PCC: Powering Progress Past the Pandemic

Pam Sornson, JD on August 11, 2020

Like most schools across the country, Pasadena City College (PCC) abruptly closed its doors in March as the COVID-19 pandemic spread through Los Angeles. Although the school offers an excellent ‘Distance Education‘ opportunity, most students prefer to attend classes on campus, so the campus closure was particularly hard for them. Both students and faculty were distressed and unnerved by the disruption of their school year, unsure how to continue with coursework, maintain connections, or move productively through to the end of the semester. It was a very stressful and difficult semester for everyone. 

Ultimately, the 2019-2020 school year did end, and a significant number of PCC students were able to complete (mostly) their coursework to achieve the necessary grade and credits to move on. The process wasn’t smooth, however; some students had to leave their studies due to family or personal circumstances. Others struggled to find the resources they needed to carry on. Faculty members were flummoxed, too, as they – almost overnight – became online teachers, which required a skill set that was foreign to many of them. For both groups and PCC administrators, the transition from an on-campus to an online college was lurching, uneven, and confusing.  

 

Pushing Past the Hurdles

Despite the challenges, PCC’s faculty and staff pushed on through the Spring, looking for solutions to social and technical barriers while also working to ensure teaching remained as accessible as possible. Staff worked hard to find new ways to support their constituents remotely while administrators secured new resources and assets to bridge the newly revealed gaps in their systems. Even though the campus itself was closed, PCC as a school did its best to provide its students with the education they needed, much of which is now enhanced with newly developed digital resources and capacities.  

 

Lessons Learned …

Looking back, the challenges presented to the faculty by the COVID-19 pandemic were significant; in-class, face-to-face instruction is the traditional college ‘comfort zone.’ Further, the transition to ‘online teaching’ was necessarily quick, which contributed difficulties to the situation. However, some were able to embrace the ‘opportunity’ and three of them – Colleen Nanno, Thom Thoen, and Dice Yamaguchi – are happy to share with Pulse readers how they reinvented their curricula to accommodate the changes, how their students responded, and how this COVID-19 experience will forever alter their teaching styles. 

 

… And Applied

Looking forward, PCC leadership has embraced the coronavirus’s technological opportunity and spent its summer investing resources into helping its faculty improve their online teaching chops. Besides offering an 8-week course on how to teach online, the school also offers online guidance on how to reach students and teach remotely. It turns out there’s more to think about than just ensuring an adequate power supply and a quiet room.

 

Teaching Remotely – A Primer

Shifting from in-class to online instruction requires changing the approach to four distinct aspects of the teaching experience:

Communicating with students

Per usual, students do better when they have access to their professors both in class and individually. While they are not optimal, online courses accessed through a digital portal provide a ‘whole class’ opportunity without the travel/bookbag/desk attendance experience. Email and other social media channels also open doors between students and teachers, making ‘chatting’ with the instructor easier and more accessible than ever. 

Delivering course materials

“Hand-outs’ become ‘uploads’ as lecture content and assignments go digital. Students can download them at will, or simply store their class notes in an electronic file. Course organization changes, too, since there’s no innate ‘ebb and flow’ of classroom conversation to segway into the next topic. Modules now collect ideas and principles into single units that build on each other sequentially. No longer live, demonstrations become videos that create a permanent record of the lesson, even though they also mandate the development of a new skill set around camera angles, lighting, and even costume and make-up. Video tools also capture on-screen images (documents, graphs, etc.), and adding voice-over technology enhances the lesson.  

Encouraging student engagement

Fortunately, PCC learning tech isn’t confined to the classroom. Digital tools connect learners to lessons in a variety of ways:

Discussion boards facilitate class discussions long after the class is over. Learners can ask questions or look to follow up on comments through this digital portal, which maintains student attention and learning.

Breakout rooms offer a similar opportunity. Students can engage with both their professor and their classmates in breakout rooms based on project work, topic, or any other course-related subject. 

Perhaps the most valuable aspect of engaging students electronically is that it also creates a permanent file they can refer to at their convenience, extending both the lesson and their education.  

Assessing student achievement

Interacting in person daily isn’t available in a remote learning situation, so teachers must develop alternative ways to measure their student’s progress. Digital tools facilitate several accessible assessment opportunities, so both teacher and learner can gauge improvements.   

Assigning projects through a learning portal allows students to clarify expectations before beginning, which maximizes both their and their teacher’s time.  

Quizzes and exams issued digitally enable teachers to choose the difficulty level of the subject matter, and students test their increasing knowledge. 

Digital portfolios accept uploaded assignments and record the date and time of the submission, any feedback or revisions, and the final grade, all in one location. 

Sharing student materials in breakout rooms also gives classmates insights into the course’s subject matter and their cohort’s perspective of that. 

 

As the 2020-2021 school year approaches, the staff, faculty, and administration of Pasadena City College will build on the lessons learned from the COVID crisis so far, to ensure its students continue to receive the high-quality education they’re expecting.  

Pasadena Bio Collaborative Incubator: Leadership Through Experience

Pam Sornson, JD on July 28, 2020

Call it kismet: the partnership between Dr.’s Wendie Johnston and Robert (Bud) Bishop, while only three years old, combines two already exceptional skillsets into one dynamic, forward-leaning leadership team for one of the state’s most influential incubation entities, the Pasadena Bio Collaborative Incubator (PBC).

Dr. Johnston earned her Bachelors, Masters, and Ph.D. degrees in Zoology, with a specialty in Cell Physiology. Dr. Bishop maximizes his Ph.D. in Biochemistry with the business acumen developed through his M.B.A. Individually, they each carry the depth and breadth of experience generated over decades-long careers in the life sciences and biotechnology industries. Together, they create a genuinely unique nexus: their talents merge to direct and drive the integration of the ‘business of science’ with the ‘science of business’ on behalf of LA’s thriving biosciences industrial sector. Combined with the impressive abilities of the PBC Team, this project has partnerships with the region’s schools, colleges, bioscience researchers, industries, and governments.

