Contact: Phyllis Levine at 845.896.6934 X3001 or by Email
PUTNAM ARC IN FINAL STAGES OF HVTDC LEAN TRAINING
Putnam County and Fishkill, New York, October 3, 2007 – By early November, employees at PARC-Putnam ARC will have completed eleven months of Lean 101 training by HVTDC, the Hudson Valley Technology Development Center in Fishkill. An HVTDC client since January 2007, the PARC staff members are in the final stages of receiving training by the not-for-profit business and technology resource center. HVTDC works primarily with manufacturing, technology-based and other small to mid-sized companies, plus non-profit organizations such as PARC, to help them adopt new business practices in order to grow. The overriding goal of HVTDC is to help companies and organizations work more efficiently, effectively and profitably by streamlining daily operations.
PARC is a 501(c)(3) not-for profit organization providing advocacy and programming for children and adults with developmental disabilities in Putnam, Northern Westchester and Southern Dutchess Counties. It is one of 50 chapters of NYSARC, (formerly New York State Association for Retarded Children), and its mission is to create and provide lifelong opportunities for people with disabilities in order for them to achieve success. PARC's extensive services include Residential Programs, Special Education Preschool, Day Habilitation, Vocation Rehabilitation, Work Readiness, Community Based Vocational Education, Community Employment, Clinic Services, Educational Advocacy, Case Management, Traumatic Brain Injury Network, Guardianship, In-Home Residential Habilitation, Respite Programs and Self Advocacy Groups.
In 2006 PARC submitted a 37L Building Skills in New York State grant to the NY Department of Labor that awarded the organization nearly $50,000 in training grant money. PARC then turned to HVTDC to train their employees. Management level executives at the two agencies worked together to create a customized leadership-training program that was initiated in January 2007 and will be completed by early November 2007.
Laurie Rumpf, Director of Workforce Development for HVTDC, states that, “Over 200 of PARC's nearly 500 employees were selected to be trained in the areas of business writing; customer service; communication skills; conflict resolution; supervisory skills; change management; time management; lean office and administration; team building; performance appraisals; succession planning. To date all of the trainings have been completed except two, and staff evaluations have all been positive.”
As HVTDC’s Grant Writer, Rumpf often assists the business resource center’s clients obtain grant funding to support their operations. She has over 18 years experience in the non-profit sector, working as a grant writer for the past seven years. At HVTDC Rumpf has worked with over 30 Hudson Valley area companies and organizations to fulfill foundation and government grant applications. During the past 12 months she has assisted those groups secure over $500,000 in grant funding. HVTDC also offers her professional grant writing services to companies and organizations outside their client base on an hourly fee basis.
Grant resources that Rumpf researches for companies and organizations include ADVANCE-NY which uses Workforce Investment Act (WIA) monies to address employer demands for skilled workers; Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) which helps increase federal R&D funding opportunities for small businesses while meeting the R&D needs of federal agencies that include the Department of Agriculture (DOA), Department of Commerce (DOC). Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Education (DED), Department of Energy (DOE); and the Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR) designed to use small businesses as vehicles for commercialization of research and development being conducted through universities and research institutions.
HVTDC is one of ten regional technology development centers funded cooperatively through the NYS Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation (formerly NYSTAR) and the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST). For information on how the Hudson Valley Technology Development Center can help a business improve productivity, please contact Phyllis Levine at 845-896-6934 x 3001, via email at plevine@hvtdc.org, or visit www.hvtdc.org.