Cambria jobs training, Somerset communications to receive share of $1M in federal funding

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December 15, 2009

By BERNIE HORNICK The Tribune-Democrat Tue Dec 15, 2009, 11:42 PM EST

JOHNSTOWN —

bhornick@tribdem.com

Two $100,000 federal grants announced Tuesday will go toward making Confluence-area hikers safer and to train Greater Johnstown residents for jobs in home security and wiring cable TV.

Brent Wright, president of Wrightco Educational Foundation in Ebensburg, said his office would combine the latter grant with other funding to provide training for about 30 people.

“We had very high completion, very high placement rates,” Wright said Tuesday. “It turned lives around, gave people opportunities that wouldn’t have existed without the training.

“Today, we have more job openings than we have graduates.”

Wright said people who have completed the program have gone to work at companies such as Comcast, ADT “and everything in between.”

He said the jobs offer longevity and pay an above-average wage. As long as people communicate and need to secure their homes, these jobs will be there, Wright said.

Ten people work in the Ebensburg location and 125 to 200 people are trained there each year.

“Once again, thank you, Sen. (Arlen) Specter,” Wright said on behalf of Wrightco.

Also Tuesday, the offices of Specter and Sen. Bob Casey announced that a $100,000 fed-eral grant would go to the Somerset County commissioners for a communications tower. The money will go to support a county-wide communications upgrade to enhance emergency responder services.

Hikers in the area of the Great Allegheny Passage trail near Confluence have spotty or nonexistent cell-phone service, meaning they can’t call 911 in case of emergency.

“Seventy-three thousand people a year use that portion of the trail. This is a safety issue,” President Commissioner Pam-ela Tokar-Ickes said.

“We have had emergency services issues that occurred,” she said, “and knew this was an issue we had to address.”

Tokar-Ickes said more money needs to be raised for the $349,000 project, though that cost might be defrayed by interfacing with Verizon Inc. as it erects a commercial cell tower in that area.

No timetable for construction has been established.

These two projects and others throughout western Pennsylvania are being funded through the fiscal year 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act. The bill now goes to President Barack Obama for his expected signature.

Useful funding

Nearly $1 million is coming to Cambria, Somerset and surrounding counties through legislation recently passed by Congress. Grants approved include:

• $100,000 for Wrightco Educational Foundation in Ebensburg for job training in the communication and security industries.

• $100,000 for Somerset County for a tower to support a county-wide communications system upgrade to enhance emergency response.

• $293,500 for Blair County for acquisition, demolition and site preparation within the county’s blighted urban core areas, including downtown Altoona.

• $100,000 for Altoona Regional Health System for digital mammography equipment in the breast imaging center.

• $100,000 for American Prosthodontic Society Foundation in Clearfield County for scholarships and program costs related to training in prosthetic dentistry and clinical prosthodontics.

• $100,000 for Tyrone Hospital in Blair County to replace and upgrade medical monitoring systems for the ICCU/telemetry, emergency room and recovery room.

• $100,000 for DuBois Regional Medical Center in Clearfield County for facilities and equipment.

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