Workforce Training From an EWD Perspective

Pam Sornson, JD on June 1, 2022

Pam Sornson, JD

June 21, 2022

Leslie Thompson has made ‘Higher Education’ her career for 26 years. Currently serving as the Director of Operations in Economic and Workforce Development (EWD) at Pasadena City College (PCC), she oversees the work of the division’s seven pillars, including that of the Workforce Training pillar.

 

Each day, as she looks over all the division’s activities, she focuses on a central theme to guide her thoughts and next steps: clarifying and pursuing the true purpose and goal of the division’s work. From her perspective, the EWD’s ultimate goal is to offer a ‘people-focused’ approach to training, upskilling, and preparing its student body to achieve maximum economic mobility in their chosen fields. Achieving that goal also means finding sufficient educational and employment opportunities so PCC students can actually attain that mobility. It’s only after a long series of interim goals are pursued and accomplished that both aspirations can be met.

Structuring a path toward those realities, however, is a complex task:

She sees the work of the EWD as both inward and outward facing:

Inward-facing – Its educational assets must be appropriate to achieve student goals, and its seven pillars provide information, support, and training on career research, academic pathways, and job searching.

Outward-facing – It should also provide upskilling and training facilities and resources to improve the regional community workforce for the benefit of EWD’s enterprise partners.

She’s also invested in what’s going on in the greater workforce development ecosystem, exploring possible barriers, and focusing on maximizing the points where systems intersect.

The need to reskill the existing workforce is also critical. Entire economic sectors have had to change how they do business, communicate with each other, and sometimes coordinate totally new resources to achieve milestones that may or may not now be obsolete.

And, of course, her primary focus is on the student’s success – ‘people-focused,’ in Thompson’s mind, means leveraging on- and off-campus resources to offer supports necessary to facilitate student success, whether those address transportation, housing, or financial needs, or achieving basic educational foundations. 

Thompson’s job, then, is to maintain the division’s attention on the school’s ultimate goals while also monitoring the new labor force environment for barriers and opportunities.

 

Existing Programs

PCC engages with several state and federal agencies to deliver appropriate training and upskilling for both incumbent and displaced workers:

The Employment Training Panel (ETP)

ETP is a funding source for employers to provide upskilling training for new and existing workers. Funded through a California state payroll tax, the ETP resource helps workers improve their wages and long-term job opportunities. EWD serves as a contractor to access that funding and facilitate training.

Contract Education

‘Just In Time’ training provides the upskilling training needed by the existing workforce of the local business community. These training services eliminate the need for businesses to develop training in-house and maximize the value of state-based ETP funding and other employer resources.

California Training Initiative

The California Workforce Association granted EWD’s participation in this initiative, providing growth opportunities for EWD to deliver quality training to a variety of local employers to upskill the existing workforce.

TAA & I-TRAIN

These federally funded programs subsidize a student’s journey to obtain skills and credentials via PCC. EWD partners with local EDD and Workforce Development Boards to attract and support student clients by assisting with their applications and supporting their program engagement from entry to PCC to program completion.

PCC collaborates with regional agencies as well, all of which also operate within the workforce development ecosystem. Cooperative business organizations such as the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) and the San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership (SGVEP) offer their unique assets and perspectives to the effort. They, too, are rethinking how they will move forward in light of how evolutions in the work world are impacting their internal processes and outward-facing programs.

 

New Opportunities

Despite the complexity of the work, Thompson intends to build on successes already achieved by existing workforce development initiatives, including those within the EWD, the region, and the state. She staunchly believes in California’s several billion-dollar investment in its community colleges as its workforce development engines. The EWD pillars work to maximize the impact of their effort by intersecting with these entities so that all can achieve their common goals.

The Robert G. Freeman Center for Career and Completion provides employment attainment training for PCC learners, including resume development, mock interviews, and job fairs. It offers student career development services, helps students find job opportunities, prepares them for job searches and interviews, and curates alumni engagement.

The Small Business Development Center offers small business owners guidance, training, insights, and resources to start, build, or scale their enterprise as they contribute labor and workforce insights to PCC.

The PCC Extension provides not-for-credit courses for a variety of adult learners. Workforce training, professional development, and life-enrichment programs encourage learners of all ages to continue their intellectual growth.

Workforce Training develops and delivers customized training programs to meet the needs of individual businesses and organizations to upskill their employees.

 

Thompson sees these PCC assets as the foundation of an exceptional opportunity to attain a high-quality education, appropriate job-training skills, and ultimately, a life-sustaining occupation or career and the economic mobility that that entails. While there may be systemic barriers within the workforce development ecosystem to explore and address, she believes that the ‘collective objective’ of the greater community to address economic and social concerns through collaboration and communication will facilitate social and economic success for all its residents.

 

 

Workforce Talent Development: Upskilling Your Staff

Pam Sornson, JD on June 1, 2022

Pam Sornson, JD

June 21, 2022

It’s hard to fathom how the COVID-19 pandemic changed things for the better, but, in some cases, that seems to be the case. In many businesses, it’s acted as a catalyst to innovation and renewal as they retool their enterprise to embrace new consumer expectations. They’re also rethinking how to go about their ‘business as usual’ in light of the explosion of technology, the transition to remote work, and the new economic opportunities that have opened up as the world shifted its activities to comport with COVID’s digital demands.

What some business leaders have come to know, too, is that their existing workforce is not yet capable of managing all the changes that have arrived or will arrive in the next few years. Their challenge is now is deciding if they hire a new, more capable workforce or retrain their existing one to meet emerging needs. According to experts, investments in workforce upskilling are beating all others in terms of corporate ROI metrics.

 

‘Tom-A-to/Tom-AH-to’ – It’s all the Same Thing

‘Upskilling.’ ‘Workforce Training.’ ‘Workforce Talent Development.’ ‘Corporate College.’ Whatever you call it, it still refers to the practice of improving the skills of existing employees instead of hiring a set of new, already trained workers to take their place. In some cases, standardized programs that teach a standard set of (new) skills are available through many sources, such as basic computer skills, office management procedures, or basic hygiene techniques. In other cases, a specialized training program is designed to fulfill a specific company’s occupational or systemic requirements. In both cases, the employer retains all the value already invested in its workforce while the workers improve their job skills and set themselves up for future career growth.

 

 

Upskilling is Now an Imperative

Even before the pandemic, the C-Suite was aware of the lagging of its workforce skill base compared to newly emerging tools and practices. According to SHRM, in May 2020, one in four CEOs (79%) reported concerns about their employees’ lack of essential skills. Almost two out of three (60%) believed the skill level of their workforce would be out of date within three to five years. And nearly half (46%) said they considered retraining and upskilling as their best strategy to close skills gaps in their organization.

There are more benefits, too, apparently, to be had by making the upskilling investment:

It boosts morale. In most cases, a happy worker is a productive worker, and the most productive workers are those whose skill sets meet their job description demands. Employees, too, are watching how technology is upending occupational standards; investing in their future with your company is a win/win for both of you.

It improves retention. Well-trained workers are proud of their efforts and of the company that has invested in them. Reducing employee churn saves the time and money needed to recruit, hire, and train the replacements.

An upskilled workforce can also improve your customer’s satisfaction. When existing customers can count on your employees to keep them up-to-date and informed on the latest (product/service/options), they’re more likely to repay that service with enhanced customer loyalty.

 

Developing the Workforce Talent Development Strategy

Like any business investment, the most successful workforce talent development project begins with an informed and comprehensive strategy. It makes sense, then, to also invest the time needed to tune that strategy to meet specific corporate goals.

