Skills in Scranton
Founded in 1989, the Business and Education Partnership of The Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce is made up of business leaders, small and large companies, educators, government officials and other local community leaders who contribute their time and energy to benefit our community.
The mission of Skills in Scranton is "to create, advocate and nurture business, education and community partnerships which address educational and workforce opportunities for our students and communities."
Skills in Scranton and the business community have formed this partnership because employers need a quality workforce. Skills in Scranton provides a focus for school-to-work transition, job training and re-training. We strive to be the mechanism that can and will effect change in education. We do that through collaboration and by offering our collective expertise to schools, social agencies, and employers. The need for a higher quality work and more productive business-education partnership is the primary motivating force behind our involvement. Skills in Scranton is the parent organization to several different programs that are intended to help students, teachers and employers including-
Community Reading Day
More than 15,000 second graders, almost 600 business volunteer readers, seven chambers of commerce, two reading councils and two corporate sponsors participate in the annual Community Reading Day, held each April.
The nationally recognized program was initiated in 1997 by Skills in Scranton, the business-education partnership of The Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce. More than 15,000-second grade students in almost 600 classrooms participated, with 600 volunteer readers from the business community. Since its inception, Community Reading Day has touched the lives of more than 140,000 second grade students. Nearly 5,000 volunteers have read to these students in Lackawanna, Luzerne, Wayne, and Wyoming counties. As part of this event to promote literacy, business volunteers visited second grade classrooms to read a book to the students, discuss the book, discuss his or her job and employer and donate the book to the class. The event is designed to encourage students to read.
The corporate sponsor for Community Reading Day is Bank of America. Bank of America joined with Skills in Scranton in sponsoring the inaugural event and has continued to serve as corporate sponsor. They have donated nearly 3,000 books during the past ten years. Bank of America will be honored at a volunteer appreciation breakfast for serving as the corporate sponsor of Community Reading Day since the inception of the event.
Computer Contest
Skills in Scranton held its 10th annual Computer Contest at Wilkes University on March 4, 2009. The contest is organized by Skills in Scranton, the Hazleton and Wilkes-Barre Chambers and the Northeastern PA Technology Institute.
Thirteen teams representing ten high schools in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties vied for over $5,000 in prizes. Each team partnered with a business or non-profit agency and created a website for their use. Old Forge High School repeated as contest winner followed by Western Wayne High School and Montrose Area High School. North Pocono and Hazleton were finalists.
Contest sponsors included Prudential Retirement, New Horizons Computer Learning Centers, Solid Cactus, Dial Corporation, Verizon Wireless, Hershey Company, Gary Celli and Pennstar Bank.
Mini-Grants for Teachers
Skills in Scranton, the business-education partnership of the Chamber, is currently accepting applications for Mini-Grants for Teachers. These grants have been annually awarded annually since 1990. Mini-Grants for Teachers has awarded more than $247,000 to 510 teachers in northeastern Pennsylvania that have affected thousands of students from pre-school through 12th grade. Grants are awarded to teachers in 20 school districts in NEIU 19, the Diocese of Scranton, and day care programs in Lackawanna County. Funding for this program has been made possible by a grant from the Scranton Area Foundation and the continued generosity of the business community.
All proposals must be typed on the application form. Each proposal must be signed by the school administrator. Projects must be conducted and completed in the 2009-2010 academic year. Applications can be obtained from your school principal or by calling The Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce at 570.342.7711. Only applications received by the Chamber on or before 4:30 PM on June 19, 2009 will be considered for funding.
Tomorrow's Leaders Today
Tomorrow's Leaders Today is an award winning youth development initiative established by Skills in Scranton in 1997. It is designed to identify high school juniors who demonstrate leadership abilities and prepares young people for committed involvement and responsible participation in the future of Northeastern Pennsylvania.
A class of approximately 35 students representing various geographic areas and high schools are selected through an application process. A series of 8 monthly all day sessions acquaint participants with community needs, problems and resources. Students have the opportunity to meet community leaders and decision makers as well as students from other high schools; collaborative decision making combines with actual problem solving experiences as participants explore the challenges and opportunities of Northeastern Pennsylvania.
For more information on Skills in Scranton, or any of its programs, contact Jeffrey Rubel at (570)342-7711 or email jrubel@scrantonchamber.com. | 