 

Dr. Wendie Johnston – Managing the Business of Science

A self-professed risk-taker, Dr. Johnston’s forays into new avenues of discovery has served her – and her students – well. After many years of teaching standardized science theories to her Natural Sciences students at Pasadena City College, in the mid-1990s, she embarked on what would become her seminal career journey. She spent her sabbatical year crossing the country, working as an entry-level lab technician at some of the nation’s most prestigious medical research centers, including the National Wildlife Forensics Lab in Ashland OR, Trevigen in Gaithersburg MD, Strategene in La Jolla CA, and the Huntington Medical Research Institutes in her home town of Pasadena.

She learned from that adventure that to find meaningful work, her students needed to understand not just the theories of science but also the teamwork of laboratory science: how to clean lab instruments, take accurate measurements, record and report data, and (especially critical) ensure quality control in every effort. Dr. Johnston rewrote her curricula to reflect her newfound insights and launched PCC’s Biological Technologies Program in 1997. It transformed her courses into career-focused training experiences. That year, she also launched the LA/Orange County Biotechnology Center (LAOCBC), where she continues as Director today.

By 1999, the high value of Dr. Johnston’s ‘business of science’ program had attracted notable attention. She joined an effort led by Dr. Jack Scott, former President of PCC, and then elected California Assemblyman (and, subsequently, California State Senator and 14th Chancellor of the California Community Colleges) to create a center of incubation and training in Pasadena.  The CSU system wanted to develop a center of bioresearch, and Dr. Scott had created the financial allocation that would facilitate that goal with fiscal control given to CSUPERB – the CSU Program for Education and Research Biotechnology. The founding partners in this project proposed that the co-location of shared lab space with dedicated work-based training would be a successful opportunity for both researchers and students.

From 1999 through 2004, Dr. Johnston and her like-minded colleagues gathered the data and resources they needed to launch the PBC in reality: non-profit status, tools and equipment, a strategy for its use, and space where it could live. Dr. Marc Baum, Director of the Oak Crest Institute of Science in Monrovia and an enthusiastic supporter of the project, indicated the availability of 500 square feet of space in his facility. The PBC officially opened its doors there in 2004, with Dr. Johnston as Lab Director, a position she still holds.

Dr. Johnston receives the first LA Biostar Award from Cal State LA

In the intervening 16 years, PBC has grown into the nationally recognized incubation model that it is today. Its location is open 24/7 and hosts more than 30 biotech startup companies, working on a wide range of projects to improve humanity’s health and welfare. Dr. Johnston’s experience, knowledge, and professional connections ensure that PBC tenants get the opportunities they need to take their work that one critical step further. That the lab also hosts extensive and immersive training programs for high school, community college, and college students is the icing on her already magnificent cake. She is, indeed, a Master of the business of science.

 

Dr. ‘Bud’ Bishop: Shepherding the Science of Business

No great biotech idea sees the light of day – let alone its potential market – without a lot of hard work going into its marketability as well as its effectiveness. And a biotech business is still a business, so getting its bio-product market-ready and marketable is as critical as monitoring the quality of the substances contained in its beakers and Petrie dishes. Enter PBC President, Dr. Robert ‘Bud’ Bishop.

Dr. Bishop’s selection as President of PBC is significant, as a quick review of his resume reveals that his long engagement with both the science and the business of the biotechnology sector is long, varied, and well respected. He began his career as a research associate at Hyland Laboratories in Glendale, which supported his PhD program. In 1976 he joined American Hospital Supply Corporation (AHSC), first as a program manager, then as a research director.  After completing his MBA, he rose to group vice-president for business development and finally to division president for American Medical Optics. When Allergan, Inc (AGN) purchased his division in 1986, he went with it.  He subsequently was promoted to division president for Allergan Pharmaceuticals and later president of the Allergan Therapeutics Group.

In 1992 Dr. Bishop left Allergan to become the CEO of AutoImmune, Inc., a start-up company focused on oral tolerance therapy.  In that role he led the effort to raise $120 million in an IPO, get two pharmaceuticals into Phase III studies and pivoted to make one of these into a nutritional supplement.  ‘Retired’ from that career now, he sits on two outside Boards of Directors and offers advice and counsel based on his diverse experience. In addition to a notable network of corporate and science industry contacts and colleagues, Dr. Bishop provides PBC with an unmatched skillset to inform its tenants, cohorts, and colleagues of the business opportunities and strategies available to increase their viability.

Dr. Bishop assumes the President’s role of PBC – 2017

In his role as President since 2017, Dr. Bishop brings deep insights from his ‘science of business’ career to the Lab as an exceptional complement to the ‘business of science’ offered by Dr. Johnston. His comprehensive understanding of entrepreneurship, corporate management, finance development and management, licensing and legalities, etc. – all the fundamentals that encompass today’s corporate entity – provides Lab tenants with the guidance they need to create the successful business that will embody their great idea. In short, Dr. Bishop teaches the ‘business of science’ to the PBC wetlab scientists who are brilliant in the Lab but not so much in the boardroom. With this information, biotech startup companies can bypass the fits and starts usually associated with any startup company and move into the market with a reasonable expectation of success.

Since he took office, Dr. Bishop has continued the PBC’s mission of growing educational and entrepreneurial opportunities for the LA region and its biotechnology sciences sector. He works closely with other wetlab resources in the area, maintaining for PBC the solid foundation and high respect developed by its previous President, the late  Bruce Blomstrom.

 

PBC’s Leaders of Science and Business Look Ahead

The partnership of these two ‘giants of science’ generates an ideal nexus to move the PBC to the next stage in its role as a leading member of LA’s burgeoning bioscience and technology sector. LA County continues to invest in biotech and bioscience startup incubators, and PBC, as one of the first wetlabs dedicated to research and collaboration, will continue its collaborative efforts with all its varied partners. Together, Johnston, Bishop, and the PBC Team will be working to further the intentions of the original initiative that drove the launch of enterprise: to provide the skilled, experienced workforce needed by tomorrow’s biotechnology industries so they can build and sustain the LA region’s economy and community.

 

 

Pasadena Bio Collaborative Incubator – Life Science in Motion

Pam Sornson, JD on July 28, 2020

It’s always a win-win situation when dedicated public investments in innovation drive both healthcare and economic development. Such is the case with the Pasadena Bio Collaborative Incubator (PBC), which launched in 2004 as a center where scientists could build their ideas into companies, and the region’s students could train for future careers in life sciences. The project is a partner of the LA County Bioscience Initiative.

