U.S. Senate Candidate Dave McCormick Tours MACC

From Erie News Now

Republican Dave McCormick, making his second run for a U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania, was in Erie Monday, learning more about our community and doing a little campaign fund raising.

Along with Senator Dan Laughlin, and Erie County GOP Chairman Tom Eddy, McCormick visited Industrial Sales and Manufacturing, Inc., a locally founded and owned manufacturer of component parts for original equipment manufacturers (OEM’s). Company leaders told McCormick their biggest challenge is finding a qualified workforce. The candidate said that's a common theme as he travels around the state. McCormick believes two factors are fueling that problem, first policies that have incentivized people not to work and a lack of adequate training.

After that visit, the candidate headed to east Erie where where Mercy Center For Women executive director Jennie Hagerty took him on an extended tour of the new Mercy Anchor Community Center in the former Holy Rosary School on East 27th Street.

McCormick saw first-hand how the facility has been transformed to house and provide an array of on-site services to 32 men, women and children for up to two years, to help them move from homelessness to a productive life. The center was renovated without incurring any debt and it is full to capacity. McCormick was impressed. "One of the things that jumped out was that it's the Mercy Anchor Community Center because it's a combination of lots of services and support from across the community. And sadly, homelessness is becoming a bigger issue in Erie and a bigger issues across our Commonwealth -- in Pittsburgh where I live and in other places across our Commonwealth. So, finding ways that the private sector and the public center can come together to help people transition back to becoming productive members of society is really a critical thing," McCormick said.