Remote Learning, Connectivity & Professional Development

Pam Sornson, JD on February 17, 2021

Pam Sornson, JD

The swift transition from in-class to fully remote schooling was a struggle for some people more than others. For many students, such a shift wasn’t even an option because there was no ‘remote’ connectivity opportunity in their home. In other cases, teachers struggled to bring their resources and curricula online, having relied on traditional classroom teaching methods throughout their careers.

Both situations reveal that America’s emerging digital learning and educational resources are not equitably distributed or uniformly understood. As the COVID-19 Pandemic recedes and without some dedicated attention, those gaps will become wider as online education and remote schooling become more mainstream.

 

How Connectivity Impacts Learning Opportunities

Access to information has become a vital element in many of today’s systems. Many schools already use online portals and social media ‘nudging’ campaigns to connect with and encourage their students.

However, in some communities, access to the Internet isn’t a given or even an option. Even before the Pandemic, many of the country’s rural regions didn’t have Internet access, according to research done in 2019 by Johannes Bauer, director of the James H. and Mary B. Quello Center at Michigan State University’s Media and Information Policy Institute. Dr. Bauer and his colleagues studied access to digital resources in 25 Michigan school districts and found significant differences in the level of resources available throughout the region:

Overall, more than half (56%) had broadband access in their homes, while 23% waited through slower service. Another 14% relied solely on their cell phones to connect, and 7% had no access at all.

There was a rural-versus-urban divide, too. While a little over half of students (54%) living in small towns or the countryside had broadband access, over 70% of city and suburban learners could access the Internet easily from a home-based resource.

The divide became more significant when discussing homework, too.

Of the un-connected students, 64% reported simply not finishing their homework because they didn’t have an available resource outside the school building.

Almost half (49%) of those using cell phones and 39% of those with slow internet service admitted to skipping their homework.

Less than one in five (17%) of the broadband students acknowledged avoiding school work after school hours.

The research revealed how Internet connectivity or the lack thereof related to learning and academic achievement:

After balancing data to reflect socio-economic and other factors, those students who did not have broadband access scored an average of half a letter grade below their well-connected friends.

They also scored less well on digital skills tests, averaging three points less than their Internet friends.

SAT scores also suffered when learners had little or no access to digital resources outside their schoolroom.

The data suggests that those who have only limited access to Internet resources may also be limited in job and career opportunities because of their reduced skill base.

 

 

Corporate Response to the Digital Education Crisis

Around the country, hundreds of Internet service providers (ISPs) and wireless carriers have stepped up to assist local students and families become or remain connected to the Internet while forced to school at home. For those families with access but no longer have work, many of these companies have increased access speeds at no charge, waived late payment fees, or suspended usage caps for customers hardest hit by the shut-downs.

For example, Verizon facilitated unlimited connectivity for up to a quarter-million underserved students in California to assist them in staying connected to their school and their studies. The telecommunications organization also provided digital ‘hot spots’ – Internet access points – in communities that didn’t have that resource previously. (Full disclosure: Verizon was the sponsoring organization for Pasadena City College’s Future of Work Conference, held virtually on November 12, 2020.)

When the COVID-19 Pandemic is under control and society settles into its ‘new’ normal, these challenges facing America’s students will need more significant and comprehensive attention.

 

 

How Connectivity Impacts Teaching Opportunities

Another population hugely affected by the remote learning phenomena is America’s teaching corps. Almost overnight, hundreds of thousands of classroom teachers became remote instructors and began delivering their standard curricula via a digital device. However, for many teachers, the switch to digital also required a steep learning curve on digital technologies, a subject they may not have been familiar with, nor were they prepared to adopt.

In many instances, classroom materials didn’t translate well to a digital format; they required additional preparation and handling to become operative in the new ‘space.’ At the same time, the ‘remote teaching’ adventure added to the teacher’s day a myriad of new obligations that were necessary to maintain contacts with and tabs on their students:

Virtual classes required logging into certain websites designed to manage large meetings. Connections with students weren’t always stable or available.

Assigning and collecting assignments became a digital affair, too. Email attachments and ‘Dropbox’ folders became the new way to ‘turn things in,’ and teachers had to track which method was used by which student when accepting digital homework or assignments,

In some cases, teaching was best facilitated through a newly launched website, often designed and posted directly by the instructor. Some educators are familiar with website design and function, but many (arguably most) leave such technical details to the technology professionals.

On top of these new activities, teachers were also expected to maintain all-digital contact with their school administrators and their students’ parents and families.

Data collected before and after the onset of the Pandemic reveals how teachers recognized the need to become adept at these newly require digital skills.

In the first six months of 2019, data collected by Frontline Research and Learning Institute, an online professional development services provider, indicates that instructors completed well under a thousand courses per week of their professional development activities related to remote learning, including studies on Zoom, Google Classroom, and distance learning.

By contrast, in the comparable timeframe in 2020, teacher access to those professional development activities spiked into the thousands:

Almost 12,000 teachers accessed Frontline’s ‘Virtual’ teaching professional development activities in mid-April 2020, and

Almost 16,000 instructors accessed the ‘Distance’ learning portals in early April.

The data indicates that it’s not just students who need improved digital skills to succeed in their online education. Teachers, too, need access to training to enhance their capacity to deliver their standard curricula and materials in the new, all-digital formats.

 

Higher Education Policies Drive Economic Growth

Pam Sornson, JD on February 17, 2021

Pam Sornson, JD

At its heart, higher education policy focuses on optimizing all available assets to improve student outcomes. Layered over that fundamental truth is a myriad of specific concerns and mandates, each of which must be considered before making a final policy determination. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, creating an overarching policy that adequately addressed the majority of relevant higher education concerns was a challenge; during and after the pandemic, that challenge is and will be even greater.

Pasadena City College’s (PCC) Economic and Workforce Development department (EWD) also perceives student success as its highest goal, but it pursues those outcomes a little differently than other higher education institutions. Rather than focusing on a student’s course grades as their highest achievements, the EWD seeks to provide its students with vocational and Career and Technical Education (CTE) insights, work-based learning opportunities, internships, and other occupationally related activities that will enhance their job-finding and career futures. The EWD sees ‘well-employed workers’ as its ultimate achievement, and it is structured to provide the services needed to produce those outcomes.

And like all higher education schools, the parameters and standards applied to those CTE courses and programs are designed according to – yes – policy.

 

CTE Policies and the Emerging American Economy

Not all education policies fit every form of educational opportunity. CTE and related training education requires policy creation that responds to the needs of the community and the students. In the U.S., there is a severe labor force lack of workers with well-honed ‘middle skills,’ those acquired beyond high school but don’t flow from a four-year degree. Jobs that require these types of skills exist in every industry, and many industries report that the lack of workers in these positions significantly impairs their productivity. A recent survey revealed that up to 47% of all manufacturers struggle to fill open middle-skilled positions, while in healthcare, 35% of such jobs remain unfilled, and even over 20% of retail posts remain open due to a lack of a qualified pool of applicants.

The ongoing challenge posed by this gap in qualified workers is that both they and the economy suffer. Most middle-skill jobs pay reasonably well to start and offer the opportunity to earn significantly more as those careers develop. Middle-skill workers can earn enough to qualify for mortgages, car loans, and other upwardly mobile assets, which enhances their lives and stimulates and helps to grow the local economy. When those positions remain unfilled, those businesses achieve less than their optimal outputs, earn fewer revenues, and have fewer resources to contribute back to the community.

The response to this challenge is to develop educational policies that support middle-skill training and then invest in the resources needed to make that training available, which is precisely what many states are now doing.

 

 

Public Dollars Follow Policy Recommendations

These days, government investments in CTE programs are rising as agencies seek employment opportunities for thousands of unemployed workers. In many cases, those investments follow the recommendations of researchers who study both the factors that inhibit or prevent potential workers from obtaining the new training, as well as local and regional industry labor realities. Connecting the two – removing educational barriers while providing needed training opportunities – promises a better-skilled workforce and a well-employed community.

 

At the State Level – Tennessee

One state has been pursuing these objectives for several years. Tennessee has developed several unique initiatives designed to address specific educational challenges facing the state’s citizens:

Drive to 55

The state intends to equip 55 percent of Tennesseans with a college degree or certificate by 2025. It’s harnessing the efforts of its private sector partners, community, and non-profit organizations to work together to develop the training and employment opportunities needed to lift more than half its citizens beyond a high school education.

Tennessee Promise

In conjunction with the Drive to 55 initiative, the Tennessee Promise scholarship program offers high school graduates two free years of community college education.

Tennessee Reconnect

Also an adjunct to the Drive to 55 initiative, this program facilitates free community or technical college education to any adult who wants to obtain one.

As the Drive to 55 initiative rolled out, Tennessee recognized it lacked the data needed to justify its actions and with which it could build stronger foundations for future educational and economic growth. In 2017, it launched the Tennessee Postsecondary Evaluation & Analysis Research Lab (TN-PEARL) as that research facility.

Working together with the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC), the Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research, and Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development, the TN-PEARL studies the barriers that prevent Tennesseans’ from achieving post-secondary success and helps to guide state policy on alleviating those challenges. Its Leadership, Policy, and Organizations department chair, Carolyn J. Heinrich, discusses her focus on workforce development, public management, and social welfare policy and how those impact social and economic investments in middle-income communities with Salvatrice Cummo, the Executive Director of Pasadena City College’s Economic and Workforce Development department.

 

At the Federal Level

At the federal level, higher education investments also got a boost in late 2020, when Congress passed a $900 B COVID relief package. Contained within the Bill are several policy improvements designed to ease access to high education opportunities both during and after the COVID pandemic.

    • The new formula for Pell Grant eligibility provides full grant access to families that earn up to 175% of the federal poverty standard (225% for single-parent families). Those making 275% (325%) are guaranteed the minimum grant allowance.
    • The “expected family contribution’ is replaced by a ‘student aid index,’ which can be negative, indicating those students with the highest need for financial assistance.
    • The Bill also significantly changes the Federal Application for Financial Student Aid (FAFSA) document, reducing the number of questions from 100+ to just 36. This change makes it easier for potential students to move through the federal financial aid system.

In addition to forgiving $1.3 B in low-cost loans to historically Black colleges, the Bill drives $22.7 B in funding toward higher education. It offers maximum Pell Grant funding to 1.7 million additional students and guaranteed minimum funding to another 500 M more.

 

The policies that drive Tennessee, other state government, and federal government higher education spending reflect the data flowing from researchers like TN-PEARL, which add insight and clarity to the challenges facing both potential workers and employers. Using that data allows decision-makers to shape CTE and technical training policies that will make a difference in the lives of the country’s workers – both actual and potential – which will, in turn, build the country’s economic fortunes, too.