 

Innovation for Economics Sake

The PBC’s nexus of scientific and economic interests solves myriad challenges:

It provides a reasonably priced, well-equipped laboratory space for researchers to explore the development of new science-based products and services.

It facilitates connections with the investors needed to fund the research, …

… and the financial resources to build businesses based on those innovations.

It provides a hands-on experience for high school and community college students interested in pursuing healthcare careers, and

It offers the capacity to generate the jobs and careers that those (eventual) graduates will fill.

The past 16 years have seen the initial idea mature. Since 2004 the PBC has expanded from 500 sq ft into a 12,600 square foot facility. Conceived in partnership with Caltech, the Huntington Medical Research Institutes, and the California State University system, and Oak Crest Institute of Science, the initial funding came from the California State Assembly.

 

Two Fronts: One Focus

The structure of Pasadena Bio is two-fold:

to provide researchers with the lab space and equipment they need to bring their ideas forward –  PBC Wetlab, and

to support workforce development by connecting regional industrial and educational resources to hands-on training for employment – PBC Training.

 

The Pasadena Bio Wetlab (PBC Wetlab)

Since its 2004 inception, the PBC Wetlab has nurtured more than 70 life science research projects.  Currently, it houses over 30 tenants.  Half of the companies that have left PBC did so to become larger entities. Those successes are built on the foresight and strategic planning of the facility’s leadership and the strategic partnerships they’ve forged with like-minded organizations in and around the LA Basin. The current laboratory director, Dr. Wendie Johnston (involved with the Collaborative since the early 2000s), has a career-long association with Pasadena City College and has helped many science students become full-fledged scientists. She oversees the Wetlab’s many operations and works with the entire PBC team to assist tenants in pursuit of their research:

The PBC Wetlab offers its current 30+ tenants access to mentors, use of the shared use equipment, and donated supplies.

It works with experts from various fields, who provide the tenants with information, support, and insights on everything from engineering prototypes to legal protections to developing business plans.

The PBC Wetlab also is a repository of a variety of scientific research tools and machines. Tenants’ access to this equipment means they don’t have to invest their project funds on expensive equipment. Having access to shared use and pay-for-use equipment allows the start-up to conserve resources.

Further, the PBC Wetlab works with local trade associations SoCalBio and BioCom, which offer PBC tenants discounted vendor options.

Current tenants are working on advances in cellular reprogramming, cancer drugs that inhibit drug resistance, and (especially poignant in today’s world) vaccines. In its short life-span, the Pasadena Bio Wetlab has contributed to the development of innovative new drugs and medical devices that now offer relief from pain, newfound mobility, and life-saving therapies.

 

Pasadena Bio Training (PBC Training)

Studying in a lab is vastly different from observing healthcare and medical practices in the field. The PBC Training division engages directly with local high school and community college students to provide a real-life work experience in a real-life science lab. Additionally, through association with the Los Angeles/Orange County Biotechnology Center, PBC Training collaborates with the region’s community colleges to align their coursework to match the bio-science industry’s employment needs.

For high schools, PBC Training’s connections are unique. PBC provides regional high school educators with access to the Amgen Biotech Experience (ABE): professional development opportunities for teachers coupled with research-grade equipment and lessons to use in the classroom. Teachers use the materials and equipment to bring high-tech science to their local high school classrooms. High school students are included outside the school, too. The ‘kits’ that travel to the schools are returned to the PBC lab (one of four Amgen distribution centers in the LA area), where a cadre of students clean and prep them to be shipped to the next school. These lucky learners experience not only the lab’s activities but also the ‘business’ of working in a lab: taking measurements, checking quality controls, and producing production sheets.

The PBC Training also includes college students by offering internships that involve interaction with PBC’s tenants. Interns and pre-apprentices spend 200 hours throughout the summer, working toward the milestones needed to further their bioscience career goals. PBC Training teaches these “employability milestones,” which include the skill sets necessary to gain employment:

Core Technical Competencies for Lab Personnel, which involve understanding the terminology, concepts, and operations of the lab, as well as how to perform, document, and preserve the records of fundamental lab techniques and procedures.

Core Cultural Competencies for Lab Personnel, which include soft skills for working in teams, communications, and maintaining integrity.

Hands-on skills training covers foundational lab activities, such as how to use the various devices and machines, how to design, manage, and perform experiments, and the fundamentals of protein chemistry and nucleic acid chemistry.

Much of PBC Training’s work is based on the data and metrics driving the bioscience field in the LA region. Its many reports provide insights into the supply and demand for middle-skill workers, appropriate curricula for ensuring workplace readiness, and even a listing of job titles for laboratory workers.

 

Economic Development

Photo: South Bay Workforce Investment Board

PBC provides training for its tenants, too, not on their scientific endeavors but on building the businesses that will take their new product or service into the wider community. On the economic development side of the PBC is Dr. Robert (Bud) Bishop, who took over the helm of PBC three years ago. Dr. Bishop brings with him all the lessons learned during a long career in the corporate healthcare field. PBC is flourishing in part because of his deep understanding of the industry as a whole, his personal experience, and his connections in the health care industry.

 

The PBC is looking forward to a robust and productive future for itself and its tenants. With Dr.’s Bishop and Johnston in charge, there’s no reason to believe it won’t continue its long and successful winning streak.

The Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation: LA’s Strategic Partner for Economic Growth

Pam Sornson, JD on July 20, 2020

Even before the Coronavirus pandemic of 2020 struck, the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) was asking its members, “where will the well-paying jobs come from in the future?” Launched in 1981, the non-profit Agency continues to pursue its mission of guiding regional economic development through public-private partnerships between governments, industries, and education centers. Embracing the benefits of its geographical location, the LAEDC engages the many globally competitive industries that have already invested resources in the community, helping them to build out supply chains that employ ever-growing numbers of LA County residents. Its members’ efforts collectively drive the Agency to achieve its “Triple Bottom Line”: regional economic strength, environmental sustainability, and shared equity and prosperity.

