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North Central will be recognized and respected as a premier regional development organization by providing first-class services to our customers
NORTH CENTRAL FOCUS A North Central Employee Newsletter
May 2016
ERIC’S COMMENTS
Greetings North Central Staff!
Welcome back to North Central FOCUS and a very
special thanks to Mary Lou, our newly-crowned
‘editor-in-chief’ for helping bring it back to life!
As you recall, we launched North Central
FOCUS several years back as a way to better
connect ourselves to the varied and diverse nature of our work and
celebrate our successes and accomplishments.
Those objectives have been carried forward and are reflected in the
following pages. Whether it’s transportation and workforce
development...Export assistance and government procurement... or
our Women, Infants and Children program, the work we do is im-
portant. The more we’re able to get our arms around all the mov-
ing parts….see where the dots connect...and work in unison...the
better and more effective “our product” will be.
Thanks to everyone for your continued and tireless efforts!
Eric
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May 2016
NORTH CENTRAL FOCUS
PUBLIC PARTICPATION, TITLE VI and LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY (LEP) PLANS
Available For A 45- Day Review
TRANSPORTATION AFFECTS EACH OF US , EACH DAY, BUT NOT IN THE SAME WAY. THAT IS WHY IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT A WIDE VARIETY OF INTERESTED INDIVIDUALS, BUSINESSES AND ORGANIZATIONS ARE BEING ASKED TO BE ENGAGED IN THE NORTH CENTRAL RURAL TRANSPORTATION PLANNING PROCESS. GIVE US YOUR FEEDBACK TODAY!
WWW.NCENTRAL.COM/TRANS
May 11, 2016 – June 30, 2016
ContactTom Buck:[email protected]
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NORTH CENTRAL FOCUS
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May 2016
NORTH CENTRAL FOCUS
PWDA Pennsylvania Governor’s Achievement Award
Scott Caltagarone was nominated for the “2016
Governors Achievement Award” and has been
selected to receive his award at the PA Workforce
Development annual conference. Scott is 22
years old and a Reynoldsville resident. He is the
son of Tim and Sherry Caltagarone also of
Reynoldsville.
Scott will be honored and recognized at the PA
Workforce Development Association‘s 32nd
Annual Employment, Training and Education
Conference luncheon held at the Hershey Lodge
on May 19, 2016. Scott was nominated for his
individual effort working through the North
Central Workforce Development youth programs.
As a high school youth at Jeff Tech Scott was re-
ferred to the In School Youth Program through
North Central Workforce Development and later
to the Out of School Program along with the
Office of Vocational Rehabilitation. He grad-
uated from Jeff Tech and went on to
participate in many Job Ready training
opportunities. Scott took advantage of the
Summer Work Program which gave him work
experience and he earned money during the
summer, he attended Job Ready workshops
offered at the PA CareerLink and learned
work readiness skills. Scott prepared for col-
lege math by taking the college math prep
program offered by Penn State and the
Intermediate Unit #10. He made the
decision to attend Penn State and study
Information Science Technology and in 2014
he received his Associate Degree. It did not take
Scott long to realize he wanted to work on a
Bachelor’s Degree and in the Fall of 2016 he will
receive this degree with a minor in Business. His
goal is to go on and work for his Master’s Degree
through Penn State’s World Campus. His big
dream is to teach at Penn State one day.
Scott gives his time freely and he mentor’s other
young adults through the North Central
Connection Café meetings by sharing his story. It
was not an easy journey but an uphill battle for
him and he shares his experiences freely in hopes
to encourage others to try and not give up. Scott
resolved barriers and overcame a learning
disability. He is an example of what you can
achieve if you work at it. Along with the
collaboration of the DuBois School System, Jeff
Tech, the North Central Workforce Development
and OVR services, the PA CareerLink and a
supportive staff at Penn State, Scott climbed his
mountain and he is deserving of the 2016
Governor’s Achievement Award.
Picture L-R
Back Row left: Kathleen Margle, North Central Employability Counselor, Fred
Terwilliger, Marly Doty, Holli Lashinsky, Jeannine Hanes, Brian Tokarcik, Jason
Long and Diane Kreydt, Penn State instructors and support staff, Amy Roberts, Office
of Vocational Rehabilitation, and Diane Minns, DuBois School District.
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May 2016
NORTH CENTRAL FOCUS
Export Documentation and Procedures
North Central Export, in cooperation with the
PREP Network hosted two Export related
seminars. May 4 was a daylong event focusing on
Export Documentation and Procedures.
The session took attendees through the entire
export process from the inception of an order to
the delivery of the goods at the final destination.
Forty individuals representing 19 companies
participated in this session.
May 5 was a half-day session focusing on
Incoterms® 2010 in Practice. The Program was
designed to provide not only an understanding of
definitions of the various Incoterms® 2010, but
actual examples of using the terms to the
advantage Purchase Orders, Sales Agreements
and Letters of Credit. Thirty-one individuals,
representing 16 companies, attended the second
day. The Seminars were designed to either stand
alone for companies/individuals or as a
packaged event. Sixteen companies and 25
attendees capitalized on the opportunity to
participate in both sessions.
