By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
In the coming year, Racine County hopes to give 100 people in the county the education they need to help fill open jobs.
Racine County kicked off its high-school equivalency degree initiative Jan. 11 with an hour-long GED Summit at Burlington’s Veterans Terrace. The program was initially scheduled for longer, but was shortened due to weather.
Racine County has partnered with several organizations in an attempt to provide at least a GED for those who do not have a high school diploma. Among the partners are Gateway Technical College, the Racine Literacy Council, Racine Unified School District, the State Department of Corrections, United Way of Racine County and the county’s human service department.
According to numbers from the 2010 census, about 15,000 residents of Racine County do not have a high school diploma. As explained at last week’s meeting, that is keeping employers from filling about 900 jobs.
Mark Mundl, Workforce Solutions Manager for Racine County, broke down the statistics. The agency counted anyone over the age of 25 that did not have a high school diploma or credential.
Among the statistics:
- Jobs without a high-school diploma or GED pay on average less than $10 an hour.
- The county’s percentage of those without a diploma or GED is 13 percent – 3 percent above the state’s percentage.
- Of those without a diploma or credential, 37 percent are Hispanic, 25 percent black. Mundl pointed out that much of the Hispanic population are first-generation immigrants, who went right to work – like first-generation immigrants to the country did in the early 20th century.
- The majority of those without the diploma or credential are those who would have graduated before 1982 – where you could drop out of high school at age 16.
The partners in the initiative spoke at the event, saying they hope to provide everything from the instruction to equipment to the tests at no cost for 100 people.
Deborah Scheffler, Lavelle’s chief financial officer, said they are working with a model that works with employees
“It’s vastly different than what we’ve tried before,” she said.
Bryan Albrecht of Gateway said the college is open to providing instruction where needed, including potentially at a place of employment.
“It’s really building a whole case management around that person,” he said.
City of Burlington Mayor Jeannie Hefty also spoke at the event.
“Education, whether a high school diploma or a GED, is not only an important step … but important in establishing a sense of pride,” Hefty said. “This is going to benefit our city, and Racine County.”
For more information on the program, contact Katie Kasprzak at (262) 638-6703, or Mundl at (262) 638-6621.
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