New Choices/New Options Again Funded for 1999-2000

Published 08.19.1999

News
Student News

Pennsylvania College of Technology has been awarded $152,980 in state funding for continued operation of the combined New Choices/New Options program for the 1999-2000 academic year. A College match of $16,159 brings the total project funding to $169,138.

New Choices/New Options is a career guidance/life skills program for single and teen-age parents, displaced homemakers, and individuals interested in nontraditional careers. An estimated 170 students this year will benefit from the program, which aims to build the self-confidence individuals need to cope with life and face new responsibilities.



"New Choices/New Options helped me believe in myself," said one Lycoming County participant. "It gave me the confidence to achieve the position I hold today. Only 2 1/2months after starting a new job, the team leader position opened. I applied for it even though I didn't complete my initial probationary period. I got the position! Thank you! This is only the beginning."

The free program offered in Lycoming, Tioga, Bradford and Potter counties includes career exploration, job search, job placement, and job-retention skills such as time management, assertiveness, goal-setting, decision-making and problem-solving.

With the retirement of Linda Williams, project coordinator at the North Campus in Wellsboro, services to the Northern Tier will also be coordinated from the main campus by Patricia Gordon and Henrietta Hadley. They and Jennifer Whitmoyer, project secretary, are housed with Counseling and Career Services in the Bush Campus Center.

State legislators' work to restore funding when federal set-asides were eliminated is indicative of the program's contribution to Pennsylvania's TeamPA/CareerLink development. TeamPA's mission is to make the state a national leader in job growth and workforce development by providing funding for training and education.

The first workshop of the grant year begins Monday, Aug. 23, at Penn College's main campus in Williamsport. Anyone interested in more information may call (570) 326-3761, Ext. 7633.