Keep Your Focus

These steps offer insights into appropriate upskilling strategy goals:

      1. Focus on your business values. If you want to sell more, upskill existing sales activities to include up-to-date technology and practices.
      2. If you’re looking to grow, retrain production lines to see new opportunities in existing systems or products. The opportunities available to add value to existing inventory are growing as technological tweaks add improved performance and function.
      3. Focus on talent. You already have an IT department (probably), but have you connected your entire workforce to emerging technological tools? In many companies these days, truly skilled and technologically savvy workers are making a significant impact on their employers’ outcomes because they:
      4. know how to optimize their technology usage, and
      5. don’t waste the IT team’s time with mundane, non-corporate-critical repairs.

Your current workers are already your biggest corporate investment; enhancing their value maximizes their already proven value to the company.

Engage Your Workers

These steps illustrate how some organizations embraced the task:

    1. They made it an actual corporate asset investment. More than $300 million is invested annually in corporate education, but many projects fail because they aren’t tied directly to business impact. Without that clear focus, the training may provide interesting updates and new skills but have little or no return on investment in terms of corporate growth.
    2. They made it easy to achieve. Rather than immersing employees in weeks-long training seminars, many successful employers provide upskilling activities in smaller batches that are easier to access, obtain, and retain. Also, the training packages themselves are related directly to work already being done. Workers were upskilling the skills they used in their daily jobs, making those more effective and productive.
    3. They made it fun. Today’s immense online gaming industry speaks to its embrace by millions of people. Educators, too, have learned that student participation goes up, social and emotional skills evolve, and even (appropriate) risk-taking actions improve when lessons are taught in a game format. Workers with focus challenges also improve as their focus and attention are drawn into the game.
    4. They reduced silos by building teams through upskilling activities. People ‘playing’ together develop stronger bonds and emotional attachments as they pursue success in mutual tasks, negotiate strategy, and collaborate on problem-solving.

 

Changes in workforce expectations are already here, as COVID-19 forced more workers than ever into remote positions. More change is coming as the global economy adjusts to the new situation. Companies that invest in retooling their workers to meet both today’s and tomorrow’s workforce demands will be better prepared to lead the way into those emerging economic opportunities.

 

Community Partner: Pasadena’s Tournament of Roses

Pam Sornson, JD on June 1, 2022

Pam Sornson, JD

June 7, 2022

Training a well-equipped workforce takes more than just a dedicated educator. It also takes initiative by an engaged business community to collaborate with those educators to ensure that every regional learner has the chance to achieve their educational goals. One such engaged business in Pasadena is its world-famous Pasadena Tournament of Roses® Association (ToRA), which hosts the annual Rose Bowl Game® and that event’s companion Rose Parade® presented by Honda on New Year’s Day. As a globally recognized feature of Pasadena’s recreational landscape, the ToRA generates millions of dollars for the regional economy every year while also distributing its charitable proceeds to support local youth and communities. In the 2021-2022 academic year, the ToRA partnered with Pasadena City College (PCC) to launch its inaugural ‘Rose Fellows’ program, which created a once-in-a-lifetime, work-based learning opportunity for a worthy and fortunate PCC student.

 

Pasadena’s Tournament of Roses Association

Each Winter since 1890, Pasadena has celebrated the floral bounty of its almost perfect climate, especially its gorgeous and plentiful roses. Back then, the San Gabriel Valley’s Valley Hunt Club, a group of local sports enthusiasts, sponsored a contest to reward the gardeners who grew the most notable foliage, and a ‘parade’ format was chosen to best show off the responding display. The competition is now played out each New Year’s Day and has grown to attract marching bands, equestrian participants, and, of course, floral parade float entrants from around the world.

 

Community Focused, Volunteer Driven

Regardless of its stellar international reputation, the non-profit ToRA actively focuses on the economic and social goings-on in Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley. Its activities throughout the year generate an economic impact of an average of $300 million to the community, support the equivalent of over 2,000 full-time jobs (although its staff totals only 35), and keep LA County’s many restaurants, lodging houses, and retail establishments open. During the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl season (January 1st and 2nd), upwards of 200,000 out-of-region event attendees also spend millions of dollars at other hospitality and entertainment venues.

In pursuit of its mission, however, the Association (and its companion ToR Foundation – ToRF) is careful to share its resources with the community members for whom those resources were intended – its regional non-profit and charitable organizations. Launched in 1983, the ToRF’s initial purpose was to manage all the donations that flowed into the Association’s coffers. The group is guided by its Key Themes – enhancing education, investing in the community, strengthening business partnerships, and providing experiences that make a difference in people’s lives. Its Board of Directors turns financial donations into support for the many non-profit agencies around the County that offer opportunities in sports and recreation, education, and visual and performing arts. Since its inception, the ToRF has given away more than $3 million to over 200 different organizations.

 

One way the ToRF supports its beneficiaries is by funding grants for notable projects that promise to have a significant social impact. Remarkably, the agency didn’t let the COVID-19 pandemic interfere with that objective, either:

While the coronavirus prevented the January 1, 2021, Rose Bowl Parade from happening, it did not interfere with the 2020 distribution of grant awards of over $140,000 to 16 San Gabriel Valley non-profits for projects supporting youth, children, the disabled, and seniors. These funds were critical contributions to organizations that lost some or all of their regular funding due to the public health crisis.

The agency improved that performance in 2021, awarding more than $230,000 to 27 fortunate organizations. The group also facilitated the donation of thousands of books to local elementary school children, including 10,000 collected and distributed on the National Day of Service (September 11, 2021). Another 14,000 were donated by the UPS Store to public elementary schools in the Pasadena Unified School District in honor of International Literacy Day.

The group’s 2020-2021 Community Impact Report offers a comprehensive view of how it disperses its resources per its Key Themes directives:

Enhancing Educational Opportunities

Students, teachers, and community volunteers are the targets of these resources, with the goal of achieving educational empowerment for all. Enhancing college exposure, access, and attainment, introducing young students to STEM sciences career opportunities, and rewarding educators for excellent work are just a few of the ToRF-funded initiatives. In 2020 and 2021, $340,000 funded innovative projects offered by over 300 enlightened educators.

Investing in the Community

The agency focused on the impact of the COVID pandemic, too, in its effort to make a difference during the height of the crisis. Churches, well-known charities, and other social support entities received funding to distribute food and vaccinations to those who needed them.

Strengthening Business Partnerships

The ToRA partners with many community organizations to help them further their philanthropic goals:

Together with the retail store Forever 21 and the LA County’s Sheriff’s Office, the ToRA contributed more than 500 boxes of clothing to support victims of domestic violence.

Southwest Airlines sponsored the group’s Arts Initiative for Youth, an art contest for elementary and middle school students to celebrate the year’s Rose Parade theme, ‘Dream. Believe. Achieve.’

Partners Verizon and the UPS store contributed to the literacy and STEM projects noted above.

East West Bank sponsored a Youth Empowerment Forum that (safely) gathered more than 200 youth to discuss following dreams, building a career strategy, and leveraging talents in the work world. The speaker panel was populated with experienced and inspiring leaders from several high-profile local companies, including Marvel Studios, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the LA Rams.

Experiences that Make a Difference

There was a plethora of worthy options for this theme. Those that made the cut included sponsoring a concert celebrating Pasadena’s Latino Heritage Month, contributing to the National Football Foundation’s scholarships for student-athletes, and, with partner Citizen’s Business Bank, the award of $20,000 in scholarships for eight graduating senior ‘Rose Scholars.’

 

Through these and other notable community service projects, Pasadena’s Tournament of Roses Association and Foundation provides funding and foundation for thousands of regional residents to achieve otherwise unreachable goals.

