Please note that this transcript was auto-generated. We apologize for any minor errors in spelling or grammar.

[00:00:00] Welcome everyone. We’ll get started in just a few seconds here. I’ll, I’ll wait for a few more people to join us.

All right, well, I will get started. My name is Julie Shields and I am the director of college planning education and training at MEFA. And I wanna welcome you to this webinar and I. Workforce training, exploration for recent high school grads and all. Um, but I also wanna talk about how this is a part of a series that we’re doing.

So let me go through a few logistics before I turn it over to our presenters.[00:01:00]

Um, to participate today, um, you have control over your settings and the chat is disabled. So if you have questions, and I’m sure you might put them in the q and a, and we’ll make sure to get to your questions as we go along. Or at the end, if you would like to use the live transcript, uh, for closed captioning.

Press that button and you’ll be able to choose closed captioning to see the words that we speak across the screen. And additionally, you’ll have the choice of what language you would like to see those words appear in. So if you, um, if English is not your first language and you’d feel more comfortable seeing it written out in, in, um, your language, please use that feature as well.

All. Then a little bit about MEFA. We are a state authority created in 1982 to help families plan, save, and pay for college. And [00:02:00] as, as part of all that we do to help students and families, um, we are in the middle of a, or beginning a campaign this August that’s especially targeted to, um, to students and others who.

Don’t quite have a plan for the fall in place yet, and to let you know that there are still many, many options, um, for you. So I’m gonna show you quickly right here. I’m going to show you the website that you can go to.

Oh, I’m sorry. I’m, I’m, I’m, I’m doing a bad job with this. I will send, get that ready for you before the end of the, um, before the end of the webinar. I’ll send you a website that will show you that, um, [00:03:00] all of the resources that we have for you this month, which include many webinars. Which include blog posts, uh, some podcast episodes, and, um, access to resources and one-on-one help, including what we’re calling a FAFSA festival on August 16th, where you can join a meeting like this and be connected to a FAFSA expert who can help you complete that form.

Before you want to enroll somewhere in the fall. So I will get that website to you. And, um, with that I am going to pass this over to, uh, my colleagues at the Mass Association of Community Colleges. I will first just introduce you to Lisa. Cartia and Lisa is the director of Workforce Development for the Mass Association of Community Colleges.

And Lisa will introduce her colleagues and, um, we have a really great presentation for you about all of the opportunities that our community colleges here in Massachusetts [00:04:00] offer.

Thank you.

Oftentimes, I know some of you on this call are, are either recently graduated or maybe you’re, the parents have recently graduated wondering, what do we do next? Right. And people often hear community college and think, oh, well that’s just associate degree. Well, not just associate degree, but there is so much going on at the community colleges, especially when it comes to training for the workforce.

So. My name is Lisa. As Julie said, I’m the director of Workforce Development for the Massachusetts Association of Community Colleges. I brought along my colleague Sean. He’s the program manager for education and training funds. And Carla, she is the BMA Competitive Program manager. Those are just two things that we house at our [00:05:00] office for workforce training.

However, there’s so much more that we’ll talk about. Um, but to get started today, I just wanna make sure, can everyone see my screen? And it should just be the slides from the beginning. I hope everyone Yes. Good. All right. So again, welcome and thank you so. Again, Lisa, Carla and Sean, we can be act as your single points of contact to get to any one of the programs we talk about today.

So we’ll be sharing this, um, PowerPoint out to you. We’ll also be sharing with Julie all of.

As I said, you, you’ve seen community colleges across the state, right? And you, you think, okay, associates [00:06:00] degree, but really we are a statewide network of community colleges who can be essential in training and upskilling new employees into really high demand occupations. Now those high demand occupations currently are in healthcare, IT and manufacturing, and we’ll talk a little bit about those today, but really it is so much broader than that and the high demand occupations keep growing and growing.

Over the last two years, we’ve really worked a lot with workforce development across the state and bringing all of these high opportunities. To everyone within the Commonwealth.

