JHA Employment, Training Program Celebrates Brand-new Graduates

The Johnstown Housing Authority’s Employment and Training Program celebrated eight graduates of the program’s second friend who entered a new stage of life Friday.

The event at Pennsylvania Highlands Community College in Richland Township marked a clean slate for the graduates, who are set to look for more education or employment in the Johnstown location, said JHA Executive Director Mike Alberts.

For the previous four months, galmudugjobs.com those registered in the program finished courses provided by a collaboration among Penn Highlands, Johnstown Area Regional Industries and PA CareerLink.

The program consisted of courses provided at Johnstown public housing neighborhood rooms to remove participants’ transportation barriers.

The curriculum included dispute management, job search and interview skills, Microsoft Word and Excel, and life abilities management, as well as expedition for a robotics bootcamp and tours of technology-based manufacturing companies including Kitron and Compass Systems.

The event Friday celebrated the 8 graduates of the program while acknowledging lots more who registered, but pulled out after finding employment or other further education chances along the method.

PHOTO GALLERY|Johnstown Housing Authority Employment & Training Program Graduation

Bernice Sanders (best), of the Coopersdale area of Johnstown, celebrates after receiving her Certificate of Completion throughout the Johnstown Housing Authority Employment & Training Program graduation ceremony at Pennsylvania Highlands Community College in Richland Township on Friday, January 31, 2025.

Jeanne Vandergrift (front), of the Dale section of Johnstown, commemorates with graduates after getting her Certificate of Completion during the Johnstown Housing Authority Employment & Training Program graduation event at Pennsylvania Highlands Community College in Richland Township on Friday, 24-Hour Loan January 31, 2025.

RJ Montague (ideal), of Johnstown, shakes hands with Johnstown Housing Authority (JHA) Executive Director Mike Alberts (center) while getting their Certificate of Completion throughout the JHA Employment & Training Program graduation ceremony at Pennsylvania Highlands Community College in Richland Township on Friday, January 31, 2025. Looking on, from left to right, is Pennsylvania Highlands Community College President Steve Nunez and JARI President and CEO Linda Thomson.

Marie Bradford, of the Oakhurst area of Johnstown, celebrates throughout the Johnstown Housing Authority Employment & Training Program graduation ceremony at Pennsylvania Highlands Community College in Richland Township on Friday, January 31, 2025.

Dellia Gonzalez, of the Oakhurst area of Johnstown, with her child Dakota Marong, 3, praises the graduates during the Johnstown Housing Authority Employment & Training Program graduation ceremony at Pennsylvania Highlands Community College in Richland Township on Friday, January 31, 2025.

JARI Workforce Development Director Dave Grimaldi praises the participants completing the Johnstown Housing Authority Employment & Training Program throughout a graduation event at Pennsylvania Highlands Community College in on Friday, January 31, 2025.

By Thomas Slusser
[email protected]!.?.! JARI Director of Workforce Development Dave Grimaldi stated members of the program’s 2nd associate have advanced to additional education at Penn Highlands or other location schools for certification in fields including HVAC, emergency situation medicine and cybersecurity. The program is supplied at no charge to individuals and graduated its very first cohort in June. After Friday’s graduation, two more cohorts are set up, Grimaldi said. The program was started by former JARI Workforce Development Director Debra Balog and

PA CareerLink Cambria County website administrator Jeff Dick.”This was among the best concepts we have actually had for discovering quality employees for companies in the area,”Balog said.”We developed the idea of dealing with our public real estate units due to the fact that lots of individuals had transportation and kid care barriers that kept them from accessing resources beyond Johnstown’s public real estate.” U.S. Department of Housing and xpressrh.com Urban Development Pittsburgh Field Office Director Michael Horvath said the program has assisted individuals”

lift themselves up and get them linked. “He praised the graduates and the collaborators who made the program possible. The program has made HUD acknowledgment as a finest practice, a recognition provided to one authority each year for specifically improving the lives of its residents, Alberts stated. The graduates received certificates and a standing ovation from family and good friends in attendance, in addition to Cambria County Commissioner Thomas Chernisky, Cambria Regional Chamber of Commerce President Amy Bradley and representatives from U.S. Sen. John Fetterman’s office. Fetterman, D-Pa., [empty] and former U.S. Sen. Bob Casey were critical in promoting the program, JARI President Linda Thomson stated.