Community Education program brochures Metro North ABE - Consortium newsletter, Mar. 2018 | Page 6

Learning and Working
In partnership with area workforce centers, colleges, and employers, Metro North ABE sites help
adult learners prepare for new careers.
Pathways to Prosperity
The Anoka County WorkForce
Center’s (WFC) commitment to
creating career opportunities for
their clients, and some creative
efforts, allowed three quality
programs to continue this year. The
Pathways to Prosperity (P2P) grant
expired before this year, but Metro
North ABE has continued to work in
collaboration with Anoka
Ramsey Community College, Anoka
Technical College and the Work-
Force Center to offer Fall and
Spring cohorts in career pathways.
Our goal is to deliver quality pro-
gramming in three key strands:
Precision Sheet Metal manufactur-
ing (where we provide a math
bridge), Health Care Pathways (in
which we deliver a terminology and
basics bridge), and Office Adminis-
tration (Microsoft
Office Specialist),
where we provide
keyboarding and
Word and Excel
basics along with
lab support for the
advanced train-
ing.
The WFC has ap-
plied for the new
P2P grant with
these pathways
still central to the
plan, but we have
begun developing
a “customer
service” certificate component in
each of the programs to validate that
the students finish their training not
6
only with all the requisite skills to
perform the duties, but with demon-
strable soft skills in professionalism
and working with coworkers and
clients. We are excited to more
deeply integrate this soft skills and
professionalism training in the fu-
ture cohorts. Potential new pro-
grams in the grant proposal include
Call Center Support personnel, Au-
tomated Warehouse personnel, and
911 dispatch. We look forward to
continuing this valuable work with
our great partners and employers.
Food Service Career Pathway
The Adult Education Center-
Columbia Heights/Fridley is located
on Central Avenue, which has
numerous restaurants of all sizes.
This is a reminder of the high de-
mand for food service industry jobs.
This site location is offering a Food
Service Career Pathway for adult
learners to work in food service in
METRO NORTH ABE  CONSORTIUM
schools, nursing homes, child care
centers, hotels, or large scale food
production.
Classes offered include: Introduc-
tion to Food Service Careers, Food
Handler, and Food Manager (with
the industry recognized ServSafe
exam certification). A Food Man-
ager class offering just began in
February 2018.
Commercial Driver’s License
Preparation
This year, Metro North ABE is be-
ginning the development of CDL
(Commercial Driver’s License)
preparation classes.
As a first step, the Adult Education
Center- Columbia Heights/Fridley is
creating a Career Exploration: CDL
class. This initial class
will introduce learners
to the eligibility re-
quirements for CDL,
steps in the process to
become a CDL driver,
information on the
medical exam, vari-
ous permits and types
of driving positions
available, behind the
wheel training op-
tions, and over the
road or local driver
lifestyle.
A class will begin in
April 2018. The next
class to follow will be CDL permit
exam preparation.