PCC Extension: A Gateway to Enriched Living

Pam Sornson, JD on January 23, 2021

By Pam Sornson, JD

Although not new to Pasadena City College ([PCC] – the program goes back decades under several other names), the PCC Extension program recently transitioned into the fifth Pillar of the school’s Economic and Workforce Development department (EWD). And while also not new to the school (she’s been working at PCC in various roles for years), Director Elaine Chapman, MBA, M.Ed, is delighted with the program’s new placement. In conjunction with the EWD’s other pillars (the Freeman Center for Career and Completion, Work-based Learning, Workforce Training, and its Small Business Development Center), PCC Extension offers extensive learning and growth opportunities for virtually anyone who is looking for an education but not necessarily a certification, degree, or transfer opportunity.

 

A Gateway, Indeed

According to Chapman, PCC Extension acts as the other side of PCC’s ‘same coin:’ offering learning opportunities to students who aren’t looking for foundational job and occupational training, certification, or degrees. Instead, the program focuses on providing both ‘learning for learning’s sake’ opportunities, as well as upskilling or enhanced training for workers to take back with them immediately to their jobs. In effect, the PCC Extension provides educational and learning opportunities for – literally – everyone and anyone who wants to continue to grow but doesn’t need or want any added credentialing.

The PCC Extension sees its activities as performing two significant functions for the PCC and Pasadena community:

1) Enriching Lives Because Learning is Fun

It offers courses and programs that lift the lives of their learners. Those courses teach the theory, skills, and practices that simply enhance one’s quality of life, including new languages, computer skills, health and fitness perspectives, and many more. Students flock to these programs because they have an innate interest in the subject matter and want to learn more, not to find a job or even to improve their work at the position they hold. They want to study because it offers enjoyment and satisfaction to learn more about those things that one finds attractive.

These students’ backgrounds vary as much as their scope of personal interests:

Some are new to the college experience in general and may never have thought of themselves as a ‘college student.’ The PCC Extension opportunity offers an open option so they can explore the higher ed space without having to make an extensive commitment to something they may not be prepared to manage. Many find the experience so pleasant and encouraging that they choose to continue into new classes or even new career study options.

Others may be community college students or graduates. They have already enjoyed a taste of ‘college life.’ They are looking for a similar experience in a subject matter they enjoy regardless of its capacity to underscore a career option.

Still others (and there are notable examples of this) who have extensive backgrounds and long careers in significant industries who just want to learn how to write a book, understand human physiology, or speak Japanese. They sign up because they know the learning will make them happier in their lives overall. (Chapman herself has pursued ‘learning for learning’s sake’ education that taught her more about one of her favorite hobbies.)

The PCC Extension as a learning facility embraces the truth that everyone is (or should be) a life-long learner. It consequently offers those programs that will engage the interests and passions of its life-long learning community.

2) Providing a True “Community Center”

All that learning energy flows the other way, too. As the PCC Extension presents wider learning opportunities, it also attracts more local and regional people to share its resources. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, on-site classes were also places to gather, meet new people who shared the same interests, and explore even more options to expand into a larger community sphere. Through the auspices of the PCC Extension, the community as a whole can unite under PCC’s learning umbrella to learn more about itself, its members, and its resources.

Not insignificantly, many of those who engage with the PCC Extension are both PCC alumni and have enjoyed successful careers. Their continuing participation in the school also encourages their continued support of the school, sometimes through donations made to the PCC Foundation.

 

How It Works

The PCC Extension also focuses on providing not-for-credit resources that fill working adults’ needs, including self-improvement courses, workforce training, and professional development. And it offers personal interest courses that simply answer a question or respond to an urge to do something new. New parents, newly arrived immigrants, people with disabilities, veterans, and ‘older’ learners are typical students who find through the PCC Extension the information and skills they need to live a better life.

Previously, to facilitate those learners, PCC Extension classes were offered beyond the traditional ‘school day’ – evenings and weekends – so students could attend after conventional school hours. The silver lining around the COVID concern is that almost all of the PCC Extension courses are now also offered online so that learners can access them from anywhere, at any time.

Teaching at PCC Extension

Another valuable asset of the PCC Extension is its instruction staff. Many of its teachers are actually proficient experts at their particular craft who, as individuals, approached the school with a course proposal to share their skills with the student community. Consequently, the instructional corps offers a widely varied menu of program options that aren’t ordinarily available as traditional college curricula. Those opportunities highlight another value of the PCC Extension: it provides learning opportunities taught by subject matter experts that are not available anywhere else in the world except through PCC. The broad scope of these learning options is yet another demonstration of the values provided to the Pasadena community (on-site and virtual) through PCC’s portal.

 

An ED with Vision

With a career history working in highly regulated organizations and with sensitive populations, Chapman brings a unique skill set to her role as Director of the PCC Extension. She sees the overarching program as a nexus between the community college and its Pasadena-region neighbors, and she’s always looking for ways to extend those relationships. Her passion for connecting anyone interested in learning with resources that interest them is also evident in her association with LERN, an organization dedicated to developing resources and opportunities for continuing education and life-long learning around the world.

In her current role, Chapman is careful to gauge the student population’s needs with the school’s capacity to find the best, most-likely-to-be-successful fit for new classes and new learners. By continuously expanding the course offerings to provide relevant and topical options, she can fulfill otherwise unmet community needs. The computer courses are especially enticing in these days of COVID-induced ‘all online all the time’ demand.

In her opinion, situating the PCC Extension within the EWD enhances both organizations’ capacities – the EWD in general and the PCC Extension specifically – to reach even more constituents and build even more bridges between the school and the people who live near it. As a pillar for the EWD itself, the PCC Extension provides another opportunity to include community engagement in the organization’s overarching work: to develop the systems and partnerships that will drive the Pasadena regional economy forward.

PCC’s Extension program isn’t new, but it isn’t old, either. It is a living, teaching, and learning enterprise that continuously works to enhance all its constituents’ lives. Its position in the EWD IS new, and the EWD itself is unique (just three years old), and that newness also suggests a promise of even bigger and better things to come. For Elaine Chapman, it offers yet another opportunity to continue her personal goal of life-long learning.

 

PCC 2021: New Faces. New Opportunities.

Pam Sornson, JD on January 23, 2021

By Pam Sornson, JD

Like the rest of the country, the Pasadena community has experienced a churn of its beliefs, norms, and expectations, and its future functioning will reflect the consequences of that churn. Likewise, Pasadena City College (PCC) has gone through a metamorphosis as it transitioned from a traditional ‘on-site classes college to an ‘all-digital’ iteration (at least for the time being). Other changes that reflect a response to these challenging times are the addition of a new leadership role and the selection of a new leader for an existing role.

Through the Fall of 2020, PCC canvassed the state-wide higher education community for inspirational leaders to fill the existing role of Vice President of Instruction (VP Instruction) and the newly created position of Chief Diversity Officer (CDO). Though not new, the Office of Instruction provides critical infrastructure support for the college’s inner workings. Definitely new, the CDO role will focus on eliminating cultural and institutional biases to improve the PCC experience for all its constituents. The search for new faces and new insights demonstrates PCC’s commitment to providing its students with educational and leadership excellence. Each appointment offers the promise of new opportunities to respond to newly emerging demands.

This edition of the Pulse provides an overview of how the Office of Instruction functions within the school’s administration and why PCC chose to address the community’s equity and diversity challenges by creating the position of Chief Diversity Officer (CDO).

 

PCC’s New Vice President of Instruction (VP Instruction)

The word “instruction” carries so many meanings:

It signifies increases in student knowledge, adding more nuances and layers to foundational understandings.

It also signifies an effective teaching capacity, to impart knowledge in a manner that facilitates learning.

In today’s higher education sector, managing college-level ‘instruction’ also means working with unions, committees, and Boards of Directors to ensure the school, as an institution, achieves its internal goals and external mandates of graduating successful students into the world.

At PCC, the job of advancing the school’s core education mission falls to its VP Instruction. As PCC’s many parts all play roles in achieving its many tasks, the work is complex, and weaving their individual activities into a functioning whole takes vision and strategy. Ensuring diversity, equity, and inclusion is a critical element of a successful school, of course, as is managing the various state and federal regulations that overlay much of PCC’s infrastructure. Consequently, the person who fills this chair must have the requisite experience, skillset, and innate talent to oversee all those aspects while facilitating the successful completion of educational programs by every student.

 

 

PCC’s Chief Diversity Officer

Pasadena as a city is a widely diverse community. It’s racial and ethnicity breakdown spans the globe in terms of the cultures and backgrounds represented:

35% White;

32% Hispanic (white & non-white);

17% Asian;

9% African-American

7% ‘other’ = multiracial and Native Indian, Alaskan, Islander, etc.

Not surprisingly, because it draws many of its learners from its surrounding city and region, PCC’s student community also reflects this broad range of ethnicities and cultures. Accordingly, to ensure appropriate representation of each group in administrative and academic decision-making, the school seeks inputs from three relevant Councils and Committees: the African American Advisory Committee, the Asian American & Pacific Islander Advisory Committee, and the President’s Latino Advisory Committee.

Each committee engages directly with PCC’s President/Superintendent (Dr. Erika Endrijonas) and school leadership in advancing the best interests of its own PCC students, inculcating relevant, multicultural nuances into college life, and promoting the interests of every student according to their specific racial or cultural needs.

 

 

PCC’s Asian American & Pacific Islander Advisory Committee (PAAPI)

This committee’s work encompasses the cultures and values emanating from the many nations and cultures that populate the Asian and Pacific Island geographies. In addition to assisting PAAPI students in thriving throughout their PCC journey, the Committee seeks out comparable supports, services, and partnerships within Pasadena’s business and industrial community, to build connections and maintain cultural continuity in PCC curricula and programming.

 

PCC’s President’s Latino Advisory Committee (PLAC)

This committee works to enhance Latinx students’ support as they reach for their academic and career goals. The Committee itself is populated with both PCC professionals and like-minded community members, broadening the potential for the Latinx student’s support and success. One of its primary endeavors is raising funds for its PLAC Scholarship.

 

PCC’s African American Advisory Committee (PAAAC)

Although just under 10% of the overall population, PCC’s African American student body wields a strong presence on campus. The PAAAC directs its efforts at improving every Black student’s performance, from encouraging their enrollment, helping them work through their programs, and encouraging them to continue into a productive and rewarding future. The Committee also reaches into the Pasadena community to find African American resources that will further enrich its Black constituents, including The Association of Black Employees (TABE).