So I think it’s important to note, I dunno where you are all from within this call, but if you see our state right here, all of those popups [00:07:00] right, are places where there is state education available. So the orange is really what we’re going to talk about today, and those are the community colleges We pride ourselves on knowing that there is community college access within a quick drive, or a tee, or a commuter rail, or even a walk for some to a local school.

So wherever you are at, please realize that. There’s actually online opportunities throughout the state, hybrid opportunities, and I know given the circumstances that we all went through for the last three years, you all know how to use the hybrid component and the online component. So I would not let that scare any of you away.

Um, sorry. The first program we’re.[00:08:00]

I will turn it over to Carla to talk more about this and what is available at one of our local schools.

Hello everyone. Welcome. Um, so the BMAS competitive program started in 2021. Uh, so Lisa alluded to the changes that have gone on in the world. Think about this, what happened in 2021? We are in the midst of. A second wave of a pandemic and we were standing up a program, uh, we refer to this, our program as the program that pivots, um, each cohort that we work on with our program.

Um, the components are the same. You know, we are working with a community college. In this case, we’ve been working with our partners at Bunker Hill Community College. Um, and we have specialized training. Uh, it is a total 20 week program. Uh, the first 10 weeks are, um. Customer service, career readiness, uh, technical [00:09:00] training.

So these are preparation for entry level opportunities and named organizations. So names like Bank of America, mass Mutual, John Hancock, uh, mass General Brigham, um, Boston Scientific. So these are well known organizations in which, um, they are taking. People from our program. So there’s 10 weeks of training at the college.

And then from there, those skills that are related to the entry level customer service administrative roles. Um, and then you would start a 10 week, uh, training at, on the job at one of these. Organizations. And our goal is that at the end of this opportunity that you, uh, have a job opportunity. Uh, so we don’t say in this role that it is a guaranteed job because obviously the work that you’re doing in the program is what gets you to that next step related to the program, but successful completion of classroom training, successful completion of [00:10:00] OJT, um.

Our, in our history of our program aligns with having a job opportunity, uh, at that project. So our goal in this, this program is to, uh, have two a year, uh, this. We up to this point have done one every year, and then this, this year we are actually doing two back to back, um, which we will not be doing in the future.

So we have a cohort right now in May, um, and we have a cohort in um, July. So what does that mean? We have in our partnership is the slide that you’re seeing now. Um. We have focused in metro Boston area, so that’s why Bunker Hill and that the geographic area there. But we also had a cohort that we did in Berkshire that was specifically with Wayfair.

Um, our goal, as you saw from the previous slide from Lisa, we have community colleges everywhere. Um, and that’s such a great opportunity [00:11:00] for participants. But we also want to have employers in those areas because remember, in this job, the goal is to have. Upward mobility for our participants once you are getting into these employers is challenging.

Um, people who have a four-year degree find it challenging to get into these organizations. So imagine being a, um, accepted into the bmas competitive program. You’re not only getting training that’s covered, it’s all at no cost to you, uh, training for the participants, but then you are also being placed in an organization that, and roles that are highly coveted, that typically had requirements that.

We talk about transferable skills. So you may have, uh, worked at Dunking Donuts, you may have worked at Starbucks as a barista. Um, you may have done some administrative work in the backend of an office. All of those things or, or specifically, um, in the job that you do. I, I’m thinking of Target. I worked at Target, I worked at Starbucks.[00:12:00]

Um. Those goal, those, those tools, those things that you’ve done, are all called transferable skills. So what we’re doing is capitalizing on skills that you have and building them to be able to then transfer into the corporate world. So a lot of these, these opportunities would not normally be available to people.

Um, and that’s what this program is all about. Um, we’re very excited about the, the work that we’ve done. Um, what I say, I’m. If you, let me step on my soapbox for just a bit. Um, what’s important to us in this program is yes, at the end of the day that you have an employer opportunity, but also this program is looking at you holistically.

