Transcript Courses to Employment: Sector Based Community College/Nonprofit Partnerships Maryland Sector Academy June 25, 2009

Courses to Employment:
Sector Based Community
College/Nonprofit Partnerships
Maryland Sector Academy
June 25, 2009
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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 or cluster of
occupations;
 Intervenes through a credible organization, or
set of organizations;
 Supports workers in improving their range of
employment-related skills;
and
 Creates lasting changes in the labor market
system that are positive for workers and
employers.
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Why focus on low-income adults?
Only 35 percent of the 2020 labor force
and 65 percent of the 2030 labor force will
come from today’s high school system
(estimate based on BLS projections)
43 percent of adults ages 25-64 have
completed no education beyond high
school (estimate derived from 2004 CPS)
24 of the 30 occupations projected to
grow fastest between 2004 and 2014
require post-secondary education (BLS)
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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 & nonacademic) that meet special needs of
underserved adults to learn successfully
and progress to jobs that pay selfsufficiency 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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WSI’s Work
Past Projects:
 Sector Strategies for Low-Income Workers:
Lessons from the Field (2007)
 Jobs and the Urban Poor (1995)
Current projects of interest:
 Sector Skills Academy
 Construction “pre-apprenticeship” census
 Business Value Assessment
 And…
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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 lowincome, 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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Courses to Employment
Learning demonstration involving six
community college-non-profit program
collaborations 2008-2010
Participants were selected competitively—
from 89 applications
Substantial learning & research agenda
Funded by the Charles Stewart Mott
Foundation
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What Questions is CTE Exploring?
 What specific services are provided? By
which institution? Why? Which ones seem
most important?
 Outcomes for participants? Compared to?
 Engagement and role of business in the
initiative?
 Factors of successful collaboration?
Policies, funding, governing and capacity
issues?
 What does collaborative service delivery
cost? How is it financed?
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CTE Partnerships
 Austin: Capitol IDEA & Austin Community
College
 Seattle: Workforce Development Council of
Seattle-King County & Shoreline Community
College
 Chicago: Instituto del Progreso Latino & Wright
College’s Humboldt Park Vocational Education
Center
 Flint, MI: Greater Flint Health Coalition & Mott
Community College
 Los Angeles: Community Career Development,
Inc., Los Angeles Valley College, East Los Angeles
College & Los Angeles City College
 Fairfax, VA: Northern Virginia Family Service
and Northern Virginia Community College
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Key Strategies
Make college coursework more accessible
to adult learners
Integrate basic education into skills
training
Provide tutoring and academic support
Provide case management and support
services
Reduce finance barriers to education
Assist graduates in navigating and
advancing within higher education and
their chosen industry
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Community College – Non-profit Partnership
Schematic
College Innovation & Scale
Education
Strategies
Supportive
Services
Industry
Strategy
Community & sector agencies
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What are we learning so far?
These partnerships coordinate a wide
range of services and supports, making
the blending of funding streams a
necessity and a challenge.
The community-based partners tend to
help the adult learner navigate some of
the ”traps” encountered entering postsecondary education.
Partnerships grapple with opportunities
and inherent tensions around growth and
scale.
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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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