Support for African American students, in particular, is centralized in the school’s Black Student Success Center (now operating virtually). The Center houses two unique programs designed specifically for the African American population, Ujima and Blackademia:

Ujima

This culturally based learning collaborative seeks to empower and advance the interests of PCC’s Black student community. The school designed its programs and support systems to encourage self-awareness, academic success, career development, and more. Dedicated counselors and coaches urge learners to pursue their goals through accountability and maintain a composure that promotes Black Excellence.

Blackademia

Academic excellence is easier to achieve when there’s access to a full slate of support and resources. PCC’s Blackademia focuses on the educational (and eventual career) success of the school’s African American students by providing academic coaching, success workshops, resource referrals, and networking opportunities.

There’s also a Transfer Bound program offered to African American students who transfer to a four-year school to complete their bachelor’s degree. Through it, PCC’s Transfer Center celebrates Black Graduation each year, giving these talented learners the accolades they deserve and the encouragement they crave to continue on their successful educational track.

Pasadena City College has always been sensitive to its need for diversity, equity, and inclusion as essential elements of its culture. A dedicated Chief Diversity Officer will have the opportunity to unite and hone these committees’ activities to expand further and enhance the lives of all of its students, regardless of their race or ethnicity.

 

While decidedly different in their focus and purpose, both positions – VP of Instruction and CDO – have significant impacts on the whole of PCC’s school and community. The two new Officers will provide further clarity in their separate roles, and their individual perspectives are sure to enhance the PCC experience for the entire PCC community.

 

 

 

Spotlight: PCC Business Partners – LifeLine Ambulance

Pam Sornson, JD on January 16, 2021

LifeLine Ambulance: Extraordinary Service in Extraordinary Times

By Pam Sornson, JD

As the grandchild of Holocaust survivors and the child of parents who immigrated to the United States from Ukraine in 1979, young Maxim Gorin had no idea how his future would unfold. When the economic crash of post-9/11 paused his financial service career, Maxim, like his grandparents and parents before him, needed to figure out his next move. Finding a way to give back to their community became his family’s new goal. Father and son found an excellent opportunity to fulfill that desire when they embraced their entrepreneurial spirit by buying two ambulances that launched LifeLine Ambulance (LifeLine) in 2002. Maxim Gorin hasn’t pondered his future since.

In fact, their forward-thinking ability has facilitated the growth of their business from 2002 to today. Since its inception, Lifeline has grown from two vehicles and seven workers to 70+ ambulances and 290 employees. All of them are dedicated healthcare professionals invested in providing the highest quality care to their transport customers. Added service levels and capacities reflect the company’s ongoing attention to customer needs and community demands. And innovation in the face of adversity demonstrates Gorin’s deep dedication to providing unprecedented protection for his customers and team.

 

Early Years; Learning Curves

Gorin and Lifeline spent their first decade in business in the San Gabriel Valley (SGV), providing essential ambulance services to the region’s many hospitals and clinics. In addition to ensuring that he hired the most highly skilled EMTs and other healthcare personnel for each rig, Gorin also studied the ins-and-outs of the SGV, managed the day-to-day operations, and scheduled activities to respond to more urgent demands.

Those lessons facilitated the company’s growth. Over the next few years, Lifeline added transfer services that were more in line with client hospitals’ needs. LifeLine provides Bariatric, Neonatal/Pediatric Intensive Care, and Critical Care transportation, including Balloon pump, Impella, ECMO, and LVADS( Left Ventricle Assisted Devices). Each urgent service iteration required additional in-depth training of the Lifeline Ambulance staff, requiring Gorin to upgrade his certifications, expertise, and mandated skill sets. The fundamental challenge was to provide intensive, comprehensive services to ensure patient care continuity through emergency transportation.

By the end of 2019, Lifeline had expanded to cover both Los Angeles and Orange County, with contracts to serve several regional hospitals, dozens of urgent care clinics, and healthcare service providers. Gorin had learned to pivot toward filling the community’s demand for ambulance services by maintaining a vigilant eye on emerging concerns and issues. The company was ‘on a roll’ …

 

COVID Challenges Up the Ante

… and the timing couldn’t have been better. As the COVID-19 pandemic swept over LA, more people required ambulance transport, and LifeLine was available to accommodate many of those additional needs. At the same time, as more information about the virus became available, Gorin’s dedication to keeping his people and rigs safe and sanitized facilitated his capacity to meet the rising demand to protect and transport COVID patients:

When sanitizing supplies ran low, he developed a new business plan to manufacture them with an Australian Company in China.

When the first shipment of those supplies arrived in June, he was able to keep his enterprise protected while donating excess supplies to hospitals and police departments throughout the LA/OC region.

He also began a bartering system with other healthcare services providers, trading his sanitizing products for other PPE necessities like hospital gowns, gloves, etc., keeping his employees, colleagues, and community safe.

Sharing Knowledge and Service

By Summer 2020, Gorin was actively sharing with the SGV community what he had learned from LifeLine’s COVID-19 crisis management and his 20 years of providing exceptional urgent health care to medically fragile patients. Shortly after joining the San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership (SGVEP), Max was soon sitting on its Board of Directors, though not fully realizing the value of joining the organization; he was about to become closely engaged with PCC.

 

Looking for Workers; Finding a Partner

The second half of 2020 was exceedingly difficult, as the COVID pandemic swept through Southern California in wave after wave. Gorin needed 50-60 new team members to fill the increased demand for critical ambulance transportation services. The challenge was to identify specially trained workers who had the skill set and understood the nuances of working in a mobile, COVID-impacted setting. His introduction to PCC’s Health Sciences division proved advantageous for both parties.

 

Sharing Assets Improves Both Operations

PCC’s Emergency Medical Technology program is designed specifically to train ambulance service technicians to work as Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) on fire trucks, at police departments, and of course, in an emergency vehicle setting. Successful students must meet the requirements of California’s Code of Regulations for EMT training and receive an Occupational Skills Certificate upon graduation. Gorin is interested in immediately hiring PCC EMT graduates and possibly contributing to their education.

Throughout late summer 2020 and into the fall, he collaborated with Dr. Micah Young, PCC’s Division Dean of Health Sciences, and his staff about building a partnership, that would benefit both LifeLine and PCC’s EMT candidates.

Dr. Young offered classroom and academic resources tailored to Gorin’s specific ambulance rig needs. Gorin found the existing PCC curricula excellent when provided with the necessary context only developed through hands-on experience.

Mr. Gorin provided a variety of learning options, all of which enhance the education received by PCC students:

He was willing to provide a ‘ride-along’ to interested PCC students so they could witness ambulances in full operation and gain the skills needed to perform this job. Each Ride-Along Candidate receives hands-on practice in essential emergency medical response:

Perform an assessment;

Measure vital signs;

Operate gurney in general, and related to specific patient’s needs;

Create accurate and informed reports

Use appropriate bedside manner when dealing with any patient that could be facing life-threatening circumstances.

He introduced students to Emergency Room personnel with whom his staff interacted daily, so they could see the nexus of care as it transitioned from ambulatory to clinical.

Gorin devised his partnership aspect to ensure the students receive the full 36 hours (three twelve-hour shifts) of EMT ambulance experience required for certification purposes by the California Code of Regulations.

He and his staff embrace the opportunity (when available) to discuss with candidates the myriad of career options within the healthcare field and how their fundamental EMT training offers a solid foundation for building future careers.

Between them, PCC and LifeLine developed an agreement that gave PCC students exceptional insights into the healthcare field as they worked towards their EMT certification and future occupations. It also allowed Gorin and LifeLine to develop a ‘talent pipeline’ of well-trained, experienced EMTs who would be ready to work the day they graduate. Gorin and his professional staff act as mentors to the learners, offering insights and encouragement, even as they study for exams. Gorin knows that many will not become LifeLine employees as they explore other healthcare career options discovered while in his tutelage.

The first Ride-Along cohort group launched in November with15 student candidates, and by December’ the group had increased to 20 new candidates. By all accounts, the endeavors were successful, although Gorin thinks if he gets five EMTs out of the lot, he’ll be lucky. Once their minds are opened to the possibilities, the PCC candidates are soon looking at other healthcare occupations that may better suit their skills and abilities.

 

Max Gorin couldn’t imagine his future as he immigrated to the United States so many years ago. However, as a successful businessman, dedicated community member, and American citizen, he is proud of the opportunities he has gained and the opportunities that LifeLine Ambulance can now offer to the LA/OC region’s EMT students at PCC. Extraordinary times, indeed.

Five Pillars: One PCC EWD

Pam Sornson, JD on January 16, 2021

By Pam Sornson, JD

The phrase “workforce development” suggests a myriad of images, from an on-site training session to a planning meeting for a future project. At its heart, however, is the notion that every person who wants to work should be able to work to the best of their ability. 

At Pasadena City College (PCC), ‘workforce development’ means providing the education and supports that every student needs to find their way to the occupation of their choice. The department is built on four central ‘pillars’ that form its foundation and streamline its focus on improving student outcomes through occupationally based initiatives:

its Robert G. Freeman Center for Career and Completion (Freeman Center), 

its Work-based Learning initiative, 

its Small Business Development Center, 

its Workforce Training initiative, and

its PCC Extension, which provides enrichment education for learners from all walks of life, regardless of their intent to find work related to their learning. 

 

Each pillar provides guidance and resources directed toward a specific element of the workforce development strategy:

Support from the Freeman Center ensures that PCC students have everything they need to persist through their college experience and to land the jobs they want, and 

Work-based Learning gives PCC students hands-on learning and experience in the occupation of their choice;

Experts at the Small Business Development Center offer business and development help to the area’s companies (including those that train and hire PCC graduates), so they can meet their corporate goals.

Workforce Training programs provide basic and upskilling training for potential and existing employees of the region’s employers and companies. 

The PCC Extension shares PCC educational resources with its greater community through online courses. An extensive catalog provides learners of any age or capability with access to work and personal interest-based programs so that they can pursue their educational aspirations at their own pace.       

 

Understanding how each pillar functions gives readers some insights into the purpose of the EWD and the values it brings to the Pasadena economic region. 

 

The Robert G. Freeman Career Center

Choosing a career can be difficult for students who are unsure of their aspirations, talents, or skills. The Freeman Center counselors help connect students to those personal assets, then point them toward jobs and careers where their talents can shine. But the Center also offers so much more:

assistance to find resources that respond to the many social, family, and personal barriers experienced by so many potential learners. 

Ongoing support as students labor through their coursework and 

assistance finding on-the-job training opportunities, so learners attain needed hands-on skills in addition to classroom theories.