So everyone who’s coming to this program, you know, you are, you are unique self, we are going to be training you, but we’re also looking at long term all of those skills that you’re going to use. Yes, you’ll use at that employer, but also, um, for you. Within, uh, your life. So we’re very excited. [00:13:00] Um, our participants, the last thing that I will share is that for our participants, we, when I say this is the program that pivots, we are always looking at.

Our previous participants, what the instructors have to say, coaching opportunities, what the employers are saying. This is a very collaborative program, and some of the changes that we’ve made in this program are based on feedback that we got from our actual participants in the program. For example, customer service, career readiness when we started was two weeks.

We’ve now changed that to be three weeks. Um, we started, of course, in the middle of Covid. We had some, we had a hybrid scenario of, uh, one part of the program was in person. The other program was remote. We’ve changed that to have it all be an in-person program, and that is also. Um, the support and networking that happens within that, that, that came directly from our participants where they said, oh, I’m really excited to be remote.

And then they were remote and said, and I really miss working with all the people that I have in my [00:14:00] classroom. Um, so we’ve, we continuously look at this program and grow this program for our students, for our participants, and also for the employers. Um, our last thing is people who are in this program for the employers.

The, there’s, there’s education on both ends. So you coming into the program, the, you know, participants, our expectation of our employers is that there’s mentorship. You’re not just going in and, and being expected to, to know something at right up front. You’re going to be learning that job, but also that they understand that our participants have never been in that space before.

So there’s education related to that as well. It’s a, it’s exciting program. We continue to build upon it and, and hopefully you’ll be interested in it and have any other questions. We are here for you. Thanks Carla. I think one, one snippet there that was overlooked and, and is an important part of this program is that they’re stipend it.[00:15:00]

So, you know, huge, huge. I don’t want you, I don’t want you to focus on the stipend, but it’s an incredible part of the program. I’m so sorry. Yes, it’s okay. We have a stipend, so, um. Is St. What iSend, for those of you who dunno what that is. So stipend is so you, your time is as important as anyone’s time, right?

And we want you to be able to be successful in the program. And often that cost to come to the program to participate in these types of things. It’s hard because you’re also working or you’re doing other things. So we are. Wanting to provide an educational stipend associated with your work in this program.

The first part of the stipend is based on your, it’s a part-time part. The classroom training is part-time, and then when you move to OJT, that is full-time. Um, and the stipend, we really, we’ve increased our stipend. We’ve looked at that stipend and it’s, it’s based on $15 an hour, so it’s based on minimum wage.

So our stipend right now [00:16:00] is, um. Sam as I go to this $750 biweekly and it is $1,080. When you get into OJT, it’s a significant stipend. And thank you so much, Lisa, for pointing that out because it is important and people don’t realize that that and the employer job at the end are, are significant differences of this program.

Um, and I, I should have led with that, but I don’t want people to, you know, don’t come to the, the, the stipend might get you into the program, but that’s not what keeps you in the program. Absolutely. And it is an intensive program. You know, I mean, te the training is very intensive to take in so much, but really if you’re, you know, we, we often say there’s no wrong door to find your way.

Right? There’s no wrong door. And this is, so whether you come in through a program like the BMA competitive program, or maybe these programs that Sean Iscr. There’s [00:17:00] ladders that we can build on if you don’t know what you want right away, you know, I mean, I, I, the 18-year-old Lisa was going to be a kindergarten teacher.

Well, this 53-year-old Lisa is not a kindergarten teacher and took a varied path. So, you know, and I think as, as a recent graduate, you think to yourself, goal. Where? Where you’re

runs our e.

Of course. Thank you, Lisa. Um, happy Wednesday everyone. My name is Sean Doan, Foley, ETF, program Manager. Um, and yeah, the ETF, uh, program, it’s, it’s, it’s less of a program that Mac facilitates or created, uh, and more of a collaborative between, uh, the Mass Association of Community Colleges and all 15 community [00:18:00] college campuses.

Um, you know, I say that to say. Nothing that the campuses are offering through this is brand new for this program. These are programs that have been tried and true. Uh, they have been offered at these campuses. Because they understand the needs of the industries that surround them. Um, and as Lisa alluded to, there’s a huge focus on healthcare, IT manufacturing.