 

Work-based Learning: Pasadena Tournament of Roses

Pam Sornson, JD on June 1, 2022

Pam Sornson, JD

June 7, 2022

The Pasadena Tournament of Roses® Association (ToRA) is involved in many philanthropic activities that support dozens of area non-profits and thousands of LA County residents. In the 2021-2022 academic year, the ToRA partnered with Pasadena City College (PCC) to launch its inaugural work-based learning scholarship, the Tournament of Roses ‘Fellows Program.’

Running from August 2021 through April 2022, the program funded a part-time job in the ToRA’s Community Relations department for the PCC student, giving them the opportunity to participate in the many community relations events held by the organization throughout the year. The first Rose Fellowship award went to Azucena Duran, who completed her second year at the college immersed in work that will inform her entire career.

 

The ToRA Community Relations Fellowship Position

The ToRA and its companion, the ToR Foundation (ToRF), are busy organizations hosting and supporting dozens of events throughout the calendar year. Since its inception in 1983, over $300 million raised by the ToR partnership have been distributed to dozens of LA County charities and other worthy causes.

The ToRA’s two most significant events, the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl College Football Game, draw hundreds of thousands of fans to LA County while millions more watch television. Preparing for those two days and the days leading up to them is daunting work. The organization has only three dedicated staff people coordinating those efforts; most of the work is actually done by hundreds of volunteers.

 

To assist that small organizing team, however, the ToRA devised the new Rose Fellowship opportunity in conjunction with PCC’s work-based learning coordinator, Jackie Javier.

The ToRA’s purpose for the fellowship was to obtain needed assistance managing all the details that go into the Parade, Bowl Game, and the Association’s many other annual functions. In addition, the student would contribute to the overall day-to-day running of the Community Relations office, supporting the various volunteer committees, connecting with community members and agencies, and doing pretty much whatever needed doing to move the day forward.

The purpose for the PCC student was to gain valuable, work-based experience and skills that would transfer into future jobs and careers. Candidates for the position had to meet specific PCC curricular standards (be in their 2nd or 3rd year, enrolled in at least six credits, and studying a relevant major), and would be selected from a specific underrepresented population, be it LGBTQIA+, undocumented, or otherwise marginalized.

Ms. Duran was thrilled to be selected.

 

Azucena Duran, Inaugural Community Relations Rose Fellow

Originally from the Bay Area, Duran had enjoyed her first year at PCC and was actively looking for an internship when she spotted the ToRA application opportunity.

Accessing the resources at PCC’s Freeman Center for Career and Completion, she received assistance filling out the paperwork and coordinating her response. She was especially grateful to then-WBL director Javier for her guidance on job interview skills. Coming away from the application process with these newfound skills boosted her confidence as she went into the formal interview process with the ToRA office.

She was also thrilled with the warm welcome she received from the Community Relations team, Senior Director Carlos Illingworth, Foundation and CR Manager Ryan Lynn Johnson, and CR Assistant Aida Muciño. Securing the position after two rounds of interviews, she felt they had come to know her, and she certainly thought she had come to know them. Ryan was her daily supervisor, and Aida kept her in the communications loop while Carlos offered her a variety of professional development opportunities.

 

Over the course of the eight months, Duran was more than pleased with what she was learning and the skills she was developing:

As an assistant for the organization’s International Literacy Day event, she worked with volunteers and school personnel to distribute over 14,000 books to children in the Pasadena Unified School District.

She also participated in the clothing drive for and distribution of hundreds of pounds of clothing for victims of domestic abuse. In this role, she worked alongside members of the LA County Sheriff’s Office and employees from the event’s sponsor, the retailer Forever 21.

Parade planning was particularly interesting, as she helped organize seating and services for people with disabilities following ADA standards (the Americans with Disabilities Act). Additionally, working with event volunteers, her duties included identifying who got which tickets and ensuring the ticket packages were accurate and delivered appropriately.

She is particularly proud the work she did on her independent project, the organization’s first annual ‘Dia de Los Muertos: A Celebration of Art’ event. Working with members of the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles, Duran created and ran a craft activity for children ages four to eighteen years using papel picado and mini-skeleton figures. The event awarded more than $6,000 to winners in a variety of age categories.

She also really appreciated Illingworth’s professional development efforts. He introduced her to several notable groups, events, and agencies. She was really impressed with the Pasadena Women in Leadership series and was able to personally interview 15 of its members for advice and career counsel.

 

Looking Ahead

Duran graduated in Spring 2022 with an AA degree in Sociology and was accepted into UCLA’s Public Affairs program in pursuit of her Urban Planner career goal. She can hardly express her gratitude to PCC and the ToRA for awarding her the Rose Fellowship position. “My confidence is so much higher now because of it, and I see that I truly have talent and skills to bring to any job.” Seeing herself as a member of a community makes it easy for her to envision herself in her future, successful occupation. “Thank you to PCC and the ToRA and CR team for all you’ve given me. I’m excited to see where I take it all.”

 

Applications for the 2022-2023 Rose Fellows Program will be available in June – check with the Work-based learning department in PCC’s Freeman Center.

Launching LARC

Pam Sornson, JD on May 9, 2022

Pam Sornson, JD

May 17, 2022

As the 6th pillar in Pasadena City College’s (PCC) Economic and Workforce Development division (EWD), the LA Regional Consortium (LARC) has begun laying the groundwork for its future activities. As a collaborative initiative that is funded by California’s Strong Workforce Program, the LARC (LA County’s 19 community colleges) is designing a workforce development strategy by accessing resources already available throughout LA County to inform its next steps and make short-, mid-, and long-range plans. These five foundational projects build on work already done and use that impetus to expand them into the emerging ‘future of work.’

 

UNITE-LA & LARC

Since 1998, UNITE-LA has provided job and skills training for young (16-24 years) future workers. With over 100 business partners already engaged, this organization leverages work-based learning and internship opportunities to provide critical, valuable labor skills to the newest wave of employees.

UNITE-LA has devised two unique career-oriented pathways that guide participants into the Health Care or Technology occupational fields. Each pathway exposes students to a diverse population of employers, which opens opportunities and alternatives to job and career choices. In some cases, they also provide ‘soft-skill’ training (communications, deportment, etc.), mentoring, and ‘Workforce Ready’ certifications. In collaboration with LARC, UNITE-LA will reach out to more employers across a broader scope of occupational fields to replicate the successes they’ve had in these two.

 

The LAEDC’s ‘Industry Engagement and Employment Pipeline Development’ Project

The non-profit Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) builds on its relationships with its cadre of industrial leadership members to create talent pipelines between community college graduates and the employers who need them as workers. By first connecting employers with the college faculty members who train their future employees, students are guaranteed to achieve the workforce standards and credentials they’ll need to find and hold a job.

For LARC, this project asserts two goals:

      1. Building a network of companies seeking employees with in-demand ‘middle-skills’ and ensuring that the curricula of the colleges engaged in providing ‘middle-skills’ training match the skills needed on the job.
      2. Providing career awareness and exposure to hundreds of regional college students to help them make their best college and career choices.

Notably, several of the careers and occupations targetted for this project are those related to the ‘five economies’ that have emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic as critical resources for future economic success. Skills in these occupations translate across multiple industries and sectors, so newly trained workers will have an excellent opportunity to find well-paying jobs after graduation.

 

The CCLA-19 Foundation

The ‘CCLA 19’ effort is a marketing project that promotes the work and opportunities embodied by the 19 Community Colleges of Los Angeles. It acts as a portal that identifies the 200+ programs offered across the County and provides access to those programs to potential students. Once the site visitor finds a course of interest, the CCLA’s website then directs the learner to the schools that offer those programs. The primary intention of the CCLA group is to build enrollment in each of the schools using advanced digital and social media marketing tools. The CCLA initiative has been reaching out to new CC students since 2019.