 

 

How the LAEDC Works

The LAEDC is comprised of more than 500 stakeholder organizations, all sharing a common vision of an economically stable, safe, and thriving LA Basin. Through communication and collaboration among its 26 focus groups, the Agency created a series of seven goals:

    1. Invest in people;
    2. Strengthen export-oriented industries;
    3. Accelerate innovation and entrepreneurship;
    4. Be more business-friendly;
    5. Remove barriers to critical infrastructure development;
    6. Increase global connectedness, and
    7. Build more livable communities

Each goal also numerates four distinct solutions, directing the efforts of goal-specific groups toward those determined ends:

      1. Increase the supply of qualified and skilled labor;
      2. develop and grow consumer demand by creating new products, services, and markets;
      3. capture and promote innovation to grow both legacy and new sectors, and
      4. develop industry-based business clusters to encourage competitiveness and differentiation.

Each group’s task is to apply its efforts to develop these solutions for their particular goal’s challenge.

Collectively, the LAEDC is working to address the fundamental challenge of today’s society (before COVID): how to engage human labor and effort in an increasingly technological world? Throughout history, old systems have given way to innovations that make those legacy activities obsolete. Today’s technology threatens the current labor force the same way:

Automated robotics technology performs routine and mundane tasks faster, more efficiently, and with fewer errors.

Radiofrequency identification technology tracks millions of products across billions of supply chains.

Computer networking is eliminating the need for shared office spaces, and the transportation systems needed to get people to them.

International out-sourcing of industrial production chains only adds to the challenge for today’s workers to find well-paying jobs in LA or anywhere in the U.S. All these technological developments have caused millions of lost jobs in the LA area and around the world.

The LAEDC believes that lost jobs don’t also always equate to missed economic opportunities. Its challenge is to assist its members in paving their individual road to success by developing both the technical resources that will create their future growth and the human resources that will power and control them. Its purpose is to “capture the power of many to propel economic equity and prosperity for all.”

 

Measuring Success

According to its 2019 report, the LAEDC has already achieved significant success on its mission. In data collected from just a few of its programs indicates that not only is the Agency on the right path but so are its constituents:

 

The Business Assistance Program

This multilingual team offers business advice and assistance to local companies, cities, and the County itself for opening, building, or finding success in the LA County region. Its goal is to attract new businesses to the area and help them establish a sustainable consumer base. It works to ensure existing companies stay in the region and in business, protecting their workers from job losses and the subsequent calamities those cause. Finally, the team helps any business expand into new frontiers, helping them identify and remove barriers to growth and prosperity.

Metrics gathered since 2014 indicate that the Business Assistance Program has saved upwards of 7,000 jobs, created almost 14,000 new jobs, and generated over $3 billion in economic outputs to the County.

[Notably, a long-standing project within the Business Assistance Program is building resilience into the fabric of the industrial community. Until very recently, these efforts centered on managing disruptions caused by earthquakes, wildfires, and economic recessions, and provided resources that outlined strategies for surviving and rebuilding after such a disaster strikes. While the Agency couldn’t predict the COVID pandemic, its prescience and foresight guiding economic resilience in the face of a disaster will undoubtedly prove invaluable as the LA Basin works to recover from its catastrophic impact.]

 

The World Trade Center LA (WTCLA)

The WTCLA invites international interest and resources to invest and participate in LA’s industrial complex as part of its goal of attracting new business to the LA basin. Already, LA acts as the export hub for the western United States, and building those trade partnerships will only bolster its economy further. In the 2018-2019 Fiscal Year:

WTCLA engaged in 66 international investment consultations;

Hosted ten business and industry delegations from countries including Canada and the United Arab Emirates;

Recruited delegates for trade missions at Australia’s Avalon Airshow, New Zealand’s Tripartite Economic Summit, and Hong Kong’s Asian Financial Forum, and

facilitated the investment of over $11 million into LA County.

 

The Institute for Applied Economics (IAE)

This body performs the research and analytics that underpin the LA region’s economic decision-making opportunity. Gathering data from diverse resources, including industry clusters, workforce development efforts, and labor supply and demand, the IAE provides commercial and business insights to hundreds of clients. The Agency’s work informs the LAEDC about the aims and successes of its programs and how they contribute to LA County’s Strategic Plan for Economic Development in general.

 

Coordinating Growth in Critical Industry Clusters

Much of the LAEDC success comes from its strategic alliances with LA’s major industrial clusters, which provide the foundation for many local and regional economies. By building connections between leadership in these sectors and city and county governments, the LAEDC helps to knit together the systems that encourage success on both sides of those collaborations. LA’s Aerospace, Advanced Mobility, Bioscience, and Digital Media & Entertainment industries all contribute and participate with LAEDC members, generating system alignments that wouldn’t happen without the discussions and discourse.

 

And Coordinating College-to Career Opportunities: Propel LA

Propel LA is the operational arm of the LAEDC, leveraging the activities of hundreds of stakeholders to implement the 2016-2020 Countywide Strategic Plan for Economic Development. Linking companies, individuals, governments, and educational institutions, Propel LA facilitates the conversations that turn industry labor requirements into educational programs and well-paying jobs.

Its Workforce Development team engages all aspects of the workforce development continuum to achieve three major objectives:

align college and university curricula with occupational demands, as employers, businesses, and industries determine those standards;

develop work-based learning opportunities for students to experience employment parameters while learning valuable hard- and soft skills, and

create industry Councils to advise, inform, and solve current and emerging workforce challenges.

Using these resources, government and school leaders can develop the investments and strategies needed to transform LA’s community colleges into the talent pipelines demanded by LA’s growing industrial community. Students can enter college with their speific career goal in mind and a clearly defined pathway to achieve it. And the LA region can bank on the improved economics generated by well-trained workers performing critical jobs in support of their families.

Propel LA relies on the work of the LAEDC’s Center for a Competitive Workforce (CCW), which also evolved through collaboration across industries. It now generates the labor and occupational market data that informs businesses, governments, and – most importantly – LA County’s 19 community colleges about labor trends and future hiring needs. Schools realigned courses and programs to respond to hiring needs, and businesses turn more frequently to those schools for the skilled workers they need. Because of these interactions, in fall 2019, 523,000 of the LA Community College’s 770,000 students were enrolled in some form of an occupation-directed education program.

