About the Keystone Community Education Council
The Keystone Community Education Council (KCEC) is one of nine not-for-profit Community Education Councils (CECs), funded largely by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, to serve the education and economic needs of each of their service areas. Our service area includes the counties of Clarion, Crawford, Mercer, and Venango, and their surrounding areas. We have proven ourselves to be an essential component in driving the rural economic and educational engines in our area by performing multiple rules in the communities we serve:
- Unbiased facilitator/broker of educational programs with the unique ability to be fluid and provide needed educational programming, both “in time and on time” to the communities it serves.
- Serves as a resource and clearinghouse for businesses and individuals seeking to access post-secondary education and training
- Identifies and fills current needs as well as predicting future needs, and has demonstrated a 2-1 return on investment.
- Continues to be an integral partner in building a more competitive rural workforce and strong rural economies.
- Facilitates business partnerships and consortia
- Uses collaborative efforts to promote change and assist in increasing the skills of the local rural workforce through a wide range of training programs from one-day computer skills seminars, to Manufacturing Certification and Apprenticeships
We take a more regional approach to supporting our service area. As an example, foreseeing the importance of the Marcellus Shale Initiative, we began developing strategic approaches to meeting the needs of the Oil, Gas, and Petrochemical Industry in our service areas. We founded the NWPA Oil and Gas Hub Taskforce and continue to facilitate the organization.