 

The Freeman Center resources have helped countless PCC students identify, work towards, and achieve their occupational and professional goals.

 

Work-based Learning (WBL)

‘Work-based learning’ is precisely what its name describes: providing on-the-job training in conjunction with classroom lessons so that learners gain a broader understanding of the work they’re planning to do, perhaps for the rest of their lives. This business/education partnership represents a ‘best practice’ for many jobs and professions. The students gain needed preparatory skills before actually landing the job; the businesses can train future workers to their exact specifications, and the school can graduate not just students but workers into the regional economy. In the last Academic year, 2019-2020, the Office of WBL added 45 committed community entities to its roster of community partners. 

PCC’s WBL efforts focus on three themes:

increasing student achievements, so they persist through to the end of and complete their educational program;

facilitating access to technical skills that are best taught in a hands-on setting, through apprenticeships, internships, and other on-the-job opportunities, and

enhancing student employability, so learners finish their schooling with both credentials and a job lined up.

 

The Small Business Development Center (SBDC)

The SBDC offers workshops, one-on-one consulting, venture development, and training to both students and any area business looking to improve its operations and outcomes. It connects PCC students with companies to develop training and mentoring opportunities and helps businesses create the internal practices and assets they need to thrive in today’s challenging economy. 

Structured around four primary programs, the SBDC is a resource for cutting-edge business and industry information designed to meet the needs fo virtually anyone who seeks financial success through productive and rewarding work:

PCC Venture Launch

This 10-week program facilitates the testing of potentially viable business models by exploring both theory and hands-on practices. Free to PCC students, it creates the real-world pressures and demands facing today’s start-up companies and allows attendees to experience both success and failure in a safe, testing-only situation. 

The Gig Economy Program

The ‘gig’ economy is driven by those thousands of independent contractors who perform critical services outside of an employer/employee relationship. While currently in development for 2022, the inaugural 2016-2018 program gave students insights into the demands and expectations of this economic development style, the benefits it offers, and the challenges it poses. 

Biz Ed Workshops

These informational workshops and seminars help people turn their excellent product and service ideas into successful businesses. They provide the corporate leadership training that encompasses the guts of today’s mandated workforce standards, including taxation, HR management, regulatory compliance, etc. 

1:1 Consulting

Perhaps its most popular service, the 1:1 consulting services offered by the SBDC’s many business and industry experts give company owners in-depth analysis and support for their unique challenges and problems. Grant funding pays those consultation fees, too, so PCC’s business community can access this resource at no cost.  

 

 

Workforce Training 

This innovative program offers businesses the opportunity to train and upskill their workers using PCC teaching and facility resources. Tailored to meet the needs of the adult learners as well as their employers, Workforce Training provides both credited and non-credited courses to polish today’s highest demand skills, including technical competence, business innovation, leadership, and customer services. 

Four fundamental facets round out the Workforce Training module: 

The Employment Training Panel

The EWD acts as a contractor for the ‘ETP,’ which is a funding source that helps to pay for the upskilling and training of California’s workers.

ETP Contract Training

This ‘Just in Time’ training strategy maximizes ETP funds and facilitates workforce training opportunities on the PCC campus. The practice eliminates the need for in-house training by our community business partners. 

California Training Initiative

In conjunction with the California Workforce Association, the EWD delivers training to a variety of local employers. 

TAA & I-TRAIN

These two federally funded programs – Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) and I-TRAIN, the Job Training and Education Information Network – subsidize students’ efforts to find and engage with an appropriate training program, including those whose jobs have been displaced due to foreign trade.   

 

 

PCC Extension

Whether students are looking to upskill for their job or just learn a new skill in their free time, PCC’s Extension offers a myriad of programs designed to fill those diverse needs. Reading programs, online youth courses, and even programs aimed at America’s military families are just a click away.

 

Unfortunately, today’s sprawling educational systems aren’t structured to ensure that every possible learner achieves their precise and very personal work and career goals. Instead, legacy training programs are too often corraled into out-dated (albeit well-meaning) protocols that were designed to meet now-irrelevant needs. And, in addition to being obsolete, irrelevant, or both, many potential learners aren’t even able to access these opportunities due to time, financial, or other social constraints. Consequently, society suffers the loss of priceless human resource values as viable and eager workers are stalled in their work-seeking efforts. 

Pasadena City College’s Economic and Workforce Development department (PCC EWD) aims to reverse these legacy practices and facilitate every aspiring worker’s education and training. Its four pillars provide a robust mix of training and experience so that its students, its local and regional business community, and its greater economic community can all thrive. 

Community Colleges as Economic Engines: Opportunity America

Pam Sornson, JD on December 31, 2020

By Pam Sornson, JD

Perhaps only two other circumstances have disrupted America’s economy as thoroughly as has the COVID-19 pandemic: the 1929-1931 Great Depression and the Second World War. Each of those events caused immense upheavals across the nation’s economy, resulting in both devastating losses and unexpected gains, as whole industrial sectors shrank or grew in response. 

Those events also impacted the lives of millions of workers. Most of them were able to embrace the positive changes and pursue occupations and goals that may not have been available in the pre-war/Depression eras. Mid-20th Century researchers dubbed this shift in earning capacity ‘economic mobility’ as people began making more money per year than their parents. Economic mobility soon became a hallmark of the ‘American Dream,’ whereby a child born into a family in the bottom 20% of the nation’s average annual income bracket could, with the right tools and a reasonable portion of good fortune, rise to the top income bracket over the course of their working life. Those moving up through those brackets were ‘upwardly’ mobile, while those who slipped lower were ‘downwardly’ mobile.    

 

 

Achieving the full promise of that upward economic mobility is possible only when other compatible ‘mobility’ factors are available, however:

‘Relational’ mobility describes the individual’s personal capacity to move beyond their current economic status based on their skills, talents, and abilities. Those who can discipline their efforts and resources to achieve their higher goals are often able to gain higher levels of personal success than those who don’t have those abilities or drive.  

‘Social’ mobility reflects the opportunity to move into a different social ‘class’ or status that is perceived as ‘higher’ than that to which a person is born. Social mobility often flows from the economic success of one’s parents; children born to wealthier families usually have easier access to higher education and other resources, which then improves their capacity to improve their earning capabilities over those of their families. 

‘Structural’ mobility refers to how well workers adapt to the changing occupational needs of the economy. Those who maintain skillsets relevant to emerging industries will enjoy the opportunity to move from occupation to occupation, regardless of their actual work.

When all these various forms of mobility come together, the odds go up that a person will improve their station in life. Gaps or lacks in any one mobility ‘sector’ can impede or prevent any upward momentum altogether. And when people don’t have the capacity or opportunity for upward mobility, local, regional, and national economies tend to shrink. Ergo, the concept of ‘mobility’ in all its forms can directly reflect a community’s economic capacity and opportunities. 

 

 

 

Opportunity America: Framing a Response to the COVID-19 Impact on Mobility

The COVID-19 pandemic has made the discussion around social, relational, structural, and economic mobility more critical than ever. Hundreds of thousands of businesses are shuttered, and millions of people are out of work, some permanently. Many of those suffering these economic hardships have lost whatever economic momentum they may have garnered over their careers, and they now find themselves in a declining spiral of downward mobility. For the country to recover, society must address the economic challenges created by COVID as those are experienced through these various ‘mobility’ lenses.

One agency taking on the challenge is Opportunity America (OA), a Washington D.C. think tank dedicated to developing policies directed at improving the resources that drive economic mobility upward: skills, career options, training, business ownership, and entrepreneurship. The group’s primary focus is research that grounds sound economic and social policies capable of steering the country to achieve higher growth goals. OA has determined that one of the country’s most appropriate resources for combating the recession and rebuilding the economy – and thereby generating necessary economic ‘mobility’ factors – is its community colleges.  

 

 

The Indispensable Institution – Reimagining Community College

In its seminal report, “The Indispensable Institution – Reimagining Community College,” OA explains why America’s 1,100 two-year colleges have the best chance of rehabilitating both the labor force and the economy. Crafted by a working group of 22 education, economic, and social research experts, the report shines a light on the educational, social, and societal elements contributing to the American working class’s slow decline. It also provides recommendations for turning that decline around by reimagining its community colleges as workforce development engines to reinvent and revitalize the nation’s economy. Doing so will shift the focus away from the colleges’ traditional goal – transferring its students to a four-year school – to that of building a globally recognized talent pipeline that stands on its own as a high-quality, educationally excellent workforce resource. 

As a template for consideration and future planning, the report’s eleven recommendations address the challenges that have evolved within traditional higher education processes and rethinks them into opportunities for renewed growth and impetus. It looks at how community colleges have operated in the past and the social and economic implications of their limitations. The recommendations themselves provide clearly defined steps forward that will require effort from the schools, their leaders, their communities, and their governmental allies. 

 

 

Social and Policy Recommendations (identified by report number)

1.  Connect educational programming to local industrial demand

Most community colleges have designed their curricula and programming to feed into their four-year university partners’ academic requirements, and too many of those provide little or no work-based skills upon which the student can build a career. Instead, the OA suggests that redirecting those courses to provide the exact skills and training needed by local businesses gets those industries the trained labor force they need when they need it. It also builds a job market that’s attractive to learners looking for a comfortable future that doesn’t require a four-year university degree. 

2.  Recognize the needs of mid-career adults

Many older learners need to acquire new skills to find work in today’s evolved marketplace. They may be wanting to improve their fortunes in their existing careers, or, due to COVID or other economic causes, their previous occupation no longer exists, and they’re starting anew. Flexible class and course scheduling and enhanced credentialing opportunities provide them with stepping stones to these new positions. 

3.  Connect admissions to employment, not graduation

Colleges should no longer tolerate ‘unemployed graduates’ as acceptable outcomes for their students.

4.  Engage local businesses in the learning process  

Even the best-trained teacher can’t match the depth of knowledge of the working professional. Local businesses know what they need for skilled workers, in both the short and long term. They are excellent resources for colleges that are redesigning their offerings. 

10.  Integrate the community college with local job-training programs

Public agencies frequently offer training programs for local citizens, which can, in some cases, overlap with programs provided by the local community college. This duplication of effort and cost is unnecessary. Instead, consider collaborating on what programs local industries need and which public or college resource should be the training provider. Building in equal standards across both systems ensures high-quality workers emerge from both. 

11.  Direct public funding toward programs tied to regional economic growth

Every region hosts a cluster of industries that thrive in its unique geographic and political environment. Community colleges that design their studies to drive those industries forward will build a healthy future for both those businesses and their graduates. Governments can tie public education funding to achieving those goals.

