Dionne Wallace Oakley, Senior Vice President of HR for Erie Insurance
My name is Dionne Wallace Oakley. I am a Senior Vice President of HR with Erie Insurance. We are the only fortune 500 company founded in Erie and headquartered in Erie. We have been in business for 92 years. We have over 5100 employees; over 3,000 of those are based here in Erie, Pennsylvania. I am here on behalf of Erie Insurance and that is because we do absolutely support a community college in Erie County. We also appreciate you being here and thank you for your time and for the opportunity to hear from us.
There is no question that Erie Insurance is entirely committed to a strong and vibrant Erie, Pennsylvania. Our community college needs to be a part of that vision. We believe that a community college is a hand up out of poverty. It’s an opportunity for a productive and fulfilling life. It’s a way forward for our residents, our businesses and our communities. It’s an avenue for training, retraining, certifications and the obvious associate’s degrees. We also believe it can help attract new businesses.
A community college will help Erie Insurance grow and develop our workforce and enable these employees to take advantage of our tuition reimbursement program. It will help our recruitment efforts as well.
As an employer, we sincerely believe an education system anchored by a community college provides greater access to people who want to further their education beyond high school. These institutions are more affordable and serve as a pipeline for those who want to take their learning to an even higher level—to one of our community’s great universities.
There are 14 community colleges in the state of PA; the closest to us is in Butler. The question that we ask is why not Erie county? Why should our citizens, our employees, our neighbors, our children, not have the opportunity right here in their own backyard?
We need this community college. It is an essential part of the plan towards a vital, growing and vibrant Erie community. Thank you all, again, for being here. We sincerely hope that you give us this great opportunity.