However, its activities aren’t only directed at potential students. Businesses can connect with the group to obtain insights into prospective student interests, concerns, motivations, and other educationally relevant issues. When students indicate an interest in a program or company, the CCLA connects the two to further their opportunity to develop a relationship. Not insignificantly, the organization also provides training, production resources, and marketing and media management skills for businesses and programs to ensure that the students they want to attract are receiving their messaging.

 

The LARC’s Faculty Innovation Hub Project

LA County is known for its immense population of imaginative and creative minds, many of whom teach at its 19 community colleges. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted most, if not all, traditional educational processes. This group of talented teachers navigated the emerging demand to shift academic activities from in-person to digital platforms. The demand was felt across the County, too, so it compelled every teacher in every college to innovate their lesson plans into new forms of digital training materials. As that pandemic evolves and even as students return to in-person classes, many of these digital training trends remain popular and offer better opportunities for learning to a broader population of potential learners.

The Innovation Hub connects Career Education and General Education professionals to develop educational ‘best practices’ across numerous community college programs. Once established, the revised programming can be scaled consistently to schools across the entire County so that students within those programs obtain the best possible training for the occupation of their choice regardless of the school they attend.

In addition, the Hub offers professional development opportunities for the teaching faculty and industry alignment between businesses and the schools that are training their future workers. The ‘regionality’ of the project engages all County community colleges in the effort to build the regional economy through consistent, high-quality job and occupational training.

 

LA County Alumni Outcomes

Another change stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic disruption is how the system will measure the success of its community college investment. Up until now, accountability measurements for community colleges did not include how well their graduates performed in the work world. Instead, they were focused on more administrative details, such as the number of students enrolled, the number of programs offered, and how long it took for students to attain their desired educational credentials. None of these statistics reveal how well the school met its student’s goals of finding well-paying jobs.

The LA County Alumni Outcomes project aims to determine how many LA County community college graduates actually obtained work within their chosen fields, how much they’re paid for their work, and how long those careers lasted, among many other economic occupationally relevant factors. Using both school and labor market data, the project will help community colleges measure their programs’ relative economic and occupational value from their students’ perspectives. With this information, school leadership can modify where needed to ensure that their courses can lead directly to jobs in the learner’s chosen fields.

The economic and education analytics firm Burning Glass provides the services that drive the project. Their work will keep the schools, regional industries and businesses, and local and regional governments apprised of where jobs exist, the skills needed to land them, and the economic impact on the community that they will have.

 

These five projects span the workforce development spectrum, connecting community college participants to the businesses and industries that are constantly needing a well-trained labor force, and measuring the economic impact on the region. The LARC will be bringing much-needed resources to PCC, each of the County’s community colleges, and all of the County’s business and industry colleagues.

 

 

LA County’s Economic Collaborative

Pam Sornson, JD on May 9, 2022

Pam Sornson, JD

May 17, 2022

Pasadena City College and LA County’s 18 other community colleges are in the beginning stages of evolution. Collectively known as the LA Regional Consortium (LARC), this collaboration is working to build a cohesive, comprehensive, county-wide workforce development strategy that provides critical training and support for regional workers and the businesses that hire them. Informing their process are LA County’s many economic, social, and political agencies that generate the data and activities that will drive their decisions. Understanding the basics of LA County’s economic infrastructure gives context to the work that PCC and LARC are and will be doing.

 

Following the Data; Defining the Opportunities

Building a sustainable, equitable, and resilient economy is the work of all regional entities, and the non-profit Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) provides guidance and leadership for those efforts. It gathers data created by County business and industry activities, educational strategies, and political initiatives, then tracks regional economic growth opportunities as those emerge from the community. The LAEDC recently released its 2022 Economic Forecast, and it sees a reasonably bright future for the County.

Despite the COVID-19-driven drops in both employment and productivity numbers, LA County’s hard-hit industries are actually recovering at ‘a particularly high rate,’ according to the LAEDC. In 2020, the County’s GDP dropped more than 6%, total employment numbers fell by over 11%, and the unemployment rate averaged 12.8%. This year and looking forward, the LAEDC predicts that the GDP and overall employment growth will top more than 10% over the 2020 losses, and the unemployment rate will drop to as low as 6.4%.

The agency suggests that full recovery (back to pre-2020 levels) won’t likely happen until at least 2024. Further, their data also shows which industries are expected to grow fastest and where job openings will likely be clustered. This information helps define where new training and skills development should occur if the County wants to produce a workforce capable of filling those existing and future occupational vacancies.

 

 

California and LA County Partner Inputs

In addition to the economists affiliated with the LAEDC, the LARC will also be working closely with three other community pillars: the many governments that preside over the State, the County, and the County’s 88 cities, the California Community College Chancellors Office (CCCCO), and business and civic leaders involved in LA County’s significant industrial complex.

California’s Enlightened Governments

For the past ~decade or so, California’s state government has been remaking its 116-strong community college system (CCC) into a world-class workforce development engine. The State has invested billions of dollars building its ‘Vision for Success,’ which sets parameters for college programming, so schools train students to meet the needs of the State’s economically critical industrial sectors. Rather than simply counting classes and credits, the CCC organization is now looking at student employment metrics to measure its success. The shift in perspective has also shifted the views of the State’s 116 community colleges. They are now tasked with tracking student activities beyond graduation to understand how well their programs put students into the jobs and occupations that they’ve chosen.

County and city governments are included in the plan to the extent they also contribute money and resources to their higher education institutions and strategies. It is far more likely that California will succeed in its economic recovery plan because it is actively coordinating the higher education efforts of all its regional and local governments.

The CCCCO

The CCCCO is tasked with implementing the Vision for Success strategy and has organized the state’s 116 community colleges into eight ‘regional consortia.’ The LARC is one of those regional entities. Each consortium is now collaborating to pool all relevant school assets into a County-wide ‘economic and workforce development’ engine that serves the needs of its regional businesses and industries. The initiative incorporates both economic and equity principles into all its elements, and each school is responsible to its constituents, its regional colleagues, and the State for ensuring those mandates are achieved.

LA County’s Vast Economic and Industrial Base

Driving the LAEDC’s positive outlook are the efforts of LA County’s 244,000+ businesses and the many major industries in which they work. While LA County is a global hub for several industrial sectors, the County government focuses much of its attention on the seven ‘targeted’ industries that offer both the biggest economic base and the widest scope for growth:

– Healthcare services, which employed more than 12% of the County’s workforce in 2015-2016;

– Manufacturing activities – LA County is home to more manufacturing jobs than all of the state of Michigan;

– Trade and Logistics became front-page news as the pandemic disrupted global supply chains. The extensive Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach annually receives more than 40% of all containers entering the country;

– Leisure and Hospitality services are built into the fabric of the LA culture, and they attract millions of visitors every year;

– Entertainment is also a fundamental element in LA’s make-up. Television, film, and music are just three of the creative, LA-based industries that entertain the world;

– LA County’s Bioscience sector isn’t as well known as Disney®, but millions of people benefit from the breakthroughs and medical developments that emerge from its labs;

– The Construction industry is also a critical element of LA’s future growth. New housing, factories, and facilities for all kinds of ventures ensure that today’s and tomorrow’s companies have the space they need to build and grow.

Hundreds of supply chains and support sub-industries are tied to these seven primary industries. Together, they comprise an industrial complex that is one of the most extensive single economic zones in the world. The number of jobs, occupations, and careers that are available now and will be available in the near future is almost unlimited in Los Angeles County.

Numerous civic and business groups exist in the County, too, keeping communication channels open between colleagues, industries, governments, and educators. The LAEDC is one such group. It works closely with the County of Los Angeles Economic Development Program to connect community efforts to government efforts. The San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership is another economic workgroup that focuses its attention on the businesses and industries within that Valley. Further, there are 125 Chambers of Commerce within LA County, with each representing the economic needs of an average of over 80,000 LA County residents.

