After announcing this summer that they would soon have a presence in downtown Butler, Butler County Community College is detailing what that presence will look like.
A series of 90-minutes sessions called ‘Lunch & Learn’ will be the first open programming in the city, the college announced Monday. The sessions will be held in several different downtown locations including the Butler YMCA and the Butler Public Library.
The programming will provide participants with a catered meal, and a taste of how BC3’s Workforce Development division can enhance their business through six professional skills workshops.
“The concept excites us because we are getting into a new area and providing a different opportunity for people who work or live in the downtown area,” said Kelly McKissick, BC3’s coordinator of professional education and certificate programs. “We are trying to bring people out, get them to meet one another, see what spaces are in the downtown area, enjoy lunch, learn some things and see what Workforce Development and BC3 are all about.”
BC3’s Workforce Development division provides training, certifications and advancement opportunities to meet business, industry and public safety needs. Training to businesses, companies and organizations can be on a customized, contracted basis, or through scheduled, open enrollment professional education programs.
Officials say this series represents an initiative in BC3’s 2017-2022 strategic plan intended to build relationships to advance economic development and quality of life in the community.
Lunch & Learns will be held Oct. 24, and in November, February, April, May and June. The sessions will begin at 11:30 a.m. with a chance to network, followed by a light lunch and a presentation.
“BC3 is really leading the charge and getting people excited about economic development,” said Kenny Bonus, a certified public accountant and Butler City Council member whose ConnectWork on Main will host a February session on grief in the workplace.
“Just the fact that BC3 is wanting to invest in the downtown area and economic development is a huge factor because it shows that there are multiple organizations coming together through partnerships,” Bonus said. “One organization alone can’t do it. Whenever you have a facilitator like BC3 working on fostering these genuine relationships, that is when you start to see real results.”
Presentations are also scheduled on Office Safety-Slips, Trips and Falls; Outside the Box-Creative Thinking; Goal Setting; Hands-only CPR; and Active Listening.
“We wanted to make sure that the topics were attractive to everyone, not one particular type of atmosphere. Even though the first session is called Office Safety,” McKissick said, “slips, trips and falls are important to businesses from retailers to restaurants.”
Maria Chvala, BC3’s coordinator of industrial safety training, will give a presentation titled Office Safety-Slips, Trips and Falls during the first Lunch & Learn, to be held Oct. 24 at the Butler YMCA. Simply Catered will provide a platter of wrap sandwiches and sides such as fruits and salads, McKissick said.
Chvala will discuss office hazards and safety precautions needed to prevent accidents and injuries.
Slips, trips and falls represented a quarter of the 2.9 million nonfatal workplace accident and illness claims reported by private employers in 2016, according to the U.S. Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, with many resulting in sprains, strains, bruises, contusions, fractures and lacerations.
Employees could face lost wages, out-of-pocket expenses, pain, temporary or permanent disability and reduced quality of life, according to OSHA.
Employers could experience a loss of productivity and business, increased industrial insurance premiums and costs associated with training replacement workers, according to OSHA.
Nearly 900,000 occupational injuries and illnesses in 2016 resulted in employees missing work in private industry, with an average of eight days lost per worker, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in November.
Lunch & Learn attendees will be able to recognize office hazards, react to an emergency, take precautions to avoid accidents, reduce ergonomic risk factors, use proper lifting techniques, manage stress effectively, and identify objects that have been improperly stacked or stored – along with learning how to minimize chances of slips, trips and falls, according to Chvala.
Cathy Jones, a BC3 faculty member, will discuss the basics of creativity and easy techniques to incorporate creativity into one’s life in Outside the Box-Creative Thinking, to be held Nov. 16 at the Butler Public Library.
Kelly Connolly, of Lutheran SeniorLife’s Visiting Nurses Association of Western Pennsylvania, will address common grief reactions, triggers and rapidly changing emotions in Grief in the Workplace, set for Feb. 6 at ConnectWork on Main.
Christopher Yco, an instructor with BC3’s Workforce Development division, will discuss Goal Setting during an April 17 Lunch & Learn at The Grand Ballroom.
Kiley Cribbs, BC3’s coordinator of EMS and police training programs, will educate participants on the signs and symptoms of a person in cardiac arrest and in need of CPR, and the management of the first few minutes of a cardiac emergency, in Hands-Only CPR – Save a Life, scheduled for May 22 at Springhill Suites by Marriott.
Tricia Pritchard, a BC3 faculty member, will help participants develop listening practices that will help them influence others, reduce conflict and increase productivity in Active Listening, to be held June 12 at The Chop Shop.
Networking opportunities prior to BC3’s Lunch & Learn Series may help to foster economic development in downtown Butler, said Bonus, owner of Bonus Accounting.
“When you put a number of different people together from varying backgrounds in the same room, you are able to make connections,” Bonus said. “People will be able to meet others who provide various services, who may potentially refer business to each other. I am sure that through the Lunch & Learns there will be multiple topics that come up and get people thinking about opportunities that are out there.”
The cost for each Lunch & Learn will be $10 per person. Seating is limited, and registration is required. To register, visit bc3.edu/lunch-learn or call 724-287-8711, Ext. 8476 for corporate billing.
Lunch & Learn participants interested in additional information or training on the topics can contact BC3’s Workforce Development division, McKissick said.
BC3’s Lunch & Learn Series follows the realization of 2017-2022 strategic plan initiatives that include the creation of a coordinator of community leadership initiatives position and, by moving that office in August to a South Main Street location, establishing BC3’s first presence in the city of Butler.
The college in 2018 also launched “Reset Your Brain: A Revolutionary Approach to Opioid Addiction & Recovery,” whose “Hope is Dope” classes in April and in May were held in downtown Butler, as will its third four-week series scheduled to begin Oct. 29.
BC3 has also promoted service to nonprofit organizations among its employees, which has resulted in 41 workers serving a combined 216 hours since Jan. 1 at the Light of Life Community Outreach on West North Street. The college this fall is also offering the most noncredit Lifelong Learning courses held in the city in 10 years.
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