Lance Liming, who works for L&L Plastics and is the co-chair of the Business Leadership Team at Felicity-Franklin, meets with students at Felicity-Franklin High School during a Career Mentoring event in May 2016.

Lance Liming, who works for L&L Plastics and is the co-chair of the Business Leadership Team at Felicity-Franklin, meets with students at Felicity-Franklin High School during a Career Mentoring event in May 2016.
By Kelly Cantwell
Editor

For the second year in a row, the Clermont Chamber Foundation’s Work Readiness Initiative will be partially funded by the Community Connectors Grant, which will allow the initiative to reach more high school students in the county.

The Chamber Foundation received $75,214 this year, and will match that grant with about $25,000, said Susan McHugh, project manager for the foundation. Last year the foundation received $45,898.

“We’re so excited about it. (The first year) exceeded our expectations in many ways and we were thrilled to get chosen again to receive the grant,” McHugh said.

Governor John Kasich and the Ohio legislature started the Community Connectors program in 2014 to help fund mentoring programs with students, parents, schools, communities, faith-based organizations and businesses, according to the Community Connector website.

This year, 108 community partnerships received $9.4 million to mentor about 40,000 Ohio students. Since the first round of grants was awarded in July 2015, about 5,300 mentors have worked with about 14,000 students in about 67,000 one-on-one mentoring hours.

The state received 123 applications and provided $3 for every $1 provided locally, according to a press release.

The grant last year allowed the foundation to start a one-on-one mentoring program in all the Clermont County public high schools. Business and community leaders met with 140 students regularly throughout the school year to discuss the students’ career plans and how to get there, McHugh said.

This year, McHugh hopes to reach 195 students and improve on the program that went very well and got great feedback last year.

“One thing we want to do is to better match the mentor with the student,” McHugh said.

So, if a student wants to go into a medical field, McHugh will try her best to match the student with a mentor in the medical field. It is not always possible and is not critical for the student and mentor to have matched interests to have a positive experience, but McHugh feels it could help a student get even more out of their time with a mentor.

She also plans to keep as many mentors and students together as possible, as many of the mentors have requested to continue mentoring the same student. Students are identified by school staff to be mentored at the earliest in their sophomore year.

In addition, McHugh plans to provide tips and ideas to the mentors throughout the school year, and give mentors resources in the county to reach out to if the student needs it.

Another initiative McHugh plans to tweek is what was called speed mentoring but will now be called career mentoring, as it will be more career focused than last year. Volunteers will meet with students at school in a roundtable setting.

Typically, the students will be matched with someone who works in the field they are interested in. Last year the program, which also reaches all public Clermont County high schools, reached 951 students. This year, it is expected to reach 1,400, McHugh said.

The foundation is also expanding the Work Readiness Skills Program, where volunteers present a program to sophomores and juniors over a six to nine week period, discussing topics, such as how to dress at the workplace, and doing mock interviews. Last year the program reached about 200 and this year McHugh hopes to reach 375.

New this year, the foundation will start holding field trips and job shadowing programs based on students’ career interests. This was prompted by student requests, McHugh said.

Another part of the Work Readiness Initiative is a speakers bureau, where there are people available to speak to students if a teacher requests it. This is the second year of this effort, and McHugh hopes to not just expand the speakers available, but the number of times a teacher requests a speaker.

The Work Readiness Initiative also helped create business leader teams to meet with school officials. McHugh hopes that connections between the business community and the schools will benefit both.

“We want to be a catalyst to create relationships between the business community and the school districts,” McHugh said.

The Community Connectors Grant is a three year program that the foundation has to apply to every year. The state wants to fund programs that will be sustainable after the third year. In addition, McHugh doesn’t want the initiative to be dependent on the foundation. She hopes that the relationships will grow and continue on their own because both sides are getting so much out of it.

The Chamber Foundation’s work readiness initiative that began as an attempt to get students ready for the work force, after the Clermont Chamber of Commerce surveyed members and found that businesses large and small have jobs available but have difficulty finding people with work skills, McHugh said in 2015.

It evolved into a partnership with public schools, businesses and community leaders that will be starting its fourth year. The initiative is open to everyone, not just chamber members, McHugh said in 2015.

McHugh is looking for volunteers for the 2016-2017 school year. Those interested can contact her at susanmchughmail@gmail.com or 513-260-1085.