These economically focused entities directly connect the economic growth in their area with the consumers who shop those services and the employees that populate their workforce.

 

Pasadena City College sits at the heart of the LA County economic region and plays a leadership role in developing current and future economic initiatives. With its substantial cadre of Economic and Workforce Development collaborators, government partners, and economic directives, the school and its partners are working together to build a new, post-COVID economy one well-trained student at a time.

 

Leading the LARC: Dr. Narineh Makijan

Pam Sornson, JD on May 1, 2022

Pam Sornson, JD

May 3, 2022

The leader of the newly minted Los Angeles Regional Consortium (LARC) couldn’t be more excited to get to work. In her 20-year career in student counseling and career & technical education programs, Dr. Narineh Makijan has focused on connecting learners at all levels to jobs and employment in the LA County area. Her new role as PCC’s Assistant Vice President and Regional Chair of the LARC will allow her to continue that work on a scale she had never before considered.

 

Parsing the LARC

The LARC itself poses an immense challenge and an equally immense opportunity. The strategy behind its formation is to build a collaboration among the County’s 19 community colleges that leverages existing and emerging workforce development (WFD) resources to build the County’s post-COVID economy. The process it will follow to achieve that end, however, is decidedly unclear.

Until the LARC’s creation, there had been no genuinely collaborative discussions around building WFD resources among the schools. Each pursued its WFD ends as those related most closely to the needs of its local constituents. Consequently, the schools now are in differing stages of their WFD evolution, with some being further along than others. Just starting the collaboration conversation will require an intense assessment of the resources currently in existence at each college and a further evaluation of how those resources tie together, if at all.

Fortunately for Dr. Makijan, and as a wise precondition to receiving LARC funding, the State required the development of a well-defined governance structure and the articulation of principles that would guide its efforts.

 

LARC’s Governance Structure

A multitude of leaders from each LA County college have roles to play somewhere within the LARC organization:

Each of the school’s CEOs sits on the CEO Board, which is presided over by a chancellor.

A Workforce Council oversees the effort of four goal-oriented workgroups: Career Pathways, Student Employment, Work-based Learning, and Employer Training.

Deans, faculty, ‘career service talents,’ employers, and other college leaders populate each workgroup, which then informs the Council on developments, innovations, progress, etc.

An Innovation Council populated by workgroup chairs will explore new opportunities to do better work, leverage resources and funding, and lay a stronger foundation for future WFD success.

At all levels, comprehensive support based on regionally relevant data will keep LARC participants abreast of economic and community realities.

Further, in addition to its focus on LA County’s immense industrial complex, the LARC will also lay a foundation for career education in the five emerging ‘economies’ that blossomed through the pandemic and will continue to blossom as it evolves:

automation,

infrastructure readiness,

remote access,

environmental opportunities, and

logistics.

The work done within these economies overlays many, if not most, current and future occupations and will take on more significance as industries evolve.

 

LARC’s Fundamental Principles

Having an articulated slate of principles, expectations, and procedures helps to keep all participants organized around a common strategy:

 

Principles Guiding Inputs …

Outcomes for students, the schools, the community, and the economy are more likely to be beneficial and successful when achieved through activities that are:

advocacy driven,

equity-minded,

consistent across the platform,

undertaken with demonstrated transparency,

pursued through collaborative practices, and

executed within a culture of trust.

…and Outputs

Additionally, anticipated outputs (as opposed to outcomes) must also achieve a standard of quality for every project to succeed. Participants must assure their (and their project’s) efforts are based on or provide:

a high degree of accountability,

a high standard of performance,

increased access by learners to appropriate

services and support,

the removal of barriers and

a clear demonstration of their full compliance with all applicable rules and regulations.

 

The overarching goals of these principles are to:

increase the effectiveness of the entity as a whole

improve the coordination of resources across the county

improve clarity among members regarding activities, inputs, outputs, and outcomes,

improve communications across the entity and its collegiate membership, and

provide greater visibility by the State into the consumption of its resources and the values that are produced as a result.

This comprehensive level of performance expectations sets a high bar for all LARC participants and lays a foundation for excellent work in the future.

 

LARC’s Industrial Community

Adding to the complexity of LARC’s and Makijan’s mission is the complexity of LA’s industrial complex:

The County is the largest in the nation, with a population of over 10 million people.

Eighty-eight individual cities lie within its borders.

It is home to almost a quarter-million businesses (244,000) that do business in

Over a dozen major industries, each of which includes an additional constellation of smaller sub-industries and supply chains.

Makijan and her LARC cohorts will be working closely with leaders in all these industries to encourage the cooperation and collaboration needed to general a well-employed laborforce.

Further, in preparation for its work, the LARC also commissioned an analysis of the County’s labor market needs and a list of the jobs that are or will be in top demand over the coming decade. The LARC will use these and emerging data to direct its WFD efforts to ensure the County’s CC students are trained and then employed in these jobs of the future.

 

Moving Ahead

As she gets started, Dr. Makijan is initially working through the transition from the LAOCRC to the LARC to ensure LARC documentation and procedures are in place as quickly as possible. She’s also getting to know her new LARC colleagues at schools across the County while settling into her role as an AVP at PCC. And she’s carefully building the team that will work with her to assure that the LARC meets the standards set out by its principles and guidelines.

Looking forward, Makijan says she “wants to be intentional about student outcomes, so I’ll use that as my guidepost. I also want my office to bridge the gap between education and industry, so I’ll look for barriers to those relationships.” Not least, in her role as a resource coordinator, Makijan’s ultimate goal is to keep schools on track with the LARC’s initiatives so that student outcomes improve. As big as this job is, it allows her to continue pursuing the goal she’s been following her entire career.

 

PCC’s Leader in Chief: Dr. Erika Endrijonas

Pam Sornson, JD on May 1, 2022

Pam Sornson, JD

May 3, 2022

The recent emergence of the Los Angeles Regional Consortium (LARC) isn’t just a happy accident. In fact, it’s the result of a dedicated strategy to unify Los Angeles County’s 19 community colleges into a cohesive and comprehensive workforce development engine capable of producing the skilled workforce demanded by the County’s more than 240,000 businesses. Leading the strategy was/is Dr. Erika Endrijonas, Pasadena City College’s (PCC) Superintendent/President since January 2019. Her efforts were instrumental in birthing the LARC as a stand-alone agency, and will continue to be influential as PCC assumes the role of its fiscal agent. But, for Dr. Endrijonas, getting the LARC started is just one element of a much larger project.

 

Long Roots in Workforce Development

Dr. Endrijonas has been involved in workforce development programs for more than 20 years, starting with nine years as Dean of Educational Programs at Santa Barbara Community College (SBCC) in 2000. There, she was responsible for the 28 career and technical programs spread across three academic divisions. In addition, she wrote grants, built support programs and services, and managed the federal funding that facilitated education for many of the school’s underserved student populations. The experience generated her drive to improve student outcomes through quality workforce training, an impetus that subsequently propelled her through her tenure as Executive Vice President at Oxnard College (2009-2014) and President of Los Angeles Valley Community College (LAVC: 2014-2019).

As she began her work at LAVC, she also joined The Valley Economic Alliance and started developing relationships with local and regional businesses. As those partnerships progressed, Endrijonas continued to support holding regular Advisory Committee meetings with companies and industry representatives to ensure that the school’s curricula were meeting their needs. As a result, PCC’s Career Technical Education programs provide an education directly related to occupational requirements.

