Courses to Employment:

Sector Approaches to Community College/Nonprofit Partnerships Examples from the Health Care Field

AACC WDI January 2010 St. Petersburg, FL

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Introductions

 Allison Gerber, Institute Research Associate, The Aspen  3 Case Studies:  Carreras en Salud (Careers in Health): Instituto del Progreso Latino & Wilbur Wright College, Chicago IL  Partnership in Health Sciences, Capital IDEA & Austin Community College, Austin TX  Training Futures: Northern Virginia Family Service & Northern Virginia Community College, Fairfax VA

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Session Objectives

 Learn about the three partnerships’ collaborative work to help low-income individuals prepare for, gain entry to, and complete college credits in health care – related occupations.  Learn about AspenWSI’s demonstration project,

Courses to Employment

, which is supporting, researching and documenting collaborative sector strategies between community colleges and nonprofits.

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What’s a Sector Strategy?

A

systems approach

to workforce development typically on behalf of low-income individuals – that:     Targets a

specific industry

occupations; or cluster of Intervenes through a

credible organization

, or set of organizations;

Supports workers

employment-related skills; and in improving their range of Creates

lasting changes

system that are positive for workers and employers.

in the labor market

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Capacities Needed

 Strong focus on a defined industry sector and/or set of related occupations to identify employment opportunity and develop appropriate education services  High quality education & training that both meets industry-identified skill needs and is appropriate and accessible to underserved adults

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Capacities Needed (cont.)

 Support services (academic & non academic) that meet special needs of underserved adults to learn successfully and progress to jobs that pay self sufficiency wages  Shared vision about the need to develop new ways of operating & ability to communicate this effectively to support innovation and institutional changes, as needed

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Courses to Employment

 Based on premise that, with rare exception, neither colleges nor non-profits have the resources needed to serve low income, minority, and under represented adult learners effectively—especially over the long-term.

 Inspired by the outcomes and possibilities we’ve seen in collaborative work

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Community College – Non-profit Partnerships

College Innovation & Scale

Education Strategies Supportive Services Industry Strategy

Community & Sector Organizations

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Courses to Employment

 Learning demonstration involving six community college-non-profit program collaborations  Participants were selected competitively— from 89 applications  Substantial learning & research agenda, conducted 2008-2010  Funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation

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What Questions is CTE Exploring?

 What

specific services

which institution? Why? Which ones seem most important? are provided? By  

Outcomes

initiative? for participants? Compared to?

Engagement and

role of business

in the  Factors of issues?

successful collaboration

? Policies, funding, governing and capacity  What does collaborative service delivery

cost

? How is it financed?

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CTE Partnerships

     

Fairfax, VA

: Northern Virginia Family Service and Northern Virginia Community College

Austin:

Capital IDEA & Austin Community College

Seattle

College : Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County & Shoreline Community

Chicago

Center : Instituto del Progreso Latino & Wright College’s Humboldt Park Vocational Education

Flint, MI

: Mott Community College & Flint STRIVE

Los Angeles

: Community Career Development, Inc., Los Angeles Valley College, East Los Angeles College & Los Angeles City College

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Instituto del Progreso Latino & Wilbur Wright College

   Objective: Move low-income Latinos into career path opportunities in nursing and help them advance; develop bi-lingual health care practitioners to serve community. Students Served: Low-income Latinos, mostly women; comprised of both new immigrants and longer-term residents; wide age range. IDPL’s Role: Delivers pre-college contextualized curriculum targeted towards several entry points along the health care career ladder (e.g., Pre-CNA and Pre-LPN); pays for tuition, fees, and books; provides career counseling and case management; offers assistance accessing support services.

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Instituto del Progreso Latino & Wilbur Wright College, cont.

  Wright College’s Role: Provides dedicated CNA, LPN, & RN slots to Carreras en Salud students meeting entrance requirements; provides flexible scheduling with night and weekend options; delivers specialized tutoring & academic supports.

Partnership Areas & Innovations: Career pathway model provides students with a number of on-ramps and off-ramps for varying skill levels and employment needs; partners work as a team to develop employer relationships and garner employer input; joint fundraising for Carreras program; partnership team meets regularly to discuss student success, coordinate academic and non-academic supports.

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   

Capital IDEA & Austin Community College

Objective: To prepare students to enter college and earn a degree in the health care field. Students Served 80% minority; 80% women; average age 30; average 7 th grade reading & math at entry; 30% ESL; 66% parents (26% single parents). Capital IDEA’s Role: pays for tuition, books, fees and childcare; provides case management and career counseling; pre-employment skills development; referrals to additional supportive services; emergency financial assistance.

ACC’s Role: Tutorials Delivers all education and training, including ESL, GED, College Prep Academy, &

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Capital IDEA & Austin Community College, cont.

 Partnership Areas & Innovations: Weekend cohorts; , selection of instructors; customized training via College Prep Academy; RN tutor for bilingual students; scholarships/financial aid; progress reports & electronic transfer of grades; joint counseling.

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Northern Virginia Family Services & Northern Virginia Community College

   Objective: certificate. Prepare students for office/ administrative positions in health care field; guide students through half of coursework in Business Administration Students Served: Low-income adults (avg. $10.55/hr at entry); 57% employed at entry (12% full-time); 2/3 foreign-born/bilingual; 75% women; 30% single parents; median age in 30s (range from 20-50+).

NVFS’s Role: Provide 25 weeks of training (500+ hours) in keyboarding, computers, customer service, filing, & professional development; provide career counseling, case management, coordinate referrals to supportive services; coordinate 3-week internships.

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Northern Virginia, cont.

   NOVA’s Role: profit. Validate curriculum; certify instructors as college faculty; provide students with 17 college credits; leverage federal financial aid to support non Partnership Innovations: profit partners. “Imaginal” educational philosophy; approach replicated with two other non Outcomes: program). Approximately 200 enrolled 2007-2009; 93% completed program; on average 80% employed full-time w/in 6 months; hourly wage gain at first job (average 25% increase for those employed prior to

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To Learn More

The Aspen Institute One Dupont Circle, NW, Suite 700 Washington, D.C. 20036 (202) 736-1071 E-mail: [email protected] http://www.aspenwsi.org

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