 

Established and Growing

As a non-profit organization, the LAEDC is always seeking new members, donors, and investors to maintain its momentum toward better jobs and a higher standard of living for all the region’s residents, both human and corporate. Members enjoy unique and informative forums, ‘RED’ Talks, social events, and cutting-edge research and insights on the future of LA’s economy. An an entity, the LAEDC is unique to California, and its vision, goals, and strategies are unique to the country and perhaps even the world. With such an authoritative resource available, there’s no reason why LA County and its industries, businesses, residents, and schools shouldn’t build the economy of the future: fair, equitable, sustainable, and profitable.

 

 

 

 

The Center for a Competitive Workforce: Building Tomorrow’s Labor Force

Pam Sornson, JD on July 14, 2020

For several years, California has led the nation with its forward-thinking college education goals. Seeking to maximize existing investments in its community colleges, in 2016, the State mandated a new vision for those facilities for training the next and future generations of workers. For the project to succeed, however, the State also needed the cooperation of its business and industrial communities to inform schools about preferred skills and knowledge. The potential partnership invited equal investment of time and money from California’s diverse industrial complex but offered the enticement of a well-trained, ever-growing ‘skilled worker’ talent pool for any business willing to contribute to the effort.

Fortunately, community buy-in by both schools and companies was immediate and heartfelt. Four years on, the resulting Center for a Competitive Workforce has evolved into a unique, creative, and – most importantly – productive collaboration between educators and business leaders. Their combined efforts will ensure that California’s community college students gain the skills and knowledge needed to do the work their future employers require. The Center is led by Richard Verches and housed within the LA Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC), and its work engages both colleges and businesses in the work of building the State’s economy.

 

 

On the College Side:  One Clear “Vision for Success”

The California Community Colleges (CCC) organization has wholeheartedly embraced the philosophy of ‘education for career’s sake.’ Its 115 schools serve over 2 million students annually, providing career and job skills for millions of workers. The CCC has embraced a singular focus – a Vision for Success – as the primary goal of each of its 115 members: to ensure that students from all backgrounds can succeed in reaching their goals and improving their future, their families, and the communities in which they live.

To achieve that goal, each school must evaluate and respond to the current realities of their individual community college student population:

Too many students attend college classes but never graduate or complete a full course of study.

Those who do complete their program often take five to six years to achieve that milestone, taking – and paying for – too many excess and irrelevant credits.

Non-traditional students – those who also work or are beyond the typical age of most college students – face financial and social barriers simply because they don’t fit the ‘standard’ student profile.

Each of these circumstances drives college costs higher and reduce the possible returns on the college investment by both students and the tax-paying public. And they are all exacerbated by socially driven inequities caused by economics, race, and social status that erode the higher education opportunity for too many students in all regions of the State.

The Vision for Success seeks to remedy these challenges so that every member school can offer an affordable education that will support a comfortable lifestyle for each of its students in the career of their choice.

 

Education for Career’s Sake

The CCC also engages with local and regional industries to assist with course design and curriculum development, so that schools are teaching the skills that their business neighbors require. That effort is coordinated through its Workforce and Economic Development Division (WEDD), which produces labor market research about the desirable job skills needed in each industry.

Programs designed by the WEDD address opportunities for both students and potential employers, such as:

the California Adult Education Program (CAEP);

the California Apprenticeship Initiative (CAI);

Strengthening Career and Technical Education (Perkins V);

Economic and Workforce Development, and

the Strong Workforce Program (SWP), among others.

With research and community data in hand, California’s community colleges can reorganize their resources so their students can attain both their educational and career goals.

 

On the Business Side:  The Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation

Providing comprehensive career courses means schools must teach what businesses need students to know. Founded in 1981, the LAEDC harnesses its private industry and government resources to guide economic development and generate a more prosperous community for all its constituents. Member businesses come from all industries and sectors, providing a rich and comprehensive perspective of the region as a whole. Los Angeles is home to many thriving industries that create and sustain well-paying jobs, and there’s tremendous opportunity for that growth to continue. Together, LAEDC and its corporate partners have worked to build out the feeder industries and supply chains that keep its communities prosperous and sustainable.

With these resources and experience as guides, industry and civic leaders can create policies and practices that will benefit the entire region. One of these practices is the fostering of the relationships between its corporate entities and its educational system. The LAEDC recognizes that up-skilling the regional workforce is the key to future profitability and prosperity, so it created the Center for a Competitive Workforce to develop those capacities.

 

The Center for a Competitive Workforce

The CCW fosters the regular engagement between LA’s 19 regional community colleges and businesses engaged in the area’s high-growth industrial sectors. These industrial sectors are populated by both well-established companies and entrepreneurial endeavors, have a high need for a skilled labor force, and require workers with polished middle skills and abilities. Interactions between the schools and these industries allow both sides to inform the work of the other, permitting schools to develop the programs and courses that will create a well-skilled workforce.

The CCW pursues several workstreams, each of which provides unique information and insights for all CCW participants, including:

Labor Market Analysis;

Industry Councils;

Regional Program Advisory Meetings;

Work-Based Learning Partnerships;

Company Visits and Career Videos;

Workforce and Education Partners Portal, and

a Bioscience Industry Portal.

For colleges, the CCW publishes ‘playbooks’ that offer ‘industry-education’ insights about the relationships building between the LAEDC and the region’s community colleges. Those playbooks provide faculty, school leadership, and industry participants about their workplace counterparts, and pave the way for internships and other work-based learning opportunities. The ensuing partnerships create pipelines of skilled talent accessible by companies seeking workers, based on industrial demands, and populated by local community members.

So far (it’s been a scant four years), the collaboration between the California Community Colleges and the LA Economic Development Corporation is proving advantageous to both entities. Their ‘progeny’ – the Center for a Competitive Workforce – is now leading the way for both schools and businesses to contribute equally to California’s ever-expanding economy.