Over the years, her sharp focus on job and career development also opened her eyes to another reality: some students need more than just job training to succeed. Endrijonas built programs to respond to those needs, too:

She originated PCC’s Family Resource Center, modeled after the first ever Family Resource Center at LAVC, which provides the unique support and services needed by students who are also parents, such as playgroups, parenting resources, and child-friendly tutoring spaces.

She also launched the LAVC’s Strengthening Working Families Project, which directs its efforts at enhancing job and workforce training opportunities for working parents, particularly working mothers. In addition, this program recognizes the social and cultural challenges faced by many marginalized populations, so it offers mental health counseling in addition to job training to assist its students in transitioning into employment.

As she worked through these tenures, Dr. Endrijonas was honing her perspective of what a genuinely effective ‘workforce development program’ looked like and needed. And she was developing the complex skillset necessary to build one that connected all available resources – business, industry, education, and government – into a single, well-tooled ‘jobs and careers development’ hub. In 2019, an opportunity opened that facilitated her next step toward that goal: she accepted the position of Superintendent/President of PCC.

 

Long-term Strategy

By 2019, PCC was already two years into laying the foundation of its Economic and Workforce Development division (EWD). It had four pillars in place and was working on its fifth:

Its Small Business Development Center (SBDC);

Its PCC Extension services offer job, career, and life skills training to employed and wanna-be-employed students of all ages;

Its workforce training initiative developed coursework and training opportunities for the workforces of local businesses, and

Its newly emerging Robert G. Freeman Center for Career and Completion aimed to be a nexus where employers and their future employees could meet.

Within that Center, the Work-Based Learning initiative was innovating new hands-on learning opportunities.

Endrijonas saw the expanding PCC EWD division as an excellent foundation on which to build her near-, mid-, and long-range workforce development strategies. Joining PCC also streamlined the scope of the work she intended to do. LAVC is one of nine community colleges within the LA Community College District. Consequently, launching new initiatives and endeavors was as much an effort of administrative heavy-lifting as it was an educational progress. PCC, on the other hand, is its own singular community college ‘district,’ so, administratively, getting things done wouldn’t require as much time or effort.

Since she began her role as its leader, she and her PCC colleagues have focused on furthering existing resources while devising innovative new responses to the workforce development challenge.

 

Pursuing the LARC

When Endrijonas joined PCC in 2019, the school was one of 28 community colleges in the combined Los Angeles Orange County Regional Consortium (LAOCRC), established in 2015. While initially thought to be an excellent arrangement, after several years, the many voices, perspectives, and goals of the members of the LAOCRC inhibited the development of a cohesive workforce development strategy across both counties.

When the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO) issued a grant opportunity in 2021 to fund significant workforce development within each CCC region, Endrijonas and her CEO colleague from Compton College, Dr. Keith Curry, saw that as the opportunity to sever the LA/OCRC into its two respective counties and allow each to proceed forward as an independent region. The LARC launched as a separate entity on January 1, 2022.

The emerging opportunity of the LARC simply broadens Endrijonas’s scope of PCC’s workforce development operations as its EWD’s 6th pillar. Before its launch, each regional school pursued its own individual path toward EWD programming, and there wasn’t much collaboration among them. Now, within the LARC, all schools will collaborate on building a county-wide workforce development resource that responds directly to county residents’ needs.

Employers will influence the nature of coursework to ensure PCC graduates have the necessary skills for employment.

Students will have the job, social, and personal resources they need to select and pursue a well-paid occupation that best suits their talents.

And all participants will be facilitating the State’s grand idea of harnessing its community colleges to build its workforce and its economy in the decades to come.

As the leader of both PCC and the LARC, Dr. Erika Endrijonas has some big projects on her hands. Fortunately, she also has the tools, skillset, and experience to do the work.

 

Non-Credit Leadership: Dr. Francisco Suarez

Pam Sornson, JD on April 13, 2022

Pam Sornson, JD

April 19, 2022

There were many reasons why Dr. Francisco Suarez took the job as Dean of Non-credit and Adult Education (NCE) at Pasadena City College (PCC). Not the least important is its significant program advances in response to both the COVID-19 pandemic and the technology-based economies that are emerging in its wake. He also liked the program’s relative size (not too big; not too small) and the school’s pervasive inclusive culture. And he’s very invested in assisting those PCC students who need his help the most; helping new learners to find better jobs with new skills has been his passion for years.

 

New Year, New Start

Starting his new role in January of 2021, Dr. Suarez was facing two immediate challenges: exploring how PCC’s existing NCE supported its most vulnerable students, those who are faced with language, physical, educational, and other barriers, and addressing low enrollment numbers (across the school as well as in his department).

Exploring the NCE Curricula

“The NCE is often the ‘port of entry’ into college for many PCC students,” he says, “many of whom now need to learn new skills to find new work.” PCC’s NCE provides foundational ’employment skills’ training to help these new learners get their ‘workplace readiness‘ feet under them. Courses include ‘English-as-a-second-language’ (ESL) skills, vocational ESL skills specifically for learners to use on the job, Adult Basic Education (ABE), and high school equivalency classes (through a GED program or an Adult High School Diploma program). 

He’s impressed by how the department understands the high pressure placed on its student body and how it has made accommodations to ease some of that burden. The NCE’s health program, for example, includes courses that are also requirements for credited coursework, but students taking those classes through the NCE department don’t pay tuition. As a result, NCE learners can attain those credits and apply them to further, relevant training without eroding their financial aid opportunities.    

Looking at the Numbers

Like all other California Community Colleges (CCC), Pasadena is also experienced reduced enrollment numbers in its 2021-2022 academic year. The two-year-old COVID-19 pandemic is the most significant contributor to the decline. All CCC schools lost students when campuses were closed and learning was transitioned to an all-online format. However, since those campuses reopened in Fall 2021, the numbers are still depressed, being down by 7% compared to 2020 and 20% compared to 2019. 

At PCC, Suarez has been busy at work on projects designed to attract more NCE students to his programs.

This past winter, he hosted a series of virtual information sessions that were accessible online, which have netted approximately 100 new registrations in the past few weeks. 

He’s also convened a ‘marketing taskforce’ populated by other campus leaders to develop materials that can showcase specific programs in three minutes or less. 

And he’s using new and traditional distribution methods to get the word out:

existing PCC social media channels can share all his information with their respective subscribers and followers, and

he distributed paper fliers to senior homes, libraries, schools, etc., all with QR codes that provide even more information through that digital portal.    

Coming up, he has a Latinx Research Fair in the works. For it, he’s ordered a variety of ‘swag’ materials, is looking to hire a marketing company for the project, and is creating a tri-lingual flier that speaks in the school’s three most prevalent languages, English, Spanish, and Mandarin. 

Suarez designed these projects with the intention of building the NCE population back to 3,000 from its current 1,000 registrants. 

 

Looking Forward 

In addition to these two major endeavors, Suarez has also been working on projects designed to offer his learners enhanced occupational and job training opportunities. In collaboration with Dr. Arminé Derdiarian, the Dean of PCC’s Career and Technical Education department, Suarez plans to build his NCE programs into ‘career pathways’ for the CTE curricula. He is looking at jobs and careers data of the future and using that information to lay tomorrow’s NCE foundation.  

For example, PCC’s CTE division currently has two Electric Vehicle projects in the works, developing programs to both train EV maintenance techs and install and maintain the EV charging stations those vehicles will require. Suarez sees the programs as opportunities for NCE learners to set future job goals. Ongoing conversations between the CTE department, industry leaders, and Pasadena City Government are informing him about the foundational requirements those new jobs will need, and he’s developing those protocols already for use in his NCE department. “It takes about a year to get new curricula approved,” he says, and he’s not wasting any time getting started.

