WANAMAKER INSTITUTE OF INDUSTRIES CELEBRATES A CENTURY OF SERVICE AND NEARLY A DECADE OF COLLABORATION WITH COMMUNITY COLLEGE OF PHILADELPHIA

PHILADELPHIA, Aug 3, 2009 — Community College of Philadelphia congratulates the Wanamaker Institute of Industries for 100 years of successfully delivering a variety of programs that educate and train residents for immediate employment.

The Institute, the College and the Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation are partners in the Wanamaker Institute Scholars program, which was established in 2001 to provide unemployed and/or low-income individuals with the knowledge and skills they need to quickly obtain employment.

The Institute marked its centennial year in May with a ceremony that was attended by students, alumni, faculty and trustees.

"The Wanamaker Institute for Industries offers a truly significant opportunity for Philadelphia residents seeking to quickly upgrade their skills or switch to a new career in the fast-growing Allied Health field," said Stephen M. Curtis, president of Community College of Philadelphia.

Currently, Wanamaker Scholars are offered three certificate programs—Pharmacy Technician, Certified Nursing Assistant or Medical Billing and Coding Training. The program provides free education and training for approximately 100 scholars each year. Over the past nine years, 695 students have graduated from the program.

Wanamaker Scholars provides students with different skills than were popular a century ago when the Wanamaker Institute was established with a bequest from the estate of Rudolph S. Walton, the manager of the hat department at the John Wanamaker Department Store in Philadelphia. Back then, participants were trained in the mechanical trades, stenography, dressmaking and tailoring.

The trades have changed, but the Institute’s mission has remained constant—to help those seeking to improve their economic circumstances and thereby strengthen the entire community.

President Curtis noted that the Wanamaker programs are designed to have a short turn-around time—ranging from 75 to 126 hours of intensive training—to quickly prepare students to enter the workforce with skills that are in high demand.

"This program helps people change their lives and puts them on the path to financial independence," he said. "I am very proud of Community College of Philadelphia's innovative partnership with the Wanamaker Institute. The success of the scholars who have come through the program is inspiring to all."

The College’s partnership with the Wanamaker Institute is in sync with President Obama’s recent call for community colleges to work closely with business and industry to create training programs tailored to meet economic needs such as nursing, health, information technology, advanced manufacturing and green jobs. The president predicted that community colleges will play a crucial role in reviving the economy. Jobs that require at least an associate degree are projected to grow twice as fast as jobs requiring no college experience, he said. "We will not fill those jobs—or keep those jobs on our shores - without the training offered by community colleges," President Obama said.

Some past graduates who epitomize that mission are:

• Marie Hilferty, 42, came to the Institute after being laid off from a full-time position as a high school physical education teacher. "I realized I needed to develop my skills and had some anxiety about whether or not I would find another teaching position," said Hilferty, who graduated from the Medical Billing and Coding training in 2007. She currently works as the office manager at a sports medicine/rehabilitation/podiatry office. "I feel relieved to have developed more skills on top of my fitness background. I am blessed to have found work in an exciting office where there is never a dull moment. I just want to thank the program for being there," the Queen Village resident said.


• Joanne Hutt said she grew tired of relying on part-time, seasonal work in a tax office. With the help of the Institute, Hutt received her certification as a nursing assistant and is now employed at Aria Hospital. "I am truly blessed for being given this chance to better myself in my career so that I can make an honest wage and work 12 months of the year," Hutt said. "I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would find an education program in my early 50s and gain employment and actually love my new job!"


• Alison Jones, a 2007 graduate of the Pharmacy Technician Training program, is now working full-time as a certified pharmacy technician at excelleRx, a Philadelphia-based pharmaceutical company.


• Andrea Sammut, 24, who graduated from the pharmacy technician program and obtained her certification in April 2009, plans to work as a pharmacy tech to help pay tuition while in Pharmacy School. She also believes the certification will give her an edge.

Prior to Walton's Bequest, the Institution was known as Bethany College, a trade school that was started in 1888 in the basement of the Bethany Presbyterian Sunday School building in Philadelphia. In the early 1900s, the school moved into its own building to better serve the ever-increasing enrollment. In 1908, the Trustees of the Walton's Bequest received a non-profit corporation charter from the Philadelphia Common Pleas Court which formed the Wanamaker Institute of Industries. John Wanamaker and other prominent Philadelphians were named as the initial Trustees.

The Institute sold its Walnut Street headquarters during the Great Depression and in 1937 entered into a partnership with the School District of Philadelphia. The School District agreed to provide classroom space and to provide administrators and qualified vocational teachers to teach evening programs. The Institute paid their salaries.

At the beginning of the new millennium, the School District and the Institute parted ways. In 2001, the Institute chose Community College of Philadelphia as its new partner and established the Wanamaker Institute Scholars Program at the College. Course offerings are changed as necessary to meet the needs of the 21st century workforce.

The program provides opportunities to students meeting established selection criteria. Individuals must submit a program application, participate in an interview and meet the entrance requirements for their program of interest.

The pharmacy technician program, for example, takes 75 hours over a six-week period and covers reading and interpreting prescriptions, dose calculations, intravenous flow rates and medication actions and reactions. Upon completion of the program, students are prepared to take the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board Exam and are ready for employment.

Class size is limited, so not all applicants are admitted to the program. To apply to the Wanamaker Institute Scholars Program, contact Vida Wright, the coordinator of the program, at vwright@ccp.edu or 215-751-8763.