PROSPERITY – Just two days after wild speculation about Josh Shapiro as the Democratic vice presidential nominee ended, the governor stopped by the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) Career Center in Prosperity Thursday afternoon to talk about funding for workforce development and job training programs included in the recently passed 2024-25 budget.

“There are many different paths to opportunity and success,” Shapiro said. “And we have ignored those paths for far too long.”

He added: “All of these paths deserve our respect. And that is the approach I have taken as governor.”

During his visit to the school, a nonprofit that provides career and technical training to adults, Shapiro ceremoniously signed the portion of the budget that includes a $30 million increase in funding for career and technical education. He called it a “record amount” for career training and said it was “one of the many problems that have existed for many years that we have been able to solve. When you focus on bringing people together, you create opportunities and you solve problems.”

The UMWA Careers Center, located on the northern edge of Greene County, was founded nearly 30 years ago to provide job training for unemployed miners. Today, it offers job training to adults in 11 Pennsylvania counties that once relied heavily on mining and related industries. One area it has recently started offering training in is mechatronics, a combination of electronics and mechanical engineering.

Clemmy Allen, the center’s executive director, said the programs it offers “empower people to fill all kinds of manufacturing jobs, and they can help them get into robotics.”

In addition to Shapiro, UMWA Careers Center participant Ed Helman said the training he received there “helped him start a new career and move forward actively. This will help others find a job.”

The state money for career and technical education programs is part of the $47.6 billion budget that Shapiro signed last month. Shapiro noted that the increase in funding for career education programs was the result of a “bipartisan compromise,” noting that he is the only governor in the country working with a divided legislature – Republicans hold a solid majority in the Senate, while Democrats have a slim majority in the House.

Shapiro’s appearance is one of his first since Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota was chosen as the vice presidential running mate of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee. Shapiro was one of the finalists for the post, along with Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Arizona U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly.

It is widely believed that the final decision fell on Walz or Shapiro. When asked about Harris’ decision, Shapiro said, “I’ve always said that the vice president has to make a very personal decision about who she would choose as her running mate. In the end, I had to make a very personal decision, too. I love being governor of Pennsylvania.”