What is the Tec Centro Workforce Network?

Tec Centro Workforce Network is a coalition of community advocates, public officials, philanthropic leaders, and business professionals. The collective goal is to establish community-based bilingual workforce centers to serve populations that are disproportionately disadvantaged. These third-class cities in Central Pennsylvania have a heavy concentration of residents that face barriers related to bilingual education, skills training, and job placement. And in working to proactively address and break down these barriers, the network provides the tools and opportunity for a way out of poverty.

How does it work?

The Tec Centro Workforce Network, currently made up of locations in Berks, Lancaster, Lebanon, and York Counties, is the primary provider of bilingual education and skills training. Each location operates independently, forging strategic educational partnerships throughout the community to leverage public and private funding and collaborating with area community colleges and training programs to provide skill training that leads to careers in high-demand areas. Tec Centro Workforce Network provides support and infrastructure to create efficiencies and best practices among locations to maximize resources and community impact.

Background & History

The movement to create bilingual community workforce centers began in Lancaster in 2014 when SACA (Spanish American Civic Association) created a bilingual workforce development model, Tec Centro. This led to the establishment of a 16,000 square-foot training center which contained under one roof all the essential components required for an individual to overcome poverty-these being English language instruction, adult basic education, job placement, job readiness, occupational skills training in high-demand occupations, and placement upon training completion. The regional network of centers follows this fundamental outline in their services.