 

 

 

 

The Center for a Competitive Workforce: Meet Richard Verches – Part I

Pam Sornson, JD on July 7, 2020

As the Executive Director of the Center for a Competitive Workforce (Center), Richard Verches brings a wealth of experience, knowledge, and compassion to his work. His many careers in law, policy, business, and humanitarian causes have honed his focus on the most human of human interests: the drive to succeed and thrive. He uses that focus and his numerous talents to move the Center forward in its quest to unite the LA region’s businesses and industries with the evolving talent pool emerging from its 19 community colleges. Not even the COVID-19 concern has slowed him down.

 

 

Familiar Work; New Opportunity

On the job for less than two years, Verches has been busy taking over management of the Center’s many projects. His directive is to attract and engage the attention of LA’s immense industrial complex and the leadership of its 19 diverse community colleges. His goal is to forge ongoing partnerships between the two that will accomplish a myriad of objectives:

Assisting the schools to develop and implement curricula and programs that will facilitate well-paying jobs for their graduates;

Introducing to regional businesses and industries the potential labor force resources that exist in local college populations;

The development of internship and entry-level work-based learning opportunities that directly connect students to jobs, and

The creation of a region-wide network of training and teaching programs based on actual business and industry demands and standards.

His partners in the effort are the Executive and Advisory Committees that represent the schools, including 13 Workforce and Economic Development (WED) Deans from nine of the 11 Community College Districts and Strong Workforce Program Managers from the California Community Colleges (CCC) organization. He also works closely with the leadership of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC), where the Center is housed.

His position at the nexus of industry and education is intentional; his purpose is to knit the two into a unified economic engine to drive forward the economy of the LA region and all of its citizens.

 

 

Personal Interest; Global Impact

Verches has spent his career pursuing humanitarian rights in a variety of positions. Highly attuned to his Latino heritage, his activities have always included championing the under-represented. As a lawyer, he worked with both the United Nations and private industry, advising business and government on human and environmental rights in areas covering half the planet. He brought those insights to his later work with LA County, as a deputy director of its Commission on Human Rights, and as the Executive Director of its Workforce Development Board. He left the County to direct the LA/Orange County Regional Consortium of Community Colleges, which led him to his present position at the CCW.

Through it all, he remained supportive of Latinx-related organizations focused on supporting and building minority communities. He champions the Latinx Education Achievement Project (LEAP) and advises the Ethics and Development Circle for Talent for Humanity, among many other efforts. Not insignificantly, he also teaches at UCLA, leading classes on illiteracy, Human Rights in the Americas, and comparative and historical perspectives of Latinx communities and the Law.

It’s hard to imagine another person with the precisely right talents and skills to lead the CCW than Richard Verches. And he arrives none-too-soon, as is revealed in our next article.

 

 

 

 

 

Meet Richard Verches: Part II

Pam Sornson, JD on July 7, 2020

With only two years on the job, Richard Verches is bringing his stellar legal, humanitarian, and business acumen to his work as the Executive Director of the Center for a Competitive Workforce (CCW), a program of the LA Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC). What’s been especially notable is how well that background supports his pivot to incorporate COVID-19 fall-out and concerns into his long-range strategy for the region.

 

New Focus; New Strategies

When starting his work in the Executive role at the CCW, Verches was presented with three immediate challenges:

      1. Streamlining the work of its previous ‘leader’ – not a person but a consortium of education and business executives – into a more unified strategic plan. He could then build on their good work while introducing his own unique perspective to the effort.
      2. Structuring his conversations with educators and industries. Traditionally, community colleges weren’t designed to produce the workforce envisioned by the Center, so their existing infrastructure didn’t embrace neighboring businesses’ labor demands. At the same time, local companies weren’t in the habit of looking to their local colleges for hiring purposes. Without their input, the schools wouldn’t know what programs to offer.
      3. Bringing together the disparate resources of the 19 schools, the many industries, and the numerous governmental agencies that span the Los Angeles region. With a population of 20 million, Verches is acutely aware of the many, many perspectives that his Center will have to consider.

Verches was also aware of an innate bias toward four-year schools as the means to a successful career. That bias inhibited many potential students from even considering attending any higher education school.

 

 

Steps Forward …

His first step was to develop a series of ‘playbooks,’ one per industry, that collected data relevant to both the schools and the businesses. Verches had noted that schools with similar types of programs were graduating students with vastly different skill sets; there was no consistency of outcomes even when the subject matters were the same. He designed the playbooks to reduce those inconsistencies and get everyone – schools and businesses – on the same educational page.

The playbooks themselves provide insights into how LA County’s economy functions by identifying all existing industries and then highlighting those with the highest likelihood of growth. It is these high-growth jobs that Verches is targeting as those that the colleges can embrace:

High growth occupations promise future economic gains and stability.

Most require ‘middle skills,’ beyond entry-level, but not requiring an advanced degree. Most community college students can excel in these occupations.

With employer inputs, the schools can tailor their programs to teach exactly what is needed, for a reasonable cost and in a reasonable time frame.

Verches also works with schools to develop the social and other supports needed by many community college students to overcome cultural and economic barriers to their higher education goals.

 

… Leading to Solutions

The playbooks respond to the first two of Verches’ challenges: they create a single ‘version of truth’ that all education and workforce development partners can use. They also facilitate ongoing conversations about the partnership of economic development and education with the business community.

To resolve the third challenge, how to communicate across a vast geographical region and a highly differentiated population, CCW had committed to using the latest technology and tools even before the sudden disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic. All meetings have been transitioned to virtual meetings with record levels of attendance by both faculty and employers.

He almost immediately noted that these increased communications were building more collaboration between industry cohorts and school programs. While businesses and schools have historically acted in ‘friendly’ competition with other companies and colleges, the Strong Workforce Program included a mandate for a more ‘collaborative model’ of regional coordination and alignment, that is in the interest of both business and schools.

Notably, the enhanced communications strategy also eliminated many of the connection barriers experienced by so many as the pandemic forced people to stay home. While many entities struggled to get virtual communications channels online and open, the CCW and its community partners already had trusted relationships and infrastructure in place to seamlessly transition. Consequently, as the crisis continues to grip the LA basin, in the CCW, there is a recognized regional process and platform to address COVID-specific issues. The solutions they achieve support their shared vision and approach to identifying where LA’s economy is most impacted, addressing those unique the challenges, and contemplating longer-range solutions to the inevitable employment and industry collapses that COVID is causing.