 

 

Internal College Considerations

Inside each school, the report suggests several changes that will facilitate the transition from its traditional practices to those which support this forward-thinking vision. 

5.  Build on foundational skills and career-focused competencies

Foundational skills include problem-solving, communication capacity, critical thinking, and basic research abilities. Job-focused competencies like applied math, teamwork training, situational analytics, and time management improve every worker’s productivity, regardless of their actual work. 

6.  Include work-based learning

Apprenticeships, internships, and job-related exposures all provide learning opportunities that are unavailable in a traditional classroom teaching environment. Colleges should actively seek the funding and partnerships needed to support such learning opportunities.

One of the pillars of Pasadena City College’s Workforce Development department is its work-based learning office. Program Manager Jacqueline Javier shares her efforts to connect PCC students with valuable work experience before completing their studies.    

7.  Recognize the value of non-credit education

Non-credit education frequently provides the ‘just-in-time’ training needed to get into a new job. However, without accreditation, those efforts don’t also feed into a certification program that provides assurances for employers. Learners would benefit when both their credited and non-credited efforts are recognized.  

8.  Offer valuable credentials

Building on the nob-credit recognition is the need for credentialing opportunities that demonstrate value in the current job market. Tying those credentials to existing industry standards ensures both workers and employers that the education offered is appropriate and qualified.  

9.  Recognize student needs

It’s a challenging world these days, and many prospective community college students must balance family and economic challenges with gaining an education. Streamlining educational efforts through well-defined course and program descriptions give students a map to follow that has a reasonable expectation of both college success and future employment. For older and working learners, recognizing skills and abilities already mastered can enhance the end diploma and resume. 

The national, regional, and local economies in 2021 will be vastly different from those that existed even just one year ago. How the country builds itself back better than before depends on harnessing its existing assets in new, more productive ways. Its community colleges can play a significant – potentially critical – role in that evolution, and Opportunity America’s report provides insights and guidance on how they might move toward those goals.  

You can listen to a discussion between Tamar Jacoby, the Founder of Opportunity America, and Salvatrice Cummo, Executive Director of PCC’s Economic and Workforce Development (PCC EWD) department on PCC EWD podcast episode 25.  

Our FoW Experts Offer Answers to Three Critical Workforce Questions

Pam Sornson, JD on December 31, 2020

By Pam Sornson, JD

With so many crises bearing down on the country and the world these days, it’s difficult to know which specific concerns to prioritize and which ‘next steps’ offer the most promise for a true solution. Those same problems occur within individual industries, too; leaders in every field have no shortage of ‘hot button’ issues to deal with on a daily basis. Many of them wisely turn to subject matter experts to find comprehensive information and a deeper understanding of the issues they face.

The same confusion is true in the field of education. Many educational leaders are not also experts in technology, logistics, or other concerns that have arisen because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Their go-to experts are those professionals in other related fields who can offer insights and options that will work in an educational setting.

 

The roster of Panel Participants, Sponsor Representatives, and Keynote Speakers at PCC’s recent Future of Work Conference are all such experts. The insights they shared there can be significant for college administrators grappling with managing the pandemic while also planning their future semesters.

As an aspect of the Conference, we asked our guests to respond to three questions, each of which is relevant to the overarching theme of the conversation, “Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Workforce Development.” Their individual answers reveal the depth and breadth of their personal knowledge and experience; their collective response reveals that there are solutions to these problems and that, in many cases, there are specialists already working on them toward a more positive future.

 

 

Question 1: Are there ‘best practices’ for workforce development solutions?

Answering this query also meant assuming a relatively consistent description of the actual problem. Even before the coronavirus, America was suffering a significant skills gap as industries grew ever more technically complex. At the same time, training programs (when and where those were available) remained rooted in outdated legacy systems and standards. The explosive technological growth driving the corporate and industrial sectors has outpaced any comparable growth trajectory in the higher education sector, leaving industries without workers and potential workers without skills.

For the FOW participants, closing the skills gap is the primary ‘best practice’ for workforce development. The COVID concern has both underscored and highlighted that challenge as the most significant obstacle to genuine economic growth in the future:

Our opening Keynote Speaker, Josh Davies, CEO of the Center for Work Ethic Development, noted that COVID has changed our expectations of ‘workforce development’ because the transformations it has caused have eliminated as many as 42% of existing occupations. Those workers now need to find new jobs in new fields and learn the new skills they’ll need to be successful. His recommendations for best practices include:

eliminating obsolete job training programs in favor of new options designed to respond to actual workplace demands;

expanding apprenticeships into more fields to encourage hands-on learning and

expecting every worker also to be a life-long learner. Change is not only inevitable, it’s also happening faster than ever before.

 

Our closing Keynote Speaker, Sheneui Weber, Vice-Chancellor of Workforce and Economic Development at the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, also shared her insights on workforce development, but from a different perspective. She noted that California is developing a Racial Equity Task Force as a ‘best practice’ means of including all available human resources in the economic recovery effort, including older learners and those who don’t fit the standard ‘worker’ or ‘student’ model. She also sees achieving digital competence as a ‘best practice’ strategy that will benefit all businesses and workers equally. Ms. Weber encouraged listeners to embrace the disruptions imposed by COVID as opportunities to rethink their business model and future planning considerations.

 

The panelists also share their insights on workforce development best practices:

Tamar Jacoby, CEO of OpportunityAmerica, believes that developing community colleges to be the logical providers of emerging workforce skills training should become a civic ‘best practice.’ Embedding the industrial region’s economic foundation into local community settings ensures that appropriate and timely workforce training is available to all at a reasonable price and with appropriate consideration of learner challenges.

Reg Javier, Executive Director of the CA Employment Training Panel, suggests building in prerequisites for underserved populations earlier in their educational journey, at the middle and high school levels. Connecting foundational education goals with future career opportunities will create a labor force ready to work from the day of graduation.

Clayton Pryor, Director of Workforce Development, Advocate Aurora Health (AAH), echoed the ‘best practice’ of more collaboration across schools, businesses, and governments. AAH is already blazing that trail by partnering with both local businesses and technology schools to ensure its hiring pool is adequately prepared when they’re finally ready to go to work. It also adopted innovative promotion policies that move experienced workers up through the company, following their occupations’ logical ranks.

Donald Bradburn, Kaiser Permanente’s Director of Workforce Planning and Development, advocates for expanding apprenticeship opportunities in as many different disciplines as possible to take full advantage of the benefits of hands-on, in-the-field learning. Like AAH, he also suggests upskilling existing workers into new roles and including technology training as a standard in all training programs.

Dr. Darlene Miller, Executive Director of the National Council for Workforce Education (NCWE), adds that facilitating more flexible work schedules would also go a long way to ensure all who wanted to work could do so when their calendar permits it. Limiting every program to a standard one-size-fits-all timeframe also excludes those who don’t actually fit that size.

Dr. D’Artagnan Scorza, founder and Director of the Social Justice Learning Institute, encourages collaborations with schools and businesses, especially for those programs designed to serve underserved pops. As an added ‘best practice’: he advocates a continual focus on building Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion into the economic partnerships that drive whole regions, such as the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation.

This discussion offered a plethora of both great strategies and workable role models.

 

 

Question 2: How do we manage COVID-19 concerns?

One thing all FOW conference participants agreed on was that the COVID-19 pandemic is providing an excellent opportunity to learn how to handle unexpected challenges. The public health crisis has impacted all aspects of society, and no one person or entity is immune from its continuing fallout.

Clayton Pryor intends to extend newly established, COVID-driven solutions to address future challenges. His organization has already demonstrated corporate adaptability in this situation, and he is confident that these lessons will provide him with excellent tools to use in the future.

Donald Bradburn has been impressed by innovations in service delivery models that facilitate similar services but in unorthodox ways, citing a ‘drive-through clinic’ as an example.

Both Sheneui Weber and Ramona Schindelheim, co-moderator of the event and Editor in Chief of WorkingNation, encourage using COVID-19 related responses as teaching tools for future concerns, health-related or otherwise.

They all agree that the pandemic has revealed the need for flexibility, even in the face of maintaining high-quality standards for all services.

 

 

Question 3: How do diversity and inclusion affect today’s and tomorrow’s workforce development practices?

This question triggered another near-unanimous response: every organization must be intentional about expanding its labor pool’s diversity to ensure it attracts and retains the high-quality workforce it needs to thrive.

Some panelists commented on the challenges presented by a newly established ‘diversity drive’:

Dr. Scorza, Mr. Javier, and Erica Jacquez, Executive Director of External and Government Affairs at Verizon, all mentioned the problems created by a lack of fundamental skills. These issues are made worse when technical skills are also absent. They each noted the need for added skills training at much earlier stages in a learner’s life (middle school and beyond).

Ms. Jacoby and Dr. Miller noted that, too often, the ‘preferred’ pool of potential workers is limited to a certain age and lifestyle range that leaves out older workers and those who must manage other life concerns in addition to gaining an education. These populations would benefit from a more flexible schedule and increased apprenticeship opportunities in addition to the traditional college experience.

Mr. Bradburn recommended expanding the diversity strategy beyond the corporate perimeter to include supply chains and third-party vendors. Actively searching for minority-focused companies with which to do business automatically includes the ‘equity’ element in those transactions.

 

Other panelists highlighted their organization’s diversity success stories:

Verizon (Javier and Jacquez) shared how the company’s focus on connectivity provided vital internet connections for college students who had lost that resource when they lost access to their school.

Ms. Weber underscored the fact that California’s Racial Equity Task Force is actively researching the challenges posed by unequal economic situations to find solutions to those challenges and the additional problems they cause.

 

The insights, opinions, and suggestions offered by the panelists at Pasadena City College’s second annual Future of Work Conference provide invaluable assistance to any entity – school or business – seeking to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and emerge from the calamity stronger than ever. We so appreciate their time and attention.

 

Future of Work Conference Speakers Bring Added Value

Pam Sornson, JD on December 13, 2020

The panel participants at Pasadena City College’s November 12th Future of Work Conference, “Advancing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Workforce Development,” offered unique insights about the challenges that they perceive are now facing today’s work world. From their varying perspectives as leaders in their particular workforce and economic development industries, they collectively paint a picture that is both daunting and optimistic. The digital resources they shared add nuance to their discussion.

 

From (Sponsor) Verizon’s Representatives Jesus Roman & Erica Jacquez: Verizon Innovative Learning

Verizon’s overarching Digital Inclusion initiative seeks to connect all communities to digital resources and provide the training they need to flourish with those tools. Within that strategy, the telecom giant focuses on giving students, in particular, the assets they need to thrive in their both education and subsequent careers. The Innovative Learning program facilitates free internet access, devices, and ‘technology-infused’ lessons to learners in communities with scant or non-existent digital connections.

