SPRINGFIELD — Springfield Technical Community College has been awarded a $301,250 grant from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission’s Community Mitigation Fund for the college’s WorkReady program, the Hampden Prep Program.
STCC’s grant allocation is part of $18 million in funding awarded by the Gaming Commission this year. In the nine years since the Massachusetts Gaming Commission was created, it has awarded approximately $56.7 million in grants from the Community Mitigation Fund.
Hampden Prep is a partnership between Springfield Technical Community College and Holyoke Community College and is free and open to Hampden County residents.
“The program seeks to provide community members with training and job readiness skills they need. Computer and digital literacy skills, but it’s more than that,” said Assistant Director of Workforce Development Gladys Franco.
Students enrolled in Hampden Prep receive free intensive skills education in computer Literacy, Workforce Readiness Skills, Career Exploration and Financial Literacy. They are also given career training and earn a certificate in their area of employment.
“You might not know how to use a keyboard or even turn a computer on. We will train them up to a Microsoft Office certificate. Students are exposed to various situations to build their skills,” Franco said.
In addition to improving digital skills among adults, the program also supports non-traditional students, preparing them to compete in the digital and computer job markets and find employment in the Springfield area.
“A lot of our participants don’t have digital skills at all,” Franco said, adding that older people come into the program to build skills they have not had need of or opportunity to build previously.
The program is run four times per year, in eight-week sessions. Because it is offered in the morning or evening session, online or in-person, Hampden Prep is designed to fit into people’s schedules. Franco said a participant’s entry-level, and goals determine how many sessions they take part in.
Participants may be referred from a class at HCC to those at STCC, or vice versa, if they are looking for a workforce training program that is not available at their primary college.
With the education a student receives through Hampden Prep, they leave with “transferable skills for success in post-secondary education and prepare them for workplace success,” the program’s website states.
The Community Mitigation Fund grant will also support STCC’s high school equivalency test preparation services, basic adult education and English for speakers of other languages classes with a focus on hospitality/customer service and hospitality industry-related certifications.