Robert (Bob) Imbriani, Executive Vice
President International at TeamWorldWide was
the speaker for each event. In addition to
Christine Perneski of the Export Program, Kristi
Wendel of the North Loan Central Loan
Department and Annette Campbell, Business
Service Representative Pennsylvania
CareerLink® Elk/Cameron Counties, assisted
during the events. Deb Delhunty, North Central
Administrative Assistant, took the lead in
organizing the presentation materials.
Recruitment for the event was supported by all
PREP partners. The event was held at the Red
Fern in Kersey.
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May 2016
NORTH CENTRAL FOCUS
North Central PTAC holds FREE marketing event – May 2, 2016
Skyrocket Your Business – Everything you do
is marketing! How to promote your business
online, offline and in EVERYTHING you do to
gain loyal customers and make more money!
Donna Hottel, Director of Procurement Assis-
tance of the North Central Procurement Technical
Assistance Center (PTAC), teamed with Tim
Piccirillo, former Ridgway resident, comedian
and magician turned marketing consultant to
highlight the marketing mind-set and customer-
focus culture of a business.
Donna began the workshop with an introduction
to the FREE services the Procurement Technical
Assistance Center offers. Her focus then turned
to marketing to the government with a Capabili-
ties Statement or business resume geared to sell-
ing to the government. Donna stated, “Just as a
personal resume addresses your strengths, the ca-
pabilities statement does so for those interested in
doing business with the government. The capa-
bilities statement outlines a business’s contact
information, capabilities, differentiators and past
performance and includes many codes necessary
for doing business with the government such as
North American Industrial Classification System
Codes (NAICS) and Commercial and Govern-
ment Entity Code (CAGE) code.”
Donna then introduced the featured guest speaker,
Tim Piccirillo. Tim, who is now located near
Orlando, Florida, has been doing marketing
consulting for over 10 years across the United
States and is a current partner in Anticipate
Training LLC, a PA based consulting/training
firm. Tim’s message for the day was finding a
marketing strategy that will work for your
business. He touched on the big four social me-
dia sites including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter,
and Google Plus+. At the same time he also ad-
dressed many other popular social media sites
such as YouTube, Hootsuite, Pinterest, Instagram
and Vine. He instructs on how to adopt a
“culture” of customer-focus at all levels of your
business.
Students engaged in learning different aspects of
advertising, how video is more powerful than
word campaigns, how to use blogging, and
“specials or discounts” and how to use fear to
your advantage. Tim states “Disney got it right.”
He explains “everything Disney does from
the
employees being ‘cast’ members to the visitors
being ‘guests’, the environment is all about the
customer experience. From the time they make
contact with you until the time you leave, each
customer “touch point” counts.”
The event hosted some 20 people including a
large group of instructors and students from Du-
Bois Business College, as well as several local
businesses and manufacturers.
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NORTH CENTRAL FOCUS
WIC Participants benefit from the
Farmers Market Nutrition Program
(FMNP)
North Central WIC Staff will begin distributing
Farmers Market Nutrition Vouchers on May 20,
2016. The Farmers Market Nutrition Program
provides WIC recipients with resources in the
form of fresh, nutritious, unprepared, locally
grown fruits and vegetables. The purpose of the
FMNP is to increase the consumption of fresh
fruits and vegetables among WIC participants and
to expand the awareness, use of, and sales at local
farmers markets. The goal of the 2016 program
year is to continue to increase the current statewide
check redemption rates and to increase the con-
sumption of fruits and vegetables by WIC recipi-
ents. North Central recorded a redemption rate of
49.37% last season. We will strive to
increase our local agency redemption rate by 1%.
Pregnant, breastfeeding, and postpartum WIC
participants will receive FMNP benefits in 2016.
A WIC eligible child who will be two years or old-
er by December 31, 2016 will also be eligible for
FMNP benefits. Each eligible participant will re-
ceive four/$5.00 FMNP checks at their regularly
scheduled WIC appointment between the months
of May and September (total of $20.00 per
participant issued once per year). WIC clinic sites
may not issue any FMNP checks after September
30, 2016. FMNP checks may be used at approved
farmers markets beginning on June 1, 2016 and
ending on November 30, 2016.
Nutrition Education emphasizing the importance
of eating fresh fruits and vegetables is provided
when FMNP checks are issued. It is imperative
that all FMNP recipients are informed, before they
go to the market that the FMNP checks may only
be used to purchase produce grown in
Pennsylvania or purchased directly from a
Pennsylvania farmer. Each individual farmer may
assist the client in determining which produce is
FMNP eligible. Baked goods, meat, eggs, and
processed foods, such as jams, nuts, honey, or
apple cider are NOT allowable purchases with
FMNP checks. When distributing farmers market
vouchers, WIC Staff are required to explain
FMNP procedures and provide a list of authorized
farmers markets in the area. The FMNP enhances
the efforts of the WIC program to support and
provide healthy, nutritious foods to our clientele.
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NORTH CENTRAL FOCUS
ANNIVERSARY DATE - YEARS OF SERVICE
DATE OF HIRE EMPLOYEE DEPARTMENT YRS. OF SERVICE
05/03/1993 HARRY PRICE WORKFORCE
DEVELOPMENT 23 Yrs.