Uh, you can even see it here on the slide that, um, you know, the majority of programs that we see high enrollments in are healthcare. You do have it, you do have manufacturing and healthcare. We know. Encompasses so many different things. If you wanna be a home health aide, if you wanna be, uh, you know, working your way towards being an rn, if you wanna be a phlebotomist, if you’re really, if if sticking a needle into somebody just really gets your blood going, no pun intended, then that could be something that you’re interested in.

Um. But this, the ETF funds were actually created as a [00:19:00] response to a lot of those impacts that Covid had on so many industries in the state. Um, and it was seen as an opportunity for the community colleges to kind of really take that, that front seat of, well, we can upscale and train those individuals to kind of fill in those, those opportunities that, uh, had been vacated because, you know.

Covid kind of decimated a lot of our workforce. Um, so this was seen as an opportunity to say, look, our, our community colleges have been doing this already. They have the resources there. Let’s just. Make it easier. Let’s just make it more accessible for the individuals who want to step into these programs and into these careers and industries to do that.

Um, so I know Julie mentioned that MEFA focuses on the plan, save and pay. We’re trying to get rid of those last two and just say, just plan it. You know, the saving, the paying. Yes. We know that there are some additional costs that come with being just a human and a [00:20:00] student. Um, but the real, the focus and the big draw for ETF is that these programs come, uh, at no tuition, no cost.

Um, whereas some of these programs, you know, have traditionally, you know, been upwards of, you know, seven, $8,000, uh, for certificate or for a credential. Um, so we’ve been really excited to say, if you’re interested in, in jumping into these industries, come take these courses. Um. And so, uh, if we can move to the next slide, uh, again, here’s just a little bit further of a breakdown of, uh, of some of those key industry areas that we’re working on.

And again, I know I, I kind of hinted at it earlier, but you see all the different types of healthcare IT, business, you see manufacturing, foundational and advanced construction training. There’s just. So much being offered through ETF, uh, and it’s really an opportunity for you to say, Hey, [00:21:00] I should just pick up the phone or, uh, maybe not pick up the phone.

’cause I know we don’t like to, to call people on the phone right nowadays, but maybe hop online to your, uh, you know, your closest campuses website, uh, and see, um, if they have any. ETF programs that are being offered, or if you have a specific desire, check out and see which campuses offer it. Um, you know, this is a great opportunity to take advantage of, uh, what’s currently a pilot program, but something that we’re excited to see continue forward.

Um, and so it’s currently a two year program. Uh, that’s, uh, we are just entered, we just entered into our second year. Uh, and the goal was to train, you know. 1500 individuals and have them placed in industry over the course of two years. Um, and to say that this program and this offering has been popular is a huge understatement.

Uh, because by May, so this is May of this past year, not even a year in, and we still have [00:22:00] two another year to go. Uh, we had over 2,400 individuals who were either completed or currently enrolled in programs. Uh, so. To know that the original goal was 1500 and we’re already shooting way past that as just a, a testament to how to, how popular and how interested, um, you all are of, of taking advantage of programs like these.

Um, and Sean, can I, can I ask, um, yeah. You know, you mentioned going to your local community college. Great. Or if you have an idea in mind, but not sure which. Which campus might have that? Do they, do people go to your website or what, what are some of those best first places to start? If they are listening to this like I am and thinking, oh my goodness, there’s so much here.

Yeah, no, that’s a great question. Uh, and I think that’s one of the efforts that, that Mac is really putting forward is how do we, we have such a collaborative group of 15 campuses, um, but we don’t necessarily have that centralized hub of you say, you know. [00:23:00] I live in this zip code and these are the programs I’m interested in, plug me to the closest one to me.

Um, and so that’s something that we’re working on with campuses right now, but it’s absolutely reach out to us. Uh, as Lisa said, we are the single points of contact. Um, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s actually my job to know where the programs are being offered. So if somebody, you know, sends me an email and says, Hey, I saw that, you know.

