SIMPLEX OPENS FACTORY FOR THE UNEMPLOYED IN NORTHEAST PA

Johnson College in northeast PA received part of the Federal Stimulus to help the unemployed retrain for new careers. It fulfills two primary goals of the recovery plan: creating work opportunities and increasing energy efficiency.  They approached Simplex Industries for help.

After 10 months out of the work force, Joe Lupinski aims to build a new career from weatherization training.

"There's nothing good out there, with the economy," Mr. Lupinski said Tuesday as he took a break in panel shop at Simplex Industries in Scranton, where he and 11 other men are learning how to do home-energy improvements.

Mr. Lupinski, 42, of Scranton, knows the frustration of a fruitless job search. He was laid off from his industrial mechanic's job in April.

"I hit the whole Midvalley Industrial Park, and there was nothing," he said as other trainees installed insulation and cut access panel molding.

A friend told him about Johnson College's six-day weatherization certification course, which includes classroom instruction and training in caulking and sealing, glass replacement, drywall and patching, insulation and roof vent installation.

"It motivated me to put an application in and try to get employed," Mr. Lupinski said. "All I can do is hope."

Johnson College received $132,000 in stimulus funds to set up the program, hire people to coordinate and do the training and purchase tools and construction materials used in home mock-ups. The initial instruction is taking place at Simplex, a modular residential and commercial building manufacturer that donated space for the training.

"If it weren't for Simplex, we wouldn't have been able to do it," said Marie Allison, Johnson's coordinator of continuing education. Johnson eventually will create its own space for training, which will continue for two more years, she said.

 Human service agencies and contractors in Northeast Pennsylvania will weatherize thousands of homes through 2012 from more than $20 million in stimulus funding that broadens qualifications to include households with low and moderate incomes.