He’s also looked at the construction job opening predictions over the course of the next decade. Data suggests the number of those career opportunities will grow by up to 7% over the next eight years, and Suarez is working to partner with new companies and develop new programs so his students can fill those demands.     

 

Support Where They Need It

Suarez believes he can succeed with these initiatives because of the extensive support services PCC offers all its students, especially those engaged in NCE courses. “They often need more support than traditional students,” he says, and PCC’s systems are set up to help all its learners with the precisely right support that they need. In addition, he sees its diversity at all levels as being very impressive and a factor that will make it easier for his sometimes shy and inexperienced constituents to approach the school. “The faculty has its heart in the right place and really understands the needs of these students.” It’s evident to him that they love their work and love helping their learners.

Judging by his ongoing efforts and enthusiasm to hit the ground running in his new role as Dean of Non-Credit and Adult Education, it’s clear that Dr. Francisco Suarez has his heart in the right place, too.   

     

Dr. Arminé Derdiarian, PCC’s New Dean of CTE

Pam Sornson, JD on April 13, 2022

Pam Sornson, JD

April 19, 2022

Pasadena City College’s (PCC) Career and Technical Education Division (CTE) is just one of the six economic development pillars in the school’s Economic and Workforce Development Division (EWD). The CTE pillar has a new Dean, Dr. Arminé Derdiarian, who is now responsible for coordinating CTE efforts across the campus. She will play a critical role in PCC’s strategy to move its CTE resources into the forefront of the workforce development arena. 

In this conversation, Dr. Derdiarian discusses her history with CTE initiatives, the CTE assets already in place at PCC, and her strategy for ensuring that her department, PCC, and PCC’s students are leading the way in California’s higher ed’s economic and workforce development sector.        

 

Leading with Professional Standards

As a licensed dentist, Dr. Derdiarian has worked with CTE graduates throughout her medical career. She began teaching those skills at Oxnard Community College (OCC) in 1998 as adjunct faculty offering dental hygiene courses. OCC promoted her to Director of Dental Hygiene and Dental Assistants programs in 2015. So when PCC’s CTE Dean position opened in early 2020, she jumped at the opportunity to bring her skills to a new facility.

It’s not that she wasn’t happy at OCC. That school, however, is one of three community colleges in the Ventura County Community College District, and any innovation she wanted to develop faced additional administrative hurdles in that configuration. PCC is its own ‘district,’ consisting of just the one school, and Derdiarian is excited to work within PCC’s more streamlined system.  

She was also determined to ensure that CTE programs and students aren’t relegated to ‘second class’ status behind students seeking four-year degrees. She brings all those thought processes and plans to PCC at a remarkable time in the school’s history. 

 

Taking Stock – Finding Focus  

Dr. Derdiarian was happy that PCC re-instituted the Dean position to coordinate the efforts of all PCC CTE programs and is honored to be first in that Chair. Under a single director, the CTE division can begin collaborating as a unit on the best use of division resources, establish school-wide standards of practice, and find a better balance of funding across programs.  

Beginning the job in August 2021, Derdiarian’s initial reaction to her new Dean role was ‘overwhelm.’ PCC’s CTE programs encompass 86 certifications in several disciplines (listed on pages 109 through 117 in the school’s catalog), only two of which are dentistry related. Spread across the campus and the school’s many academic departments, these programs offer real-world training for real-world jobs. Derdiarian simply wasn’t experienced in most of the disciplines, such as bio/nanotechnology studies, automotives, or hospitality.

However, the more she learned, the more impressed she was by what she found. “The school has amazing programs and instructors, each bringing unbelievable talent and vision to their work,” she says. In addition, the existing collaboration among current program Directors and Deans is setting a solid foundation for her vision for the school’s future as a whole.

Perhaps most notably, she is impressed with the work being done to bring today’s CTE courses in line with today’s labor and industry demands:

The Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management department has revised its curricula, adding four additional certifications specifically because recent reports issued by the San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership indicate that those jobs will be in very high demand in the very near future. 

The Computer Information Systems department also recently developed four new certifications addressing technology training for cybersecurity purposes.  

In the Bio and Nano Technologies Division, a 2020 $7.5M grant facilitates research and development to advance micro-nano education to train workers of the future, strategic outreach to traditional and underrepresented students, and build an industry/education partnership designed to support student and business success. 

The department is also working with a San Diego company to develop 3D circuit boards made of ‘green’ resources. If the project is successful, PCC would be the first community college to participate in such a significant innovation. 

These innovative industry/education projects indicate just how far along PCC is in its evolution as a workforce development engine. Dr. Derdiarian is excited to add her insights to those and future similar projects.  

 

Looking Forward

She’s bringing her own projects to campus, too. Using data developed by the regional Center of Excellence, she is looking to connect other CTE programs to emerging needs. 

The San Diego project excites her because of its focus on ‘green’ initiatives. The faculty at PCC is talking about ‘sustainability’ as an emerging aspect in each of their disciplines and is looking for ways to incorporate those principles and practices into their teaching materials. 

She’s also focused on Electic Vehicle (EV) technology. She recently enticed Honda/Accura dealers to sponsor elements of PCC’s auto technologies program. Honda will develop the curricula and training materials for PCC students, who will graduate with skills beyond those of entry-level jobs. 

She’s also in discussions with Honda and the City of Pasadena to develop an EV Charger technology program. As electric cars become more prevalent, more changing stations will need installation, repairs, and management. If the concept comes to fruition, the triad partnership of industry, education, and government will provide resources and assets to participants in all three areas, as well as to the community at large.

In her new role, Dr. Derdiarian is also now in charge of Perkins V Grant funds and developing existing and new resources with those funds to further student career education. She’s convening a committee populated by PCC CTE Deans and Department Chairs to get deeper insights into what the school can and should do with those financial resources.      

Not least, Dr. Derdiarian is also excited to be working with other members of the newly devised Los Angeles Regional Consortium, of which PCC is the coordinator. The collaborations already underway are exciting, and she finds the visionary perspective of those community college leaders is refreshing.

PCC’s new Dean of Career and Technical Education is clearly off to a great start. The future of CTE studies at the school looks very bright under the guidance of Dr. Arminé Derdiarian.  

PCC’s CTE: Jobs. Occupations. Careers.

Pam Sornson, JD on March 28, 2022

California’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs provide clearly marked pathways to well-paying jobs and careers. Unfortunately, that reality is often lost in the messaging around higher education in general, which still (erroneously) emphasizes a four-year university degree as every college student’s ultimate goal. Pasadena City College (PCC) offers its students a wide variety of CTE courses and programs that can guide them through to the occupation and lifestyle of their choice. They just need to know what their options are.

 

CTE is Critical to California’s Success

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed two significant factors: the State’s reliance on its middle-skilled workers and its economic challenges when there aren’t enough of those to fill all of its open job positions. Current State investments and initiatives are addressing those challenges. In his 2022-2023 budget proposal, Governor Gavin Newsom set a goal of 70% certificate and degree attainment for all working-age students by 2030, and two-thirds of those graduates will be community college students. The State also recently invested in its eight regional community college consortia groups (the Los Angeles County Regional Consortium [LARC] is one), expecting that those collaborations will result in a more robust workforce to repair the State’s economy. His strategy to achieve that repair is investing significant state funding into community college and CTE success.

 

California’s CTE Program is Critical to Student Success

The State has organized its CTE training programs to encompass 15 industry sectors with 58 specified career pathways, most of which straddle both its high school and community college curricula. This collaboration between government, education, and industry is foundational to the State’s economic and industrial growth and policy development strategies.

Data suggest that early and sustained focus on CTE goals is successful on many levels:

‘High-risk’ CTE students, those who face added barriers in their personal lives, are eight to ten times less likely to drop out of their junior or senior years than those who don’t enroll in CTE options.

