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Mountain States Printing Education
Foundation was established in 1991 as a
charitable and educational entity for the
Graphic Communications Industry. As such it
has raised funds to support printing related
programs throughout Colorado with grants to
assist the educators/students in purchasing
equipment and materials for their programs.
It has also given sponsorships to deserving
Colorado students interested in making
printing a career.
In 2004, the Foundation began working on a
project to update SOC codes with the Bureau
of Labor Statistics (BLS) on behalf of the
Graphic Communications Industry nationwide,
to better reflect the true nature of the
modern printing industry. The codes now used
had not been update in thirty to fifty (30 –
50) years, giving the impression that the
printing industry was no longer a viable
industry. Since these codes are used by all
other government agencies and departments of
education, their inaccurate data has been
instrumental in closing school programs and
projecting an inaccurate picture of the
industry that employs over one million
individuals in the United States of America,
and over 12,000 in Colorado. According to
the Department of Labor’s SOC Committee,
these changes were to be put into place in
March 2008, after being published in the
Federal Register in July 2007. The Federal
Register notice was eventually published and
the Office of Management & Budget (OMB)
accepted the recommendation for revised
printing industry job classifications on
January 21, 2009. To date revisions have not
been posted and the BLS has stated that it
would not implement using them until 2011 or
2012. The Foundation is currently working
with the Education Summit Group for Graphic
Communications to complete this task which
is vital to the health of educational
institutions supporting the printing
industry.
In addition, the Foundation has written and
delivered curriculum for apprentices
entering the industry and individuals
already employed in the industry to enhance
their knowledge in Quality Control, Customer
Service, Press Operations and Binding &
Finishing. These programs began with a
Printing Boot Camp and followed up with a
series of weekly classes (one day per week)
focused on the specific areas of training.
The Foundation is proud to offer
troubleshooting modules to assist
individuals unable to attend classes. These
programs were developed by Gabe Trapani, the
main classroom instructor for these
segments.
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