Birkey’s Apprenticeship Program Secures Over $200,000 Grant for Future Service Technicians
Birkey’s Farm Store proudly announces a grant awarded to Birkey’s CNH Service Technician Apprenticeship Program at Parkland College. The grant, supported by East Central Illinois Workforce Board with Champaign County Regional Planning Commission funding, will cover tuition and other additional costs for freshman students.
“This grant is key to providing continued education to future service technicians in our surrounding communities. It is remarkable for these students to be able to attend college without the financial burden of tuition,” said Travis McClure, Birkey’s Education and Recruitment Specialist.
Apprenticeship students, representatives of Birkey’s, ECI Workforce Board, RPC, and Parkland College gathered on Monday, October 30th for a celebratory luncheon at Parkland College.
The grant funding for the apprenticeship program totals over $200,000 and will be dispersed over the next three semesters. The grant was a one-time, competitive grant awarded to the East Central Illinois Workforce Board by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. The grant is managed by Champaign County Regional Planning Commission.
“This was a great opportunity for us to expand our support for apprentices in the agriculture industry. We are excited to help these students focus more on their education and less on taking out loans or accruing debt,” said Cassandra Dunham, Talent Development Specialist at Champaign County Regional Planning Commission, a partner organization at East Central Illinois workNet.
Birkey’s CNH Service Technician Apprenticeship Program provides over $6,000 in tools for students to achieve an Associate in Applied Science degree while completing a hands-on, paid apprenticeship alongside skilled Birkey’s technicians.
“It’s encouraging to see so many people partner together to invest in my future. This grant and the assistance from Birkey’s are making my career goals possible,” said Dane Shrimplin, a freshman in the apprenticeship program.
Birkey’s is excited for this partnership with East Central Illinois Workforce Board and Champaign County Regional Planning Commission, and Parkland College to open more opportunities to those pursuing a career as a service technician.
East Central Illinois workNet is the local consortium of public workforce development programs. You can learn more about local workforce development at www.ECIWork.net.
About Birkey’s
Birkey's Farm Store has served Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri since 1954 with second-to-none product support. As your needs have changed over the years, we’ve added the resources required to serve you. What was once an operation in a small shop has grown to a network of 20 locations and 520+ employees in our 100% employee-owned organization. This continued investment in people, infrastructure, technology, and tooling has enabled Birkey's to become a leading dealer for Case IH Agriculture and Case Construction Equipment.
We’re headquartered in Champaign, Illinois, and we own and operate a network of full-service Case IH agricultural and Case construction equipment stores throughout Illinois and western Indiana. For moreinformation about the areas we serve, visit www.birkeys.com.
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