The company also leverages resources from other non- and for-profit organizations to build out STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) opportunities in communities that might not otherwise have those capacities. Using its 5G technology to power on-campus labs, learners access augmented and virtual reality, 3D printing, and immersive collaborations to expand curricula and lesson plans. In 2020, the program expanded into 264 new Title 1 schools across the country, and, through its online resources and learning tools, Verizon plans to connect with 10,000,000 teachers and students by 2030.

Since 2012, the Verizon Innovative Learning initiative has invested over $535 in STEM education market value to help all its community bridge the digital divide.

 

From Co-Moderator Ramona Shindelheim, Editor in Chief, WorkingNation

Toyota has taken the lead in addressing the huge demand for skilled manufacturing workers, according to WorkingNation, an employment and economic workforce development thinktank. With nine U.S.-based plants in operation, the automotive leader is constantly in need of employees with the advanced technological skills demanded by both today’s drivers and industry regulators. However, the country’s available manufacturing workforce numbers have been dwindling for years; a 2018 Deloitte study revealed that approximately 600,000 then-available jobs were unfilled and that that number would grow (based on industry growth) to about 2,000,000 by 2025.

Not here, says Toyota Motor North America, which began its first training program in 1987, as an adjunct to its problem-solving and continuous learning policies. In 2013, rather than wait for community-based schools to provide the necessary training, the company took the affirmative step to engage students directly with its Advanced Manufacturing Technician (AMT) program. This two-year training course provides learners with the exact skills they’ll need to achieve a well-paying career in the automotive industry. An additional bonus is that one of the training entities – Toyota – is also a potential employer the day after graduation.

As a model for career technical education, the AMT program demonstrates lasting value to its students and their communities, providing much-needed labor and well-paying jobs at the same time. Many national education leaders believe it to be one of the best career pathway programs in the country.

 

From Tamar Jacoby, President  OpportunityAmerica

Since its inception, Toyota’s AMT initiative has grown to include over 300 companies across nine states that partner with 22 local community and technical schools to develop the labor force needed by their specific operation. Dubbed the “Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education,” or FAME, the collaborative efforts develop ‘global-best manufacturing talent’ by teaching technologies, instilling industry-specific cultural skills, and building professional habits across all its member practices.

OpportunityAmerica and the Brookings Institute tracked FAME efforts in Kentucky from 2010 through 2017 and compared its graduates with students from similar backgrounds who did not enroll in the program. Statistics reveal compelling evidence of FAME’s success:

80% of FAME enrollees graduated, compared with only 29% of non-FAME students.

For non-whites, 64% graduated, as compared to only 24% of the non-FAME learners.

Five years post-graduation, the FAME enrollees were earning almost $100,000 annually, versus $52,000 for non-FAME workers.

When asked, the FAME participants sang high praises for the program that effectively changed their lives:

97% stated the program was absolutely the right program for them.

94% indicated that the on-the-job learning aspects were the most valuable assets in their career.

They also touted the high value of the classroom/on-the-job training strategy as instrumental in their success.

While not perfect – the Kentucky study also revealed several areas for growth in FAME’s structures – the FAME venture responds to many of today’s major industrial and workforce ills. It provides well-trained workers for existing and new jobs and well-paying jobs for those who elect to engage in its educational processes.

 

From Clayton Pryor, Director of Workforce Development, Advocate Aurora Health

Optimizing the depth and breadth of tomorrow’s workforce also requires a finely tuned attitude toward the inclusion of people of color, ethnicity, and differing abilities. This belief is both the attitude and the policy of Advocate Aurora Health (AAH), one of the country’s largest not-for-profit healthcare organizations. The company strives to provide superior healthcare services for its patients by emphasizing safety and best medical practices and including cultural and socially informed considerations in its actions. Its fundamental goal is to transform communities by addressing healthcare inequities through strategic partnerships and inclusive economic development programs.

Its 2019 Diversity and Inclusion Impact Report lists out the various initiatives AAH pursues in furtherance of these ideals:

Its ‘patient preference system’ actively seeks feedback to direct the nature of patient/caregiver interactions. The information gathered compelled staff behavioral modifications, which triggered a 45% increase in customer care satisfaction among its African American patients.

AAH also developed a Diversity & Inclusion Clinical Care Steering Committee to ensure that all communities were appropriately represented in ‘standard of care’ decision-making.

AAH also expanded its network of faith-health partnerships to include spiritual care in its patient’s overall health journey and won national recognition as a leader in LGBTQ Healthcare Equality.

AAH’s commitment to a robust, healthy, and thriving community can be seen across its diverse populations of patients, care providers, staff, and supplier networks.

 

From Reg Javier, Executive Director, CA Employment Training Panel

Diversity and inclusion are strong workforce and economic development principles for the California Employment Training Panel (ETP). The ETP administers state funding for job training, creation, and retention, primarily for pre-employment training activities. Its goal is to facilitate job and career education for incumbent and unemployed workers to gain the skills they need to find or keep a steady job.

Those funding resources are highly valuable in the community, too:

60% of businesses accessing ETP support employ less than 100 workers. These small companies rarely have the resources available for training purposes.

The ETP also prioritizes its spending in industries that are key to California’s economic health, including biotechnology, manufacturing, and healthcare. ‘Clean energy’ enterprises also benefit from its attention.

Not insignificantly, the ETP also looks to support underserved populations, including veterans, people with disabilities, and at-risk youth, and intentionally seeks out businesses in communities with high unemployment rates.

Since its launch in 1982, the TEp has directed more than $1.5 B to employers, provided over 80,000 companies with trained workers, and funded training for more than one million employees.

 

The visionaries who do this work – and shared it so graciously with the attendees at PCC’s Future of Work Conference – are paving the way to a brighter, safer, and more equitable future for California, its citizens, and its economies.

 

Pasadena City College Podcasts: LA’s ‘Who’s Who’ Discuss What You Want to Know About Workforce Development, Education, and the Economy

Pam Sornson, JD on December 13, 2020

Many sectors influence the economic and workforce development (EWD) landscape, and each stratum is populated with many informed and inspired professionals. Each of these experts offers deep insights into the workings of their particular industry and how it is addressing the challenges and opportunities facing our complex employment, workforce, and economic situations.

 

We Like to Talk …

The Economic and Workforce Development (EWD) department at Pasadena City College (PCC) regularly connects with these experts to obtain information, understand their issues, and contemplate solutions to its learners’ most significant concerns. Through their eyes, PCC can glean the insights needed to guide course and program development and develop the services and supports that will help its students and business partners achieve the successes they seek. Through their inputs, the college can keep its finger on the ‘pulse’ of its industrial and economic partners (hence the name of this bi-monthly email newsletter, “The Pulse”).

While some of these discussions are covered in the Pulse letter itself, others are broadcast through the EWD’s regular “Future of Work” Podcast. In each, EWD Executive Director Salvatrice Cummo sits down for a lively and informative chat with these industry leaders and shares their views and opinions with the Podcast’s many listeners.

 

… About a Lot of Things

The specific order of podcast guest appearances is based primarily on available calendar opportunities. However, in general, the speaker line-up has broken into four main topics, each of which brings an independent perspective to the “Future of Work” and Economic Development conversations:

Government

Corporate and  Industry

Policy influences

Education

Each conversation touches on both the overarching concerns that involve everyone – economic development, workforce development, educational opportunities, etc. – while also providing more in-depth insights and thoughts about the expert’s specific industry or role.

Listening to the podcasts chronologically offers listeners a wide-ranging discussion of issues, concerns, and questions that may arise in one sector but also has an impact, sometimes significantly, on them all. However, by grouping them into their respective industries and listening to each of those as a cluster, listeners can make connections and mine an even deeper understanding of the more granular concerns that consternate individual sectors as a whole.

Ganged into clusters below, you’ll find conversations with experts in those fields, along with their episode number, so you can easily find them on the Podcast main page.

 

Our Government Guests

The government is involved in almost every aspect of education, and policies and practices have profound impacts on every community. Understanding the pressures and priorities that drive civic decision-making helps educators and industries tailor their efforts to maximize the possible values in governmental initiatives.

We were fortunate to have not one but two government representatives on our inaugural episode. State Representative Chris Holden and Senator Anthony Portantino continued the conversation they had begun at PCC’s 2019 Future of Work Conference about improving and growing the nexus of shared goals among civic leaders, schools, and students.

Once launched, we engaged in a series of quasi-introductory education, industry, workforce, and government policy discussions at episodes 3 and 4 (Emerging Workforce Trends in Industry, parts 1 & 2), 5 and 6 (Workforce Education Policy: Building Pathways to Success for Students and Employers, parts 1 & 2), and 7 and 8 (Policy, Business & Education: A Deep Dive Discussion to Bridge the Gap, parts 1 & 2). These conversations make connections between workforce trends emerging in the LA region’s vast industrial landscape, policy insights around education and industry, and community colleges’ planning and practices in response to those factors.

Our next government representative (at episode 34) was Caroline Torosis, the Director of Economic and Business Development for LA County. She’s been in leadership at LA County to pursue several initiatives, including addressing wage disparities, seeking affordable housing opportunities, and now in developing workforce and economic opportunities for the County’s underserved populations.

 

Corporate & Industry

LA County as more than 10 million residents, many of whom work in one of its seven targeted industries. Each of those industries, in turn, hosts hundreds (or thousands) of smaller businesses, each of which contributes its own unique asset to the overall economic mix. And all of those businesses require a skilled workforce that can help them achieve their corporate goals and successes.

The challenge of finding that workforce was a concern even before the COVID pandemic occurred and got worse as the spread of the disease cost thousands of LA residents their jobs. Now, the region continues to suffer one of the nation’s highest unemployment rates, and infection rates continue to rise.

However, the County’s business community hasn’t been sitting idle during these past months, managing, when possible, the transition to a remote workforce or working to retain assets even while their customers were forced to stay home. Instead, many were compelled to address issues that might not have risen so quickly to importance but for the immense economic impact caused by the crisis.

Fortunately for EWD Podcast listeners, many were able to chat with Host Salvatrice Cummo remotely. They were happy to share their experience of the past year and also their views of the future for LA’s regional labor force and economy. There are too many of these highly informed and knowledgeable speakers to go into detail here, but this list includes their names, positions, respective occupations and professions, and links to their particular podcast episode.

