Denison Job Corps Center launches apprenticeship for nursing assistants

DENISON, Iowa – The Denison Job Corps Center has launched a Certified Nursing Assistant Apprenticeship Program that will give its students hands-on training and better prepare them for jobs in health care.

The designation by the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Apprenticeship allows the center’s CNA students to obtain a certification accepted at any Iowa hospital, nursing home or care center.

“This registered apprenticeship program gives students extensive, competency-based experience and a great advantage as they enter the workforce,” said Jim Whitmire, center director at Denison. “The additional training through the apprenticeship program better prepares our students for future occupations and makes them more valuable to employers.”

“We are pleased to be working with Job Corps to offer hundreds of young Iowans and others the best career training and education available,” said Greer Sisson, Iowa state director of the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Apprenticeship.

The Office of Apprenticeship, the Denison Job Corps Center, Eventide Senior Living Community and the Crawford County Memorial Hospital collaborated to develop the program’s curriculum and standards. In addition to completing a 75-hour Job Corps training program, students in the apprenticeship program will complete 12 additional weeks – a total of 450 clinical hours – at local hospitals, care centers and nursing homes. Credits earned in the program can be transferred by students to any Iowa community college. Learn more about apprenticeship programs at www.dol.gov/apprenticeship.

Administered by the U.S. Department of Labor, Job Corps is the nation’s largest career technical training and education program for low-income young people ages 16 through 24. Job Corps provides services to approximately 60,000 young people each year at 125 centers in 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. To learn more about Job Corps, visit Job Corps online at recruiting.jobcorps.gov or www.facebook.com/doljobcorps or call (800) 733-JOBS.