 

In Verches’ opinion, the fact that the economy-building conversation was already ongoing as the pandemic struck allowed industry and education leaders to be much more intentional and mindful about their shared and individual roles related to long-term solutions than they would have been before this very unique moment in time.

The COVID-19 challenge also underscores the significance of California’s vision of connecting its colleges directly to its economic future. Because of this project, those systems are already in flux, evolving to meet these new, economy-based demands. Pivoting to address the additional problems caused by COVID will better position the State to respond to immediate stresses caused by the disease (unemployment, healthcare, etc.) while also developing the infrastructure needed to manage future pandemics and disasters.

And on top of that, perhaps most closely aligned with his humanitarian spirit, Verches sees the work of the Center as an opportunity to achieve the fundamental goal of democracy: providing a safe and inclusive environment where any person can access opportunities and resources to attain an economically viable, affordable education and obtain a financially stable, self-sustaining and fulfilling job. Throughout his career, Richard Verches has focused on developing this ideal; his work with the Center for a Competitive Workforce provides him with a unique opportunity to shepherd it to its fruition.

 

 

Balancing Factors for Reopening Colleges

Pam Sornson, JD on June 12, 2020

A lot is riding on colleges reopening this Fall, from continuing student success to – in at least one opinion – the future of the higher education sector itself. However, the decision to reopen, and in what format, will be based on the balancing of several distinguishing factors, many of which are out of the control of decision-makers. As is everything else COVID-related, many of them are also taking a ‘wait and see’ position.

 

What Happens if College Campuses Don’t Open in Fall 2020?

At this moment (early June), reopening college campuses any time soon seems like a bad idea (see below). However, NOT opening them also poses critical concerns to all college and university constituents, not the least of which are the economic factors.

Schools rely on tuition and other revenues to cover their salaries, maintenance, etc. and would have to make severe cuts to those budgets if revenues fell. Several colleges have already noted the potential losses they would suffer if the 20-21 school year doesn’t launch as usual in late summer:

The University of Michigan system faces potential losses of $400M to $1B by the end of 2020 if its campuses don’t open.

Georgia’s university system is facing losses up to $350M through summer 2020 and will lose considerably more if its 300,000 students aren’t able to attend its 17 schools and colleges in the next school year.

The City University of New York is anticipating cuts of up to $95M from its education system and has already set in motion a 25% reduction in available courses for the Fall.

Schools aren’t the only entities facing losses. The higher-education sector employs three million workers across the country and contributes more than $600M into the nation’s annual GDP. Pasadena City College alone accounts for $4B of the region’s economy each year. The towns and cities that host universities and colleges rely on those revenues as well, to provide foundational community infrastructure systems.

And the losses to students are also notable. For the June 2020 graduating class, depression and sadness mark the moment instead of the joyous celebrations they’d looked forward to years. A full 80% of graduating student respondents to a national survey reported a decline in their mental health status as the pandemic crashed their senior year and threatened their future job prospects. Juniors, sophomores, and freshmen are also suffering while adhering to ‘stay at home’ mandates. The isolation, loss of independence, and financial concerns generate fears and grief as the pandemic colors their college years. Students at smaller schools that don’t have the resources to maintain some semblance of school are also at risk of losing out altogether on their college opportunity.

Each of these factors weighs heavily on higher-ed decision-makers, who are appropriately reluctant to force worst-case scenarios on their students, schools, and communities.

 

What Might Happen if Colleges DO Open in Fall 2020?

By law, colleges and universities are required to make their campuses safe for use by anyone who enters their grounds. That mandate is extremely difficult to follow, however, when the threat is invisible, and its carriers don’t know they are putting others at risk.

In a worst-case scenario, a school would open as usual and commence its conventional operations. Shortly after that, symptoms would pop up and, on the densely populated college campus, the virus would spread quickly. Any number of students, staff, and faculty will get sick, and a few might die. Some sufferers might also carry the sickness back to their homes and communities and inadvertently spread the infection there, too.

The situation would compel campus leadership to determine how to address the rising challenge. Would it mean they should establish a ‘tolerable level of infection?’ A specified number of sick people? A certain number of deaths? In some cases, a surging virus outbreak on campus would almost certainly compel yet another closure and another disruption of the school year.

The situation would also almost certainly result in legal liability for damages suffered on campus and even potentially wrongful death lawsuits for exposing decedents to the virus on school grounds.

 

Open or Closed? Factors to Consider

Experts agree that caution is required when determining how and when to reopen America’s closed college campuses, and there will be no single template that can guide them all. Each school exists in its unique community, and decisions to open or remain closed will take into account the threat that the virus poses in those vicinities.

Science should take the leading role in decision-making, too, as global research reveals the mechanics that explain the varying levels of spread and illness in different countries. And, while it appears that politics are also playing a part in the decision-making process (schools in more conservative communities are announcing openings while those in more liberal neighborhoods plan to remain closed), those dynamics may not be the appropriate foundation for making what may be, for some, a life-or-death election.

Regardless of the final determination, the science does demonstrate that every school should contemplate that COVID-19 isn’t just a problem in Fall 2020, but will pose a continuing threat for perhaps years to come. Ergo, their choices should include contingencies for outbreaks not if but when they occur, and those plans should include strategies that address three fundamental infection elements:

Sanitizing, disinfecting, and social distancing practices that incorporate all aspects of the campus, including administrative offices, classrooms, lecture and study halls, libraries, and (especially) dorms and dining rooms, if those are also going to be opened.

Testing strategies that occur both as a new ‘business as usual’ standard and that escalate when an outbreak is suspected.

Tracking activities to connect with, inform, and isolate potentially exposed people.

Other strategies that address the ‘teaching’ aspect of college are worthy of consideration, as they offer the opportunity to retain (as much as possible) revenues while keeping students safe and learning:

Delay the start of the school year till Winter or even Spring term, to let the science catch up with the crisis.

Restrict campus attendance to limited groups, such as just first years or graduates (depending on the school). Offer other group’s online options.

