exciting to see all of the planning and coordination with partners come to fruition. We have also already seen the benefit of offering a training course at a neighborhood center.

Larry Griffin leads UpSkill Waco course.

One student told me it was so helpful having the course at the Dewey Center because she could walk to the center and pick up class materials. This student had to work remote while caring for a sick child, but we were able to leave a packet of materials to get her signed up for remote learning.

I am thankful for the Dewey Center’s neighborhood location and for our partnership with the City of Waco, who is allowing us to utilize city facilities for training. This no doubt helped us better support this student until she can return to in-person training.

In addition to an accessible location, our partners at Texas State Technical College and Heart of Texas Goodwill have worked hard over the past year to offer flexible in-person and remote learning options. Flexibility for adult learners is so important, especially during a pandemic. While this past year has been hard on so many, it is encouraging to see training providers shifting to more flexible learning formats, and I look forward to seeing this trend continue.

I think we will better be able to support UpSkill Waco students through training by offering flexible and accessible training courses. Keeping this in mind and cheering on our current students, I’m also working on planning summer courses with TSTC and Mclennan Community College. Summer is right around the corner, and I think it will be a good time to work with both adults and recent high school graduates with no postsecondary plans. Once those courses are set, we’ll begin recruiting by mid-May.

Updated training opportunities and applications will be posted on the UpSkill Waco website at upskill-waco.org. And, as always, anyone can reach out to me at tgallegos@prosperwaco.org with any questions.

Tiffany Gallegos-Whitley is director of workforce initiatives for Prosper Waco.