Institute opening manufacturing training school

SHARON, Pa. — The Shenango Valley Foundation can attest to the fact that persistence pays off.

Thanks to much community involvement and support, a new school that trains pupils in state-of-the art equipment for manufacturing is coming to Sharon.

Precision Manufacturing Institute, based in Meadville, Pa., expects to open a second campus in the Broadway North Industrial Park at 700 Dock St., later this year.

“We sort of didn’t choose Sharon; they chose us,” said Jerry Knight, executive director of PMI.

Knight explained it’s been a longtime effort by community leaders from the politicians to business owners wooing his school to the area. It was the participation of the Shenango Valley Foundation that sealed the deal by offering to construct and lease the 13,000-square-foot building to the school.

Larry Haynes, the foundation’s executive director, said they felt financing this building was part of their mission to bring jobs to the region.

“We just thought it was the wisest way to make an impact,” he said citing the old proverb about teaching a man to fish instead of feeding him a fish.

For more, see Sunday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com