You have a Google IT certification course and I live here, what are the opportunities? You know, I can easily rattle off, you know, which campuses are offering it, when they’re offering it. Uh, if it’s a hybrid model, an online model, or if it’s in person. Um, and just provide you with all the information so that you can make the most informed decision of, okay, this sounds like something that I could take advantage of.

Thank you. So that’s wonderful, and I know that that’s. Similar. Then Carla, as you were saying, for your program reach, reach back out to you at Mass Association of Community Colleges. That’s great. [00:24:00] You can certainly search those webs and you know, do all of that. But you know what? We’ll take the pain away from you.

Go ahead and reach out. I’m interested in this now, as you heard, Sean and Carla both shared that all of the programming that they are overseeing is fully funded. So it is fully funded from the state or federal level, meaning that, um, there is no out-of-pocket expense for tuition. Now some of them do have a low cost, um, you know, maybe it’s a testing.

Um, there might be a, a testing fee or something like that if you’re going through an exam prep or things like that. But at the end of the day, this is really a barrier that we are trying to break down. We’re trying to break that down in a number of ways and, um, something that I’m just going to quickly talk about, um, that likely doesn’t affect those [00:25:00] on this call, but if there’s some parents on there, they may be interested in hearing this.

Uh, the state budget was recently passed, uh, and there is a line in there for what’s mass reconnect mass.

Free to individuals 25 years and older who have not already earned a degree. So you can’t hold an associate’s or a bachelor’s, but if you have not done that, community college will be free to you. 25 plus. That will be another webinar for another day, but I wanted to drop that in there just to really keep these conversations.

And making sure you understand what’s going on at the community colleges. Something else that is in the planning phase is free community college. Um, that won’t roll out for another year. That is a plan, a planning phase, but definitely something to keep your eye on. [00:26:00] Thank you, Lisa. And as we’ve talked about, as, as part of, um.

This, this summer campaign. We’re gonna try to get a webinar together soon on mass reconnect, which will be wonderful. Absolutely working on that. So stay tuned. I, I look forward to introducing you to a couple more colleagues from our office. We are a small but mighty office. Alright, so let’s move on. So you’ve heard, I mean, really we.

We try to dip our toe in everywhere we can where we think there is value. And the next spot here. So you see, you know, the bmas competitive program is really focused on, you know, one or two campuses at a time. We are scaling that up and hope to include other campuses soon. Sean’s education and training funds does run across all 15.

This workforce training consortium initiative. Focuses on a few colleges at a [00:27:00] time and some really, some areas where, again, they are high priority but they’re not within, you know it. And well actually one, is it not healthcare. Um, so these are again, fully funded programs that will lead to upward mobility.

When we talk about upward mobility, we talk about this a lot within workforce. A job getting training for a job that will allow you to progress right up that the, these particular workforce training initiatives that I’m gonna be talking about next expose you to expertise in high demand careers throughout the state.

These include it. Paraprofessionals, which fall under the education realm, and then behavioral health. And we have seen a lot of growth in behavioral health more recently as, especially as we [00:28:00] come out of Covid and you know, none of us are without maybe some mental health issues that came out of that. And there is a spike in.

And behavioral health workers. So you know, if this is something that maybe has an interest to you, I mean, I know my niece was highly affected by Covid and right now she’s now a year out of high school and looking at the whole recovery coach piece and being an addiction specialist. Because she saw so much through Covid in her own high school, you know, so, so these are areas where you think, what can I do?

You know, where can I go? You see the colleges, they’re all over the state. Again, fully funded programming for these rounds of consortiums. Now, finally. So, wow, we’ve given you a lot today, right? What’s the right career path? [00:29:00] There colleges with depth and breadth, this word cloud, just pick and chooses, um, really probably two or three from each college.

This is not a substantial list, right? This is just a small sampling of things that are sort of outside the norm. At our community colleges that don’t require you to do that full application, that don’t require you to pay a lot of money out of pocket or no money out of pocket for some, I’ve listed these by college.

