Free skilled trades training launches in one of Harford’s poorest communities

Listen to this article

Harford Community College is launching a new center for vocational training, aimed at helping businesses in the area find skilled workers and connecting people in the county’s poorest communities with high-paying jobs. 

Harford’s Leading Edge Training Center Powered by the Ratcliffe Foundation, which will be housed out of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Harford & Cecil Counties in Edgewood, aims to provide free training in proficiencies including manufacturing, construction, welding, logistics, warehousing and more, with hopes to expand to vocations like HVAC repair in the future. 

“It’s been a dream, I think, of many Harford Community College leaders for probably ten years,” said Sherry Massoni, associate vice president for workforce and community education at Harford Community College. “Everybody recognized the need for a center such as the Leading Edge.” 

The program is funded by a $1.5 million gift from the Philip E. & Carole R. Ratcliffe Foundation, an Annapolis-based organization dedicated to providing education and training to entrepreneurs and small business owners. Though the organization has partnered with community colleges before, this is its first time working with Harford Community College; it’s also the largest and most comprehensive initiative focused on vocational skills that the foundation has contributed to thus far.  

Funds from the Ratcliffe Foundation were put towards equipment and more than 500 scholarships, which will allow the program’s students to attend for free and, in some cases, receive a stipend after completing.   

“People respond to ‘free,’ ” said Massoni. “People are going to start saying, ‘hey, they’re offering these free classes. What are they about?’ How many people really know what hydraulics and pneumatics are? But maybe, hearing ‘free,’ they come in and they try this pre-construction class and they say, ‘wow, I think I want to be a pneumatics worker,’ or ‘I want to be a welder.’ ”  

It’s a tried-and-true method that the Ratcliffe Foundation has used in other programs it has funded, said the foundation’s Executive Director Carlene Cassidy, noting that people are more likely to successfully complete programs like this one if those programs don’t burden them financially. 

“People can focus more on learning and practicing their trade and being prepared and focused when they don’t have the distraction of having to pay their tuition and fees,” she said.  

Further funding came from the Rural Maryland Council, which paid for refurbishments to the Boys & Girls Clubs building and the purchase of new tools; the county government, which supplied a simulator for students studying for their commercial driver’s licenses; and local businesses that are helping to provide scholarships. 

In addition to the new programming, students attending classes at the Leading Edge Training Center will also have access to two so-called “navigators.” Navigators are part-time staff members who are tasked with supporting students throughout their time at the center and as they enter the workforce.

The project was borne out of a 2019 feasibility study that aimed to explore the idea of putting an education and workforce development center in Edgewood, a community in southeast Harford County that is one of the county’s lowest-income areas. The goal of the study was to gauge the demand for workforce training and education in the southern part of the county and to understand the vocations for which training programs were most needed.

The study showed enthusiasm among stakeholders and business owners in the area for a Harford Community College presence in Edgewood. It also indicated that the center would be beneficial to the Edgewood community; residents would be able to access the training necessary to succeed in high-paying jobs without having to travel to the college’s Bel Air campus, which is time-consuming and difficult for Edgewood residents to reach by public transportation. 

“It’s that skills match,” Cassidy said. “You have individuals that need jobs, want jobs, and you have businesses that need people, but the skills don’t line up. This program and this center, in my opinion, help line those up better … I think it’s a win-win, all around.”