Lebanon-based Tec Centro/WEPA celebrates 5th anniversary in 2026

Melissa Gillette is living proof that the race doesn’t always go to the swiftest.

“My journey began 24 years ago to become a certified nursing assistant,” said Gillette, a recent CNA graduate of the Lebanon County branch of Tec Centro Lebanon, part of the Workforce Empowerment Center (WEPA).

Gillette, of Lebanon, said she worked years ago at Stone Ridge in Myerstown and received her first CNA designation after several attempts. She, along with WEPA representatives, provided a five-year progress report Wednesday to Lebanon County Commissioners, noting that February marked the 5th anniversary of the organization.

“I passed the written (test), but I failed the skills. It was one simple mistake. Sometimes it’s not the big mistakes that you messed up, it’s a little mistake so that you have to be more aware of those small mistakes. I scheduled it a second time, I did pass it. It was challenging at times but we came through it on the other side of it working as a team.”

She had worked as a CNA for a few years, but a life decision cost her certification.

“A few years later, I had left the working field to be a stay-at-home mom. And at that time, if you do not work within a two-year period, eight hours, your certification lapses. And then I was given the opportunity to go back and take the state test. … Things from 24 years ago to the present have changed. So there were some things that I did not learn when I did it 24 years ago. So I had to learn those things to the present and how things are done now.”

Enter the WEPA Empowerment Center/Tec Centro Lebanon, which was founded in 2021 to provide vocational training and workforce development for central PA residents. Gillette, who entered the CNA program in December, has since graduated. 

“The journey has been an eventful journey, but one that needed collaboration, needed forward thinking, needed to break barriers in this community. One of our biggest needs was workforce training, education, but more importantly, opportunities,” said Rafael Torres, WEPA co-founder. “We have skilled laborers, we have people in our community that want to be part of making our community better. We presented the plan five years ago to focus on workforce training, education, and community building from the grassroots, from people themselves. And today I’m proud to come back five years later and share with you all of the good news.”

Located at 9 S. 9th St. in the historic Elks building, the interior has been transformed over the past five years to become “a full service workforce training center.”

“This space is more than a building. It’s a hub of opportunity. It’s designed to be accessible, welcoming, and visible to the community that we serve. Now what makes our model different is how we support individuals and our model is to focus on the whole person, not just job training, but that includes language development specifically for the workplace, job readiness skills, holistic case management, and supportive services to remove barriers,” said Tec Centro Lebanon executive director Kay Litman, who noted significant renovations were done before the center opened in August 2023.

“In two and a half years time, we now offer a full pathway of services and programs, including employment services that assist with resumes, job coaching, employment referrals, job fairs, adult education classes, English as a second language classes, levels one, two, three, and four, conversation English groups, new this quarter is industry specific English in healthcare and CDL professionals, computer basic classes, financial literacy programs,” she added. 

More, however, is in the works.

“We’re excited to announce with a grant received from WellSpan, we are launching an intensive job readiness ESL (English as a Second Language) program called Career Forward in the fall,” Litman said. “That’s not all. We’ve launched 10 workforce training programs, including certified medical assistant, certified phlebotomy technician, certified nurse aid, certified dental assisting with extended functions, certified medical coding and billing, healthcare office assistant, medication technician, office professional, commercial driver licensing, driving licensing, and certified forklift operators.”

The results, she noted, speak for themselves. 

“Since August 2023, we’ve served over 1,700 people. We supported more than 1,100 people through employment services and 400 people through adult education. 120 individuals have graduated from our workforce training programs and have earned over 238 individual credentials.”

The graduation rate also speak volumes.

“Our workforce training programs have a 94% graduation rate and 91% of … our workforce graduates are employed within six months. What’s most important is that these participants are earning good jobs between $17 and $25 an hour or more. So the economic impact now is generating over $10 million in annual earnings that these families are contributing to our local economy,” Litman said.

“As many of you know, Lebanon County, while it is growing, we still have a lot of households that are struggling financially. Unemployment is relatively low, but that number, we know, doesn’t tell the full story.”

Litman said the real issue in the Lebanon Valley is under-employment. 

“We have individuals who are working, but they’re not earning enough to support themselves and their families. And to put this in perspective, the average per capita income in Pennsylvania is about $44,000 annually, while in Lebanon city that drops to $24,000. That gap is a real challenge for families,” she said. “At the same time, we have top employers – healthcare, manufacturing, retail, transportation, hospitality – and they’re all hiring. So the issue isn’t a lack of jobs, it’s access for our community to skills, training, and support that’s needed to create better, secure, sustainable careers. And really that’s where we come in.” 

She said Tec Centro Lebanon is the “education and workforce development division of the WEPA Empowerment Center.”

“Our mission is really simple but powerful … to provide job readiness, language acquisition, and high demand workforce training to the unemployed and underemployed. Our work is built on collaboration with federal, state, local partners, community organizations, and employers,” she added.

Litman thanked commissioners for their previous financial support.

“The investment that you’ve made in WEPA has been an investment in workforce development and not just on individuals but in the entire community. And we want to thank you for that. We will be sharing soon our plans for the next phase in expanding our programs. And you should know that we have a wait list already. So we know the demand is out there,” Litman said. “When we and you, as you have, invest in people, we don’t just fill jobs, but we know that we’re building futures, strengthening families, and growing communities. So I thank you for your time, your partnership, and your commitment to making a difference.”

Torres expressed similar sentiments. 

“When we focus on our efforts on people, our community thrives, it gets better. It’s through people. It’s not through things, it’s not through buildings, even though sometimes buildings and things are important,” he said. “But when we focus on people, that’s when it really, really matters because the touch point is it’s the individual, it’s the family unit, it’s the neighborhood, it’s the city, it’s the countywide.”

There was no better advertisement for the changes in Gillette’s life than her first-person testimonial.

“It was just overall a really great experience for me, and I really would recommend, you know, if there’s anybody out there looking to have a career change or a new start that they would check out WEPA,” she said. “They offer a lot of good things. I really enjoyed the class. I couldn’t say any more about WEPA. I mean, it is just an overall wonderful program that they have this outreach to the community.”

What comes next?

Torres noted some of the challenges the organization faces as it looks forward to the next five years.

He asked commissioners to release a $250,000 lien requested of them as a new organization and to submit the paperwork for a federal grant for renovations to the building’s elevator. Although commissioners take no actions at workshops, those items are expected to appear on a future agenda.

The lien release will be applied towards needed infrastructure needs, Torres said.

“We do have infrastructure needs. We do have grant funding that we’ve received. We just have challenges in trying to balance the renovations that are needed and engaging our community so in the future we’re updating our ground floor and basement for building trades, carpentry, plumbing, HVAC,” he said. “We also have to make sure that we have a full-fledged sprinkler system. … We also need to make sure that we continue to be available for our community … through our workforce training programs.” 

WEPA marked its anniversary on Feb. 16 and will sponsor a gala celebration on Saturday, Oct. 24. More information is available on the organization’s website.