Here, they are listed in the chronological sequence in which they appeared:

Jorge Orozco, Chief Executive Officer of Los Angeles County + USC Medical Center. A long-time healthcare administrator and advocate, Mr. Orozco appeared in Episode 2 on March 3.

Bill Manis, President & CEO of the San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership. A retired City Manager, Mr. Manis shares insights gleaned during his 33-year career in Episode 9, which aired May 6.

Victor Parker, District Director of the Small Business Administration’s Los Angeles office. Building businesses means building the economy. Hear Mr. Parker’s insights on the system in Episode 10, airing May 13.

Don Loewel, Director – PCC Small Business Development Center. As the leader of this critically important small business support agency, Mr. Loewel also appeared in an earlier edition of the Pulse. His conversation occurred in Episode 11

Jessica Kim, Senior Director of Economic Development at the LA Economic Development Corporation. Ms. Kim brings years of strategic civic and business development experience to her role with LA’s premier economic development group (which was also featured in the Pulse). She appeared in Episode 12

Stephen Cheung, President of the World Trade Center, Los Angeles (WTCLA). Mr. Cheung helps existing industries do better while also encouraging new businesses to locate and thrive in the LA community. He spoke with us in Episode 15 on June 17.

Jesse Torres of Arroyo West. It should surprise no one that LA is home to one of America’s biggest entrepreneurial crowds. Mr. Arroyo tells us why these visionaries contribute so much to the economy and the future in Episode 20

Nate Constantine, Former Executive Director of Talent Acquisition at Warner Bros. The LA region is awash in great talent. Mr. Constantine discusses how he connects the brightest people to their best career opportunities in Episode 21.

Jim McCarthy, CEO & Co-Founder of Goldstar. Mr. McCarthy’s exuberance as CEO of “the world’s greatest audience generation company for live entertainment” is equally apparent in Episode 22.

Niki Lee, Principal of Ernst & Young, discusses how corporate culture determines employee satisfaction and productivity in Episode 23.

Philip June, Director of Engineering at SoCal Design Center & Long Beach Site Director, Boeing. So much more than an administrator, Mr. June’s engineering background now assists the Boeing teams he works with to accomplish their best. Hear it all in Episode 32.

 

 

Policy Influences

There are always those who think bigger than ‘the box’ – folks who don’t work in any particular sector but whose knowledge and experience bridge several sectors together. The PCC EWD Podcast has been honored to host a few of these enlightened thinkers.

Tamar Jacoby, Founder of Opportunity America. If you read nothing else about workforce development, read this organization’s report on the possibilities embedded in America’s community colleges in its report, “The Indispensable Institution.” She spoke about it in Episode 25 on November 5.

Ramona Schindelheim, Editor in Chief of WorkingNation, co-moderator of our November 12th Future of Work Virtual Conference, brought her keen analytical eye and long history of business and industry insights to two conversations on Episode 18 (July 8) and again at Episode 27 (on November 9).

Dr. D’Artagnan Scorza, Executive Director & Founder of the Social Justice Learning Institute. Dr. Scorza’s focus on educational equities drives his many economic and inclusion initiatives. Hear about those in Episode 29, recorded November 11.

Josh Davies, CEO, Center for Work Ethic Development. Workforce development should include more than training and skills. It should also have the seven ‘soft skills’ outlined by Mr. Davies organization. He graced our Podcast three times on Episode 13 (June 3 – Building Accountability), Episode 26 (November 6 – Breaking Barriers with Soft Skills), and Episode 31 (November 24 – Using 2020 Lessons to Forecast the Future).

 

Education

Government policy, industry demand, and enlightened development and economic theory play a growing role in the decisions being made at today’s community colleges. These Podcast guests share the experiences and wisdom they’ve gained as witnesses to how community college education is a growing foundation for the country’s workforce development efforts.

Dr. Erika Endrijonas, Superintendent-President of Pasadena City College. Her leadership role at PCC also puts her in the driver’s seat in its workforce development efforts. Dr. Endrijonas’s experience with students, systems, and instruction inform her discussions, which you’ll find in Episode 14 (June 10 – Leadership in a Time of Crisis) and Episode 28 (November 10 – Change is Possible).

Dr. Brock Klein, Associate Dean of Pathways FYE Program. Many students won’t finish college (or be productive members of the workforce) if they don’t have a positive first-year experience. Dr. Klein is PCC’s go-to expert on ensuring student persistence from one year to the next. Hear his thoughts in Episode 16.

Jacqueline Javier of The Freeman Center. Some careers build better when learners gain hands-on experience while also studying theory and practice. In Episode 17, you’ll hear how Ms. Javier leads PCC’s Freeman Center’s efforts to find and connect PCC students with work-based learning opportunities.

Darlene Miller, Executive Director of the National Council for Workforce Education. A long career in community college leadership directed Ms. Miller to her role with this workforce development thinktank. Her thoughts on where we’ve come from and where we are today can be heard in Episode 30, which aired November 12.

Dr. Stephanie Cellini, professor, George Washington University. There’s a shift in perspective going on about the significance of community colleges versus four-year schools. Dr. Cellini discusses the ramifications of the new philosophy and how it impacts the national economy in Episode 34.

Salvatrice Cummo, Executive Director of Economic & Workforce Development, PCC. She’s not just the Podcast’s co-host; she’s also the executive director of a growing and thriving Economic and Workforce Development department at PCC. She discusses how her business experience influences her current and future plans for PCC students and its neighboring business community in Episode 19, which aired July 15.

 

As broad and deep as this speaker profile list is, it’s only just the beginning of the PCC EWD’s exploration of the nexus between work, policy, economics, and education. Keep listening as we bring more of the LA region’s experts to weigh in on how the area can achieve greater success as it emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic freeze.

 

Ramona Schindelheim: Skills and Careers Will Shape the Future of Work

Pam Sornson, JD on November 27, 2020

The numbers do tell a tale, but not all of it. Unemployment during the COVID pandemic is rampant, and too many people are afraid that they may never work again.

 

That fear is understandable says Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief of WorkingNation and the co-host of Pasadena City College’s second annual (but first virtual) Future of Work Conference (which ran flawlessly over Zoom on Thursday, November 12; listen to it here). Prolonged unemployment depletes savings accounts and frays nerves, especially when there’s no apparent new job opportunity in sight.

 

However, Schindelheim believes the current unemployment situation can act as a reset for how people and companies can be thinking about their future careers and progress.

Many existing skills can transfer to new jobs so folks can carry some of what they love about their previous occupation into their next one.

For those with available resources, having the time to upskill to a new skill set can enhance their opportunity to find new work in a new or evolving industry.

There are many indicators that how we work will be different after the pandemic subsides, so it makes sense to be prepared to meet those new requirements.

Both groups must find a strategy to address their current challenge (no job or no market) that promises not just a path forward but also an opportunity to thrive. Both are likely to find the strategic support they need right around the corner – at their local community college.

 

Unemployment Is a Problem

As in other regions across the country, Californians watched as the pandemic shuttered numerous industries, at least for a time, and many of those are struggling to recover. Statistics comparing job numbers between September 2019 and September 2020 reveal that the concern continues to be significant:

The Leisure and Hospitality industry dropped over half a million jobs (579,000) due to the closing of restaurants, hotels, and theme parks closed and the cancellation of virtually all community events.

Transportation, trade, and utility jobs also evaporated by some 174,000, and

Education and health services lost another 138,000.

Millions are still out of work.

 

Underemployment is Also a Problem

Even before COVID-19 hit, however, America’s industries struggled to find the workers they needed to keep up with growing demand for services and products, especially in the manufacturing industry. In some cases, even when there were available job candidates, they didn’t have the skill set needed to perform the work.

Research released in July 2019 revealed:

About 83% of employer respondents were having difficulties finding appropriate job candidates for their openings.

Approximately 75% were struggling with skills shortages in the applicants they reviewed.

Of the 7.4 million jobs available in April of that year, employers could fill only 5.9 million, leaving unfilled an estimated 1.5 million employment opportunities.

One leading cause given for the shortages is the shrinking labor force itself. An aging population reduces the number of available workers, and those that are left apparently don’t have sufficient skill sets to qualify for all the work there is to do.

The data underscores Schindelheim’s point for both workers and employers: Don’t just look at the unemployment numbers; also look at the job openings that are (or will soon be) available and the skill sets they require. With that information, workers can identify the work they want to do in the future, and employers can be more specific about the skills they’re looking for in their next hiring cycle. Then they can both move forward on preparations for their next occupational steps whenever and wherever those might become available.

 

Unemployed or Understaffed? Start Locally

As a long-time journalist covering national, regional, and local news, Schindelheim is also adamant that both businesses and the unemployed take their next steps locally and believes their best place to start is their nearest community college. Additionally, before COVID-19, while unemployment numbers were low, there was also significant underemployment; many worked in lower-paying jobs because they lacked the skills needed to attain higher-paying occupations. These workers, too, would benefit from services offered by their local community college.

Several years ago, California noted this disparity and began investing in its community colleges to provide the training these underemployed workers need to qualify for a better job. Those investments are evident today, as many of the state’s community colleges now offer high-quality middle-skill courses and programs. These programs are now feeding the demand for middle-skilled workers that are in such high demand across all industries.

After COVID-19, the combination of high unemployment and a labor shortage is motivating the education system even harder to produce not just workers but also skilled workers. California state policy has positioned its community colleges to address the challenges facing both its unemployed and underemployed workers, as well as its understaffed business community.

 

For Workers

  Think ‘Skills,’ Not ‘Studies’

Too many people still believe that the only college experience that brings actual value is the four-year kind. Not true, according to Schindelheim. The U.S. census backs her up: only 36% of the U.S. population over 25 years has a four-year degree or higher, which means up to 64% are doing as well or better with less than that level of academic accomplishment. Some can craft significant success with no higher education credentials at all. Most can climb their personal career ladders by combining the theoretical foundations with skills training and work-based learning (WBL) provided by their local community college.

  Think ‘Pivot,’ Not ‘Parked’

Another draw to the community college for out-of-workers is the opportunity to build on existing skillsets to adapt to new occupational demands. It may be that some jobs will never come back, but it’s also likely that something similar will take their place.

For example, many occupations have already been transformed by technological developments, making them more challenging to perform, even for those with long-time experience. In these situations, one appropriate response would be to embrace the technology and learn the skills needed to master it. In many cases, robots are replacing workers, but those robots also generate the demand for maintenance, repairs, installations, reprogramming, etc. Robots need people to keep them working. Planning to adapt to changes within a particular industry means workers can retain their foundational knowledge and build on it with new skills and abilities.

