Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

College Receives Grant to Aid Workforce Development, Training in North/Northeast Portland

Photos and story by James Hill

PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland Community College has received a $790,000 grant from worksystems, inc., to provide additional employment and job training services to the community of Northeast Portland. PCC now administers the services of four One Stop locations in the Portland metro area through contracts with worksystems, inc. The college will take over administrative duties at the Northeast One Stop Career Center (located at 3034 N.E. Martin Luther King Blvd.) and Goal Post, a social service training outlet and community center, at Columbia Villa (located at 8932 N. Woolsey Ave.) on July 1.The two sites will continue to offer the community a unique, responsive and diverse team to oversee outreach and marketing services, a point of contact for employers and referrals of qualified and job-ready candidates. The other two PCC One Stops, also established through worksystems, inc., are the Portland Metro Workforce Training Center (located at 5600 N.E. 42nd Ave.), which began providing services in the fall of 2000, and the Washington County One Stop at the CAPITAL Center (located at 185th and Walker Road), which began offering One Stop services in 1998."We hope to maintain the excellent level of service the Northeast One Stop has provided the last couple years, and build upon the services in place by providing enhanced services,"said Pamela Murray, director of workforce development at PCC. "We’ll continue to provide the same level of services that have been at these sites previously. We are excited about the opportunity to expand our partnerships with local leaders and organizations to enhance services to businesses and job seekers in the North/Northeast community."The One Stops will include such services as analysis of employee skills, evaluating basic skills of individuals, offering of English as a second language training, keyboarding help, developing software skills and more. PCC will coordinate these service with help from the Oregon Human Development Corporation (employment services for Latinos), Housing Authority of Oregon, Albina Ministerial Alliance, Senior Mobility Services, Oregon Council for Hispanic Advancement, Employment Department, Adult and Family Services (a state agency that provides public assistance), Dislocated Worker’s Project and Steps to Success.