October 2016 – Page 61 – Welcome to Wyandotte Daily!

KCKCC awarded Workforce Aid Training Project

by Kelly Rogge, KCKCC

In order to combat the skills gap that some local employers are facing, Kansas City Kansas Community College has been awarded a Workforce Aid Training Project.

Rich Piper, director of the KCKCC-TEC, said the goal of the Preventative Maintenance Inspection program is to train individuals in a short amount of time to enter the “transportation career pipeline.” After nine-weeks of training, the individual will start at $15 an hour.

“The goal is not to keep these individuals at $15 an hour. The goal is to identify motivated individuals at the entry level position and start training them to be diesel technicians,” he said. “The company will pay for the individual’s training. Once certified as a ‘diesel technician,’ an individual can make a self- sustaining wage. An ASE certified Diesel Technician median wage is $25 an hour.”

Piper said the process of bringing the Workforce Aid Training Program to KCKCC started with Greg Kindle and Jay Matlack, with the Wyandotte County Economic Development Council. He said the duo spoke with local trucking companies to identifying a training need, and then moved forward with finding out what funding was available to implement new training programs.

“WYEDC was very good about including KCKCC from the beginning of the conversations with the local trucking companies,” Piper said. “The project is good for the college because it shares with the local employers and different workforce organizations the college is responsive to their training needs. It also shows the college is truly a training partner. When a training need is identified the college can respond in a timely and effective manner.”

KCKCC instructors teach three courses as part of the training program – OSHA 10, workplace skills (essential employability skills/soft skills) and PMI (Preventive Maintenance Inspection). Butler Transportation, Kansas City Freightliner, Peterbilt and Ryder will be participating.

“When you are able to work closely with four major companies in the transportation/trucking industry, the name of the college becomes a stronger brand with these training partners,” Piper said. “The promotional activities associated with the training have the college’s name side by side with Peterbilt, KC Freightliner, Butler Transportation, Ryder, Kansas Department of Commerce and Workforce Partnership. Being associated with these great companies and organizations is a powerful statement to our community.”

The fall session has already started, but plans are underway to bring the program back in spring 2017. For more information on the Workforce Aid Training Program at KCKCC, contact Piper at 913-288-7808 or by email at [email protected].

Scattered storms possible this morning; frost Thursday morning

Scattered thunderstorms will affect parts of the region this morning, according to the National Weather Service..

While small hail will be possible with some storms, severe weather is not expected, the weather service said.

Temperatures will drop into the mid 30s Thursday morning as Canadian high pressure builds south across the lower Missouri Valley, according to the weather service.

Frost is expected across much of the area with freeze conditions anticipated across far northwest Missouri, the weather service said.

Isolated storms will again be possible early Friday morning and again over the weekend, according to the weather service. Widespread severe weather is not expected.

Today, there is a 50 percent chance of showers, mainly before 1 p.m., the weather service said. The high will be near 54. The north wind will be 8 to 14 mph with gusts as high as 21 mph.

Tonight, the low will be around 36 with a north wind of 5 to 7 mph, according to the weather service. Patchy frost is possible after 5 a.m.

Thursday, expect patchy frost before 8 a.m. It will be sunny with a high near 59, the weather service said. The east wind will be 5 to 7 mph.

Thursday night, there will be a 30 percent chance of showers after 1 a.m., according to the weather service. It will be mostly cloudy with a low of 47. There will be an east southeast wind of 5 mph.

Friday, it will be mostly cloudy with a high of 67, the weather service said. There will be a south wind of 5 to 9 mph.

Friday night, it will be mostly cloudy with a low of 61, according to the weather service.

Saturday, expect a high of 81 with mostly cloudy skies, the weather service said.

Saturday night, there will be a 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1 a.m., according to the weather service. The low will be around 63.

Community forum continues on how to reduce violence in KCK

The Mayor’s Clergy Roundtable held a community forum and small group discussions tonight at Schlagle High School gymnasium, 2214 N. 59th St., Kansas City, Kan.

The discussions continued on how the community and law enforcement can work together to make Kansas City, Kan., a safer place to live, with residents invited to offer their ideas for reducing violence.

About 100 persons attended the event and broke into small groups of about six residents and two police officers for discussions.

The first community meeting on the topic was held Sept. 20.

The goal of the next four forums are to get people into a dialogue, Mayor Mark Holland said tonight.

“We know that we have too much violence in our community,” Mayor Holland told those attending the forum tonight. “We know that the majority of the violence in our community is related to drug activity.”

Another large portion of the violence is linked to domestic violence, he added.

This year has been especially difficult for Kansas City, Kan. “Our city was rocked with a great tragedy, losing two police officers in the line of duty,” he said.

Those are some of the reasons for the effort to reduce violence in the community.

Three more community forums are planned for small group dialogues. They will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25, at Harmon High School, 2400 Steele Road, Kansas City, Kan.; 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 29, at Sumner Academy, 1610 N. 8th St., Kansas City, Kan.; and 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 13, at the Patricia Diane Kane Community Center (at the Piper district complex), 3130 N. 122nd St., Kansas City, Kan.