Eighty percent of high school CTE students met their college and career readiness goals, versus 63% of those who only pursued college prep programs.

Those learners who blended their career and academic education in high school are also more likely to pursue post-secondary education, earn a higher college GPA, and persist through to a certificate or degree.

Most importantly, more than one-quarter (27%) of community college CTE degree or certificate holders earn more than an average four-year degree recipient.

California is betting its future on the success of its CTE programs and the success of those graduates.

 

PCC’s Constellation of CTE Excellence

PCC provides 86 associate degrees and certification programs embedded within its six Career Communities: Business & Industry, STEM studies, Health Science and Wellness, Liberal Arts, Social and Behavioral Science, and Arts and Communications. This array of occupationally focused training programs provides skills, experience, and insights into jobs and careers that pay well and will be in demand for years to come. 

Study areas straddle both industry and ‘economy’ occupations, offering skills training focused directly on industry standards and courses on careers that apply in almost every business regardless of its industry. 

Certificates of Achievements

These foundational training courses provide the instruction needed to enter an occupation right out of school or, when combined with General Education credits, form the basis of an Associate Degree. Program subject matters straddle industries with high demand for qualified workers; a shortlist includes:

Automotive Technology,

Biology, including lab skills,

Business Administration,

Child Development,

Electrical Technology

Languages,

Medical Assisting,

Nursing,

Paralegal Studies,

Television and Radio Technologies, and more.

Students pursuing these accreditations are likely to find well-paying jobs and careers in the future. 

Occupational Skills Certificates

These certifications aim their training at specific jobs and work skills. Their instruction prepares learners with both employability and workplace skills for the occupation of their choice, which also lays the groundwork for future work within the same field. 

Examples of Occupational Skills Certificates offered at PCC include:

Archeological Field Work,

Automotive Specialties, including Heating and Air Conditioning Technician, 

Certified Nursing Assistant,

Commercial Music, which encompasses music recording and production skills, 

Digitation Skills for Libraries and Cultural Heritage Institutions, which teaches digital and collection techniques for use in current facilities or archives,

Graphic Communications,

Interior Design, Industrial Design, 

Photography,

Television and Radio, including broadcast journalism, television production, and video operations.    

Notably, many of these programs are and will be increasingly technology-driven, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic passes. Automation, the Internet of Things (IOT), Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and Big Data Analytics are generating changes in almost all areas of industry and economics. As a result, tomorrow’s workforce will need to be ready to adapt existing skills to meet these emerging skill demands. By doing so, they will not only harness a job and career that will provide them with a comfortable life, but they will also be feeding California’s economic and industrial engines to provide a better and higher standard of living for all residents of the State.     

 

California is clearly invested in leveraging the wealth of knowledge and experience contained in its community college system to build its economy. Those colleges and the communities in which they live are equally invested in providing an education for their students that sustains a productive and financially stable life. PCC is invested in offering its constituents the highest-quality CTE training available and whatever support they might need to succeed.

 

 

 

 

Non-Credit Education Programs Reduce Barriers and Open Doors

Pam Sornson, JD on March 28, 2022

Pam Sornson, JD

April 19, 2022

As burdensome as these past two+ years have been, there are some advantages arising out of the turmoil caused by the COVID pandemic. Two hundred years of industrial workplace norms have been upended, and emerging industries and economies are promising jobs and careers that weren’t even in existence in 2019. At the same time, the coronavirus put many people out of work, and now as it recedes, they’re looking to restart their working life in a new occupation. For many, the courses and programs offered through Pasadena City College’s Non-Credit Division (PCC NCD) provide the skills and abilities they’ll need to find work in the new post-COVID economy.

 

Complete, Continue, Commence

PCCs NCD brings together a broad scope of training opportunities that facilitate the educational goals of all of its diverse population of students. Its programs provide occupational skills that translate to well-paying jobs in any number of businesses or industries. It also offers courses that teach critical life and social skills that many people haven’t yet gained due to adverse life, cultural, or educational challenges.

 

Complete

These days, many people are looking for a new and well-paying job because the coronavirus either terminated their last one or they didn’t have the skills needed to return to it. The NCD offers occupationally specific training to help any student gain the fundamental skills they need to work in their chosen occupation:

Business Office Systems courses provide foundational training for a variety of office-based occupations, including basic bookkeeping, business math, filing and record-keeping, and basic business software skills (keyboarding in English and Spanish and computer skills).

The artistically inclined will learn much in the Basic Graphic Design course, which includes instruction on graphic production.

Office administrators are always in demand, and the NCD offers courses for both generic Office Clerks and Medical Front Office Clerk.

There is a high demand for document translators, especially in the Legal and Medical fields. Students in these courses also have pathways into other health or legal occupations.

Emerging data suggest that non-credit education programs provide the foundational learning needed in fields that are growing or are already in high demand. These courses facilitate a starting point for learners looking to start their career, rebuild after COVID, or enhance their current lifestyle with a better job.

 

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Many learners already have the above-listed skills or assets but have other concerns that hamper their education. PCC’s NCD offers programs directed at meeting their needs, too.

America is home to millions of immigrants, many of whom elect to go through the naturalization process to become U.S. citizens. PCC’s Immigrant Education program prepares them for the process by teaching about the country’s history, geography, and civics systems.

Learners with physical, mental, or other challenges will find informative courses in PCC’s Adults with Disabilities program. This multifaceted program offers information and insights to enhance a variety of life circumstances, including functional living skills, music appreciation, and adaptive arts for developmentally handicapped or disabled adults.

Moms and dads also get some much-needed information and support from the Parent Education program. Children don’t come with owner’s manuals; this program offers essential information about how to nurture a developing child.

As a specific category of ‘learner,’ older learners aren’t ignored, either. Many people approaching their senior years seek out new hobbies and skills to enhance their enjoyment of life. The Older Adult program helps them find fun ways to spend their newly free time by offering sewing and music appreciation classes and a ‘Life Review’ class that encourages story-telling and journaling about the paths one has walked through the course of their life.

 

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It’s never too late to begin any educational program. Many learners who start on these foundational educational paths often gain not just these skills but also the confidence to pursue other life-long dreams as well:

The Adult Basic Education (ABE) program provides the foundational math and language courses needed to attain a high school diploma or, as an alternative to that, a General Educational Development (GED) certificate. Once those are complete, learners can move on to achieve …

… an Adult High School Diploma (AHSD). This program offers all the courses needed to attain a high school education, including classes in math, English, history, sciences, and humanities. Electives provide color and depth to the learning and include creative writing, digital art and design, and ecology options.

Alternatively, the GED program prepares students to take – and pass – the GED exam. Students who take these courses are already familiar with the subject matters – they simply want the added credential of a high school diploma for their resume or job application.

For those whose first language isn’t English, the NCD also offers several series of ESLN classes – English as a Second Language – Non-Credit. One series is a foundational set of courses designed to meet the needs of anyone who needs help reading, writing, or speaking English. Another series, Vocational ESL, provides language training for specific occupations, including one for Childcare providers and another for health care workers. Classes that teach English for general ‘Work Readiness & Communication Skills‘ are designed for people looking to find new or different work.

Workplace readiness is more than just knowing the language. These courses provide training for succeeding in the work world and include the job and career skills that are used every day in every business. Additionally, the program offers specialized training for jobs requiring contextualized English or Math skills, so learners graduate with the skills they need to attain or retain their desired position.

 

Non-credit doesn’t mean ‘non-valuable.’ As the pandemic recedes and people look to find new opportunities, today’s non-credit programs can provide the fundamental building blocks of both a better education and a better life.

 

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