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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Department of Labor &amp; Industry Deputy Secretary for Workforce Development Eileen Cipriani this week visited Dallas High School to highlight the recently awarded Career Readiness Mini-Grant to help students learn about career opportunities in their region.</p><p>The officials also discussed Gov. Tom Wolf&#8217;s Statewide Workforce, Education, and Accountability Program (SWEAP) that provides opportunities for Pennsylvanians from birth to retirement.</p><p>&#8220;Pennsylvania&#8217;s economic future depends on a well-educated and highly-trained workforce,&#8221; Cipriani said. &#8220;We proudly support these career exploration projects, which allow students to learn about career options early with hands-on training, so that they are well-prepared as they move into the workforce and post-secondary education.&#8221;</p><p>More than $180,000 in Career Readiness Mini-Grants have been awarded to 41 school districts across the commonwealth.</p><p>The governor&#8217;s Statewide Workforce, Education, and Accountability Program (SWEAP) expands access to early childhood education, increases investments in schools, and partners with the private sector to build on the PAsmart initiative.</p><p>The governor also created the Keystone Economic Development and Workforce Command Center to expand the collaboration between government and the private sector to address the skills gap and worker shortages. The departments of Community and Economic Development, Labor and Industry, and State are committed to working with external leaders from the Chamber of Business and Industry, AFL-CIO and Team Pennsylvania to build the strongest workforce in the nation.</p><p>During the visit to Dallas High School, Cipriani toured a freshmen Career and Consumer Science class, where students were participating in interest inventories to gauge their interest in high-priority occupations. She also toured the school&#8217;s welding prototyping lab, and saw students using wood, plastics and metal fabrication machinery. She talked with students about the skills they are learning to get good jobs in the region, as well as their job-shadowing experiences with local employers.</p><p>&#8220;Dallas High School students have directly benefited from the Career Mini-Grant through the expansion of the comprehensive career program, with an increased emphasis on work-based experiences in high-priority occupations,&#8221; said Dallas High School Principal Jason Rushmer. &#8220;DHS requires all students to successfully complete a four-year career program, which includes interpersonal skill development, personalized meetings with school counselors, job site visits, job shadows and a capstone presentation to a community panel.&#8221;</p><p>Dallas High&#8217;s Career Awareness Program combines activities, events and assignments to help students learn about different careers, discover their unique interests, acquire helpful skills, and ultimately use what they have learned to pursue their professional goals.</p><p>Team Pennsylvania is a non-partisan, charitable, nonprofit created in 1997 to bring government and private sector leaders together for the betterment of Pennsylvania. For a complete list of school districts that were awarded mini-grants, visit Team Pennsylvania.</p><p>For more information about pursuing an education and career in Pennsylvania at any stage of life, visit PAsmart.</p><p><strong>Wolf makes case for statewide</strong></p><p><strong>broadband to support education</strong></p><p>Gov. Tom Wolf this week highlighted the need for statewide broadband access to increase educational opportunities for Pennsylvania&#8217;s students.</p><p>&#8220;For Pennsylvania to succeed, we must close the digital divide to ensure every citizen has the access needed to connect to the ever-expanding digital world in which we live and work,&#8221; Wolf said in a press release.</p><p>To achieve these goals, Wolf announced a bold infrastructure initiative, Restore Pennsylvania, funded by the monetization of a &#8220;commonsense severance tax.&#8221; Restore Pennsylvania will invest $4.5 billion over the next four years in significant, high-impact projects throughout the commonwealth to help catapult Pennsylvania ahead of every state in the country in terms of technology, development, and infrastructure.</p><p>Restore Pennsylvania projects will be driven by local input about local needs. Projects identified by local stakeholders will be evaluated through a competitive process to ensure that high-priority, impactful projects are funded and needs across Pennsylvania are met.</p><p>The governor outlined how Restore Pennsylvania will help school districts by expanding broadband access to all Pennsylvanians. Nearly a million Pennsylvanians today lack access to robust, reliable, high-speed internet.</p><p>Wolf said Restore Pennsylvania would provide funding to completely bridge the digital divide in every community in Pennsylvania, making it a better place to work, do business, and live.</p><p><strong>Pa. residents choosing more</strong></p><p><strong>private flood insurance policies</strong></p><p>Insurance Commissioner Jessica Altman said the number of private market flood insurance policies in Pennsylvania jumped 72 percent from February 2018, as she continued urging homeowners, business owners, and renters to shop around in the increasingly competitive flood insurance market to protect their homes, businesses, and properties.</p><p>&#8220;The number of private flood insurance policies increased from 5,200 in February of last year to 8,950 this February,&#8221; Altman said. &#8220;Since Gov. Wolf directed my department to educate consumers about the increasing availability of private flood coverage in February 2016, the number of private flood policies has leaped almost six-fold and now represents nearly one in seven flood insurance policies in the state.&#8221;</p><p>Flood insurance is available through private sector insurance, and the federal government-run National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which almost exclusively provided this coverage prior to changes implemented by Congress in 2014. These changes have led to significantly higher NFIP premiums as subsidies for high-risk properties are phased out to reduce the program&#8217;s roughly $25 billion debt.</p><p>Altman emphasized most standard homeowners&#8217; and renters&#8217; insurance policies do not cover flood damage. While many mortgage lenders, including those making home loans backed by the federal government, require flood insurance for properties in what are known as Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHAs), Altman urged homeowners outside of these areas to consider this additional coverage.</p><p>Some 20 Pennsylvania-licensed insurance companies now sell private flood insurance, in addition to 59 individual producers who sell this coverage through what is called the surplus lines market. Surplus lines insurance is sold through companies licensed outside Pennsylvania. However, the producers selling this coverage are licensed in Pennsylvania, and the Pennsylvania Insurance Department monitors the financial condition of the companies selling this coverage. Forty-seven percent of private market flood policies are now sold through Pennsylvania-licensed companies, as compared to only 26 percent two years ago.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Capitol Roundup: Pa. official visits Dallas High to discuss career program