Again, small stamp sampling. Not an extensive list, but one that I wanna call out right here is the Bristol Community College is doing a free seminar. Exploring, exploring and scoring your dream job. Now, this is open to anyone free of charge, fully online. If [00:30:00] they’re going to be working with you on creating a LinkedIn profile, creating your resume, searching jobs, looking for something that appeals to you, I call that one out only to say, you know what?

Keep things in your back pocket. Utilize what is really in front of you. I mean, if you are from the Berkshires Culinary and hospitality readiness, ready to go, ready for you. Because in the Berkshires there’s a lot of hospitality jobs, um, growing. Now, again, thank goodness, you know, we go down to Bristol.

Bristol actually has a great offshore wind program as well. If you’ve had interest in clean energy, green energy, you’re interested in, in being so, you know. In that way, take a look at some of those jobs, those bio manufacturing texts, mechatronics, things that, you know, these all sound like foreign words, [00:31:00] but if you have an interest in learning how to read blueprints, that goes into the mechatronics.

It goes actually into, um, production technician. You know, you think about manufacturing, manufacturing is not, you know, those old black and white movies that you saw, you know, maybe, you know, or you were watching people, you know, putting together, you know, uh, boxes or things like that. Manufacturing has elevated itself to a place of, how about all the medical manufacturing that goes on?

How about all of the, um, you know, we talk about robotics. Optic. If you have an interest in something, there is something for you at the community colleges, you know, are you outdoorsy? Are you really wanting to, you know, stay on the water? Have you looked at the marine tech program we offer at Bunker Hill?

They’re actually at a couple other places as well. [00:32:00] Maybe you’re into cars and wanna get your feet wet. How about automotive damage appraisal? You.

Begin to, again, small sampling. I’ll also say that some of you, you know, at the public high schools, maybe you had wished that, geez, I shoulda maybe gone to a technical school. I, I, I should have become an electrician or a plumber. So that programming’s also available. I call out Springfield Tech for that, but there are others too.

Um, smart building technology. This is through Roxbury Community College. They just received an amazing grant. Actually, Sean and I just toured the facility learning about smart buildings. I didn’t know what smart building was. Now I know. How do you climate control for, you know, a 10 level, 15 level, 30 story building?[00:33:00]

This is technology to show, to teach you how to do it. Energy certification. Are you interested in weatherization? You know, uh, again, we talk about being outside landscape design, things like that. Were you thinking about a legal career? There’s paralegal out there. Are you interested in computers? But not sure what.

There’s those Google it certs. There is business computer apps. Um, you know, childcare. Childcare is one of those jobs that many don’t. Maybe. Think about, because we do know it is a low paid career. However, with the right training and background and holding your child development associate certificate from one of our schools, it elevates you to beyond that minimum wage.

So again, these are just a few things. I mean, [00:34:00] I.

But at the end of the day, there is so much more. Actually, I just noticed certified fiber optics and aviation. I mean, I, I don’t think, you know, you could call out to me right now. Well, well, Lisa, I really like, you know, um, pulling things apart. I really like exploring. I really love to party plan. Well, let’s talk about, you know, where can we hook you up to get you some training that.

That might be beneficial to bring you into a career to find your next step.

So really we can’t, we can’t say again, if you have questions, we hope to have answers for you. You know, not everyone chooses the two year, four year path. People jump right into jobs and want to build on a career, and we can, we can certainly help you out with.[00:35:00]

Sorry. I was gonna say, I’m gonna share out the, um, the link to that Bristol program that you mentioned. Let me do that. You know, when I, I I, we’ve been talking a lot about these kinds of things and, and I thought, what a, what a fabulous thing. I mean, it’s fully online and it’s, it’s, it’s a seminar. I think there’s 10 meetings fully online free, you know, there is so much grant funding out there for.

The residents of the Commonwealth that, you know what, take advantage of it and, and look at what’s there. Oh, I, I just really like everything that you shared. There’s so much here for so many people. I’m gonna just ask again, are there any questions you could type that into the q and a? [00:36:00] Anything that Lisa or Carla or Sean could answer?