Ergo, Schindelheim suggests considering not’ job descriptions’ but ‘skill sets’ when determining next steps in one’s occupational journey. Regardless of the tasks accomplished, many skillsets transfer well from job to job. Many workers – as many as 71 million – already have the ability to perform higher-waged functions even if they – and their employers – don’t realize that fact. The local community college can help them upskill what they already know to find new opportunities in their previous industry.

 

 

For Businesses

Many business leaders have never considered their local community college as anything other than a possible hiring portal. And most don’t know about their evolution into the skills training, workforce-development agency they have become. Schindelheim is hopeful that events such as PCC’s Future of Work conference will help get the word out that training and retraining programs are available to businesses locally.

  Think ‘Partner,’ Not ‘Placement’

Even though no one company can (or should) excel at everything, most can thrive when they optimize the values provided by their partnerships. Out-sourced resources like CPA’s, HR services, tech services, etc., offer vital corporate supports that enhance organizational core competencies and leave leadership free to pursue more significant corporate goals. In Schindelheim’s estimation, community colleges can become a training partner and provide ongoing training and upskilling activities, so individual businesses aren’t burdened with those tasks in addition to their core functions.

Further, the community college partnership provides more than one variety of service and benefit options, and most can tailor their training protocols to meet the needs of the company:

They offer existing programs and courses that reflect the depth and breadth of the skills needed in today’s industries. Most classes are adaptable to address both newly entered students’ needs and those seeking up-skilling and advanced training. From dental hygienists to welders, the community college course catalog reads like a ‘desired labor menu’ for today’s industrial sectors.

They extend classroom studies with work-based and experiential learning. Students learn not just how their labor contributes to the overarching production system but also precisely how to meet its exacting specifications.

They have the tools, labs, and other learning accouterments to provide a comprehensive training opportunity. Many companies would struggle to duplicate the full scope of training and education services that are available today on their local community college campus.

Not least important are the cost savings realized when a corporation out-sources its training requirements. Engaging a community college to do the training work means paying for teachers and materials, not labs, spaces, or other educational tools. The fact that the employer gains a well-trained, highly skilled workforce as a consequence adds even more value to the proposition.

  Think ‘Collaborate,’ Not ‘Confine’

In addition to facilitating the actual learning environment, today’s community colleges don’t limit their ‘corporate cohort’ choices to just the existing course catalog. They also embrace collaboration with company leadership, eliciting specific industry inputs, and seeking advice and guidance to ensure the education program produces the exact talent and skills needed.

Many community colleges engage locally located advisory boards and committees to weigh in on curricula, resources, and credentialing. Each committee member adds a unique perspective that informs both the group and the work that it does.

The committee data informs college leadership about industrial and sector demands so they can make better-informed decisions about how to invest its financial and human capital assets.

The committees also weigh in on continuing education needs, the emerging trend of ‘life-long learning.’ Unlike many traditional jobs that remain static in their activities, today’s and tomorrow’s jobs will be dynamic and continuously fluid to adapt to evolving industry standards and norms. Community colleges need these inputs to ensure their programs do not grow stale over time.

These forms of collaborative course- and program-building exercises ensure that the college has the best information possible to develop its facility and optimize its investments to benefit its students and their future employers. In short: today’s community colleges do more than just train workers; they develop workforces designed to meet the specific needs of the employer. 

 

Schindelheim has been reporting on business, finance, the economy, and more for years, so she’s seen many industrial evolutions come and go. She’s been watching the growth of ‘workforce development’ efforts and believes those are most beneficial when they offer local solutions to local problems. Yes, the pandemic is causing havoc in all sectors, but its ‘time out’ reality is also providing an opportunity to rethink how to best start up again. With the assistance and support of a local community college, Schindelheim believes every learner and every business can gain the assets they’ll need to prepare for whatever the post-COVID economy needs to get done.

 

 

 

Leading By Example: Verizon and its Quest for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Pam Sornson, JD on November 27, 2020

The Pasadena City College Economic and Workforce Development department (PCC EWD) was so proud to have Verizon as the sponsor of its 2nd annual Future of Work Conference, “Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Workforce Development;” (watch the rebroadcast here). The telecommunications giant sent two representatives, Jesus Roman, Verizon’s Associate General Counsel and VP of Government Affairs, and Dr. Erica Jacquez, its Executive Director External and Government Affairs, to share their wisdom and experience with the event’s many Zoom attendees. Not only are both of those contributors incredible leaders for inclusion and diversity in their own right, but so is the company for which they work. Read on …

 

Thought Leadership, the Verizon Way

Both Mr. Roman and Dr. Jacquez came to the conference bringing their years of civic leadership with them, having advised and contributed to policy development for both corporate and government entities. Their messages to the attendees shared Verizon’s intent to support and encourage diversity, equity, and inclusion in all of the communities in which it works and help every community achieve its highest levels of success, especially through its workforce development investments. The examples they gave were enlightening:

 

Verizon’s Commitment to Inclusive Connectivity

Mr. Roman noted that Verizon’s commitment to all communities flows through its efforts to advance wireless connectivity to every neighborhood that doesn’t yet have that resource. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the significance of that reality when it became apparent that thousands of local school children couldn’t attend virtual school because they didn’t have the necessary digital connections. Dr. Jasquez added that the fires and earthquakes also showed how remote communities suffer greater losses when first responders can’t connect to their resources. Verizon responded to these challenges by providing ‘hot spots’ in those remote or unconnected areas to facilitate the digital presence.

 

 

Verizon’s Commitment to Diversity

The company also leads through its diversity policies and practices. Its numbers tell that story:

Its workforce is demonstrably diversified across racial and gender lines, with almost 60% of all of its workers and 50% of its Board of Directors being female or people of color.

Verizon looks outward, too, in its inclusion strategy and has spent over $50 billion over ten years to ensure a diversified supply chain keeps its operations humming.

Not insignificantly, the company also mandates 100% pay equity: equal pay for equal work. The figure is notable, considering that the median salary differential for all women and all men, the ‘uncontrolled gender pay gap‘ regardless of the job performed, is $.81 for each woman against the $1 earned by each man. (Even when the position and qualifications are the same, a woman is still paid, on average, two cents less than a man.)

 

Verizon’s Commitment to Workforce Development

Verizon’s expansion into the 5G universe is also driving its commitment to workforce development to higher heights. Described by Mr. Roman as the ‘4th Industrial Revolution,’ 5G (5th generation) technology is about to transform the world, providing users with faster connections, more data transmission, and exponentially improved efficiencies. The technology will facilitate the implementation and usage of all the innovations emerging from the Internet of Things (IoT), ‘smart’ communities, and – especially critical – immersive education opportunities. The organization will need a well-trained workforce to manage that growth and the subsequent growth it will spur.

Dr. Jacquez shared that Verizon is already deeply invested in assisting small companies in maintaining and developing the workforce they need to be competitive. During the pandemic, the company financed hundreds of small business grants to offset small business losses and provided reduced cost ‘hotspot’ devices to ensure unconnected students gain access to the Internet so they could continue learning from home. She also indicated that the telecom agency continues to look for ways to support students who aren’t sure of the career direction they want to take.

Conference attendees learned a lot from the contributions of the Verizon leaders. A review of the company’s expansive practices and policies around diversity, inclusion, and just plain good business is also instructive.

 

 

The Verizon Responsible Business Plan: Citizen Verizon

Designed to deliver tangible results across three pillars, Digital Inclusion, Climate Protection, and Human Prosperity, Verizon launched this exciting new initiative in July of 2020. The company sees itself as a ‘citizen of the world’ and therefore assumes a responsibility for generating positive impacts on today’s most pressing social issues. Those high principles are evidenced by the actions it’s pledged to pursue in the coming years:

To provide digital skills education opportunities for 10 million youth while supporting one million small businesses in their quest to thrive in the digital economy;

To reduce its emissions, increase its renewable energy investments, and utilize carbon offsets to become carbon neutral by 2035, and

To facilitate the skills training needed to prepare 500,000 people by 2030 for the jobs of the future.

 

Digital Inclusion

The Digital Inclusion initiative builds on its successful “Verizon Innovative Learning’” program, which has already helped over half a million students learn better and faster through reliable digital networks and connections. The program also supports teachers by providing them with lesson plans, partner content, and webinars to enhance their curricula and presentations. Through the Digital Inclusion strategy, those teachers will now be eligible for new teacher training pathways that enhance digital skills and online learning practices.   

Verizon employs comparably exceptional services to rural communities and small businesses, too.

 

Climate Protection

A work already in progress, the company is on track to achieve its goal of being 50% powered by renewable resources by 2025, which is a stepping stone towards its ultimate goal of being 100% carbon neutral by 2035. This initiative began when Verizon became the first American telecom company to issue a ‘Green Bond,’ raising almost $1 billion for its investments in energy efficiency, green buildings, sustainable water management, and renewable energy.

The company also invests in reforestation efforts, which is particularly timely, given the recent forest fires that have burned across so much of the country.

 

Human Prosperity

Everyone does better when everyone is doing better, which requires dedicated investments in closing the opportunity gaps that exist throughout American society. In October, Verizon partnered with the non-profit Generation to do just that by expanding access by American workers to digital skills training. An online program, the reskilling program leads learners down career pathways towards full-time employment in the digital trades, including web development, cloud management, IT help desk technology, and marketing analysis, to name just a few. Offered free to the learner, the program is intended to generate 500,000 skilled workers by 2030.

The program is already running in the United Kingdom where it is placing its graduates into jobs within three months of their graduation.

 

Leading Economic Development Initiatives into the 21st Century

The Citizen Verizon program is just the latest step in the company’s trajectory toward responsible leadership on a global scale, and its focus on improving the planet and the lives of the people who inhabit it has not gone unnoticed.

This year, the company was recognized as a global leader by three notable, international industry thinktanks:

Forbes ranked it as a leader in the “New Era of Responsible Capitalism,” raising it to the 19th position on its “Just 100” List. The List has included Verizon in three of its four years in existence.

Barrons named Verizon one of its top “100 Sustainable Companies” for 2020, noting that shares in these green-minded enterprises averaged a return of 34.3% in 2019 (out-doing the S&P by 2.8%).

And even the U.S. Environment Protection Agency acknowledged it as a Partner of the Year for Sustained Excellence in Energy Management for 2020, noting how its services help its millions of consumers to conserve energy and protect the environment.

 

To too many people, Verizon is ‘just’ a great cell phone service provider. The PCC EWD is proud to showcase for them the full depth and breadth of the company’s investments in supporting workforce development efforts in every community in its quest to build a strong workforce while also building the sustainable environment in which it will work.

 

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