Drexel U. Professional Skills Initiative Gets $50,000 Boost From Citizens Bank
By Mike Dougherty
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Citizens Bank today awarded the University City District a $50,000 check to fund a professional training skills initiative, with students taking courses at Drexel University.
According to officials, the money will go to help the UCD find students from West Philadelphia to participate in a certificate program.
"For our organization, we're a big employer," said Drexel president John Fry today. "We have these jobs available but we need people to help facilitate getting the talent to our organization."
Students will get the training they need to land a job as a physician's assistant at Drexel's medical school.
"It's a very important job, and in many cases they're the first person from Drexel that these patients will encounter. And how they handle those situations is vital to our success as a college of medicine," Fry says.
"We really do have lots of open jobs in the city, but we have a skills gap," notes Citizens Bank president Dan Fitzpatrick, "so this is a great program."
Fitzpatrick says Citizens Bank is also working to help train workers for what he describes as a "manufacturing renaissance" in the region.