If not at the moment, please do research. Go into the websites. Think about, think about yourself and what you’re interested in. Go to the websites, call, ask questions, and um, I feel like we just have a gold mine here with you three as resources to our state, so

on. Really think about your interests because oftentimes the things that are of interest to you, you can’t match up with in your head because, but guess what? I have car. Others at our college have been exposed to say, I mean, there is so much. Robotics is a, is a really neat thing and, and something that [00:37:00] can go into a lot of different fields.

You know, there is that whole, you know, that the, the healthcare piece, it doesn’t necessarily mean you need to be a nurse. There is so much within the healthcare industry, you know, uh, I forget where I was recently, but someone said, well, if you don’t like blood, how about you talk about being an EKG tech?

Or Ooh, you’re not really into the, you know, the, you couldn’t do the vomit or the mucus. Well stay away from CNA, but how about, you know, x-ray tech? You know, so really let’s, we can on what.

To one of our workforce development partners. Now we do have a question. Uh, someone asks, I work as a transition coordinator and I have students who would benefit earning a certificate while they’re in high school with us. Is this possible? It is possible. Um, if we could connect, I [00:38:00] will be happy to connect.

How many.

The right people to get with your school district to see if that’s a, if that’s a doable, doable thing, and what is doable from our end. That’s terrific. Okay. And I’m going to share, um, I’m gonna share, sorry, I’m sorry. One more thing. Yeah. See, so is one more thing. Um, a lot of this programming that we talk about today, we, it is non-credit.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean that it doesn’t equate to something in the future for you. We do credit for prior learning. So if someone maybe was a, you know, goes into personal care, actually, I think that is, that is something that we didn’t talk about, and I would like to share that as well. But if you’re a personal care attendant or if you, you know, you’re pursuing CNA.

[00:39:00] Those translate to college credit down the road. So everything you do, you know, make sure you’re thinking about, oh, I should probably bring this up when I go ahead to, if I wanna get an associate’s degree or if I wanna move on a bachelor’s. Um, personal care attendants are actually something that there is a strong need for, and you can be 16 years old to be a personal care attendant.

So that is a, you know, for those that aren’t yet 18 who are out there looking, I will also share some of that information as well. That is a high demand job. Again, not super high pay. We’re trying the, the, the entity is trying its best to elevate that pay, but it is amazing exposure into healthcare as.

I am sharing, um, contact information. Someone else asked, what’s the first step that someone should take [00:40:00] if interested in BMCP or ETF?

I would say let’s.

I’ll, they, so they’re both, uh, uh, all of us. We, we are available by phone, by email, obviously. If you wanna start with an email, I know we are in a, a more phone friendly generation. And if you wanna text, you know, text a quick email or, um, just shoot it, you know, shoot it over, pick up the phone if you really want to.

But there’s those emails right in the chat. That’s great. So I, I just put those in. Um, I was having a little technical trouble here, but, uh, the A-B-A-T-E [email protected] is Carla and the [00:41:00] D-A-D-S-E-T-A, nen, F-O-L-E-Y [email protected] is Sean. So those are in there for everyone. They look like funny. Yeah. I, I wish that it wasn’t that way, but that’s the wary Nails are set up.

Absolutely. And Lisa, Lisa, I am gonna put yours in there as well. I already did. We’re good everyone. Great. Let me just make sure it gets to everyone. That’s Lisa. Okay, well I know it’s, it’s summertime, so we can, we can end here, but let me just say again, this is the beginning. Okay. So you have everyone wonderful resources here.

I, um, I’m just so thankful to all of you, Lisa, Carla, Sean, and, um, we have many more webinars. Of this type helping you think about your next steps. So please come back and join us at, um, at [00:42:00] the the website MEFA.org/your future, uh, to see all of the rest of the programming and to just know you can stay connected to resources.

There’s so much help and people who wanna work with you and share all this, this great information. So thank you again, everyone. And we’ll see you all soon. Thank you for having us. Thank you. Thank you.