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MAKING SPACE TO LEARN AND THRIVE:
Allegany County
Western Maryland Works
Makerspace
By Rebecca Ruppert, Continuing
Education Director of Career &
Employer Solutions
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Highly skilled workers
don’t simply happen
overnight – they require
intensive training. Only access to
affordable, high quality career and
technical education makes that
training possible.
Career and technical education
(CTE) offers a future to the high
school student seeking immediate
employment after training, or a
new start for a worker impacted by
an employer’s closing. It prepares
the person who’s been juggling
multiple low-wage jobs to train for
a single position that actually pays
the bills. It helps the veteran train
for a civilian job, offering comradery
through its small cohort size.
Manufacturing jobs have now
become high tech. CTE programs
like ours deliver real-world skills and
nationally recognized credentials
in a highly condensed timeframe.
Our programs are funded through
a variety of local, state, and federal
sources. Many of our participants
depend on scholarships to attend
training. Until recently, except for
federal Workforce Innovation &
Opportunity Act (WIOA) funding,
there was virtually no scholarship
monies for workforce development.
With the move of our Advanced
Manufacturing programs including
Welding, Machining, and Industrial
Technology to the Allegany
County Western Maryland Works
Makerspace, we can serve many
Former MIG/TIG Welding Instructor William “Bill”
Creegan makes metal for cut for students taking
their certification tests at the previous location of
ACM’s Advanced Manufacturing programs.