Restrict program availability to those programs that represent core subjects or that can be adapted to accommodate digital learning opportunities.

Shift to block schedules that provide one course at a time over a limited time – three hours, three days a week for four weeks, as an example. This strategy also offers flexibility in the event the virus causes another shut-down or recedes as a threat.

Some schools are considering ‘HiFlex’ models that have teachers leading classes with both live and online learners simultaneously. Students rotate into and out of the physical classroom.

Other schools are considering a ‘Modified Tutorial’ option with a professor offering the online lecture and Tutors or TAs meeting is small groups with students.

And, of course, there’s always the fully remote option, which satisfies economic demands and keeps students learning, but loses the camaraderie and social connections that are so vital to a fully engaged college experience.

No matter which decisions are made, the Fall 2020 school year will be different from any that has gone before, forever changing the future expectations and customs of students, schools, and communities. It remains to be seen how each school manages the challenges it faces and how students adapt to what is almost certainly a new school normal.

 

COVID and College: A Dilemma for Students

Pam Sornson, JD on June 9, 2020

The coronavirus is disrupting virtually every aspect of society, including when and where students elect to attend college. Newly graduated high school seniors are facing numerous challenges posed by the threat of the virus, which has already caused over 400,000 deaths around the world. Furloughed and newly unemployed workers who are considering the benefits of improving their education also face the health and economic challenges posed and caused by COVID-19. In both cases, the looming fall 2020 school term will be unique and different for everyone concerned – the students, the schools, and the communities in which those schools are located.

 

 

Three Populations: A Common Set of Concerns

Every constituent in the college sector faces the same challenges as they ponder the future of their educational institution.

 

Health Concerns

The difficulties presented by the virus are what’s making it so difficult to predict its course or determine a standardized, effective response.

It’s passed through contact with infected but asymptomatic people, so it’s impossible to know if or when you are exposed. Up to 80% of infected people don’t realize they’ve picked up the virus until days after exposure.

Its symptoms vary widely, with some people having only mild symptoms while others become severely ill or die. It also lingers longer in some people than it does in others, hampering recovery.

The range of symptoms is also concerning. Although cough was first thought to be present in all cases, studies suggest now that cough is only present in 70% of cases. Skin issues, decreased appetite, and conjunctivitis are also thought to be symptoms but are found in just a small percentage of cases.

The variety of symptoms and seeming fluidity of the virus’s presentation in its victims are what’s making containing and controlling it so tricky. They also make it almost impossible to ensure student safety when they return to college dorm rooms and communal living accommodations.

 

Economic Concerns

As if a potentially lethal virus lurking in every passerby isn’t bad enough, the losses of jobs and income are also plaguing the country. In April alone, America recorded over 20 million job losses, which pushed the national unemployment rate to almost 15%. While May showed a surge of 2.5 million rehires, studies show that over 100,000 businesses have closed forever because of the pandemic, taking millions of jobs and billions in lost revenues with them.

Lost wages also mean lost opportunities to invest in college studies for workers and their children. The pandemic will impact their financial decisions moving forward, including higher education options, as these unemployed workers struggle to make ends meet.

 

Approaching the Fall ’20 Semester

Students and schools are now facing barriers they’ve never considered, and questions for which they have almost no answers.

 

Newly Graduated High School Seniors

As a life experience, the virus has already changed the trajectory of future education for this entire cohort group. Their final days as seniors weren’t spent at graduation parties or ceremonies, nor were they able to take the formerly traditional ‘college tours’ to observe potential schools in action. Instead, they’ve been finishing classwork at home and online, and only a few lucky ones have been able to participate in ‘virtual graduation’ videos to mark this typical life milestone.

Looking ahead, student’s choices appear similarly limited. Current community health restrictions are keeping college campuses closed, and, as of this date, there is no indication of when governments will lift those restrictions. If the status quo remains into the Fall, ‘college’ may be an extension of the online learning protocols they’ve just completed in high school; many are indicating that ‘online college’ isn’t what they envisioned for their first forays into adulthood and higher education.

Further, even if restrictions are lifted, the question of whether the physical campus is safe also poses a barrier, not just for the students, but certainly for their parents. There are still many unanswered questions about how to protect from and prevent transmission of the COVID-19 virus. Many families are unwilling to commit their financial resources or their child’s life to a particular school until those concerns are alleviated.

 

Newly Unemployed Adult Workers

Millions of workers have been furloughed or let go as businesses closed their doors following ‘stay at home’ mandates. Many of those companies won’t survive this pandemic, which will leave their former employees unemployed in what will be an intensely competitive job market. Researchers have looked at what this population has done in past recessions to understand what they might do in the face of the current economic chaos.

The Great Recession of 2007-2009 signaled a flood of new community college students aged 25 and older who had lost their jobs and were looking to ‘up-skill’ while searching for new work. The surge mirrored similar surges in previous recessions, too, so it appears that economic slow-downs also support higher college enrollments. Currently, the number of unemployed workers is already much higher than it was back then, suggesting that higher numbers of these people will elect a return to college, too.

 

Both Two- and Four-Year Schools

Both two- and four-year colleges are already experiencing impacts caused by COVID:

Current students are frustrated at losing part or all of their 2020 Spring semester and are seeking reimbursements of their tuition.

Schools have canceled their spring sports tournaments and are losing the revenues those events generated.

Many are refunding prepaid room and board payments, as students were forced to head home in early March.

 

Things don’t look brighter moving forward either:

Many are seeing significant declines in acceptances from new students, as learners wait to know what, exactly, their college experience might be in the Fall.

International student enrollments are also down due to global restrictions on travel. These students typically pay full tuition, too, so those revenues are also off the table.

Ongoing economic challenges are causing some students to elect a gap year or put off attending college indefinitely until the pandemic recedes and some form of normalcy returns.

 

Seeking a Silver Lining in the COVID-19 Cloud

The impact that the virus has had on the country and the world is unprecedented, and every aspect of society, including the higher education sector, is struggling to both make sense of what’s happened and make plans to move forward. Planning for the future will require both creativity and flexibility as circumstances ebb and flow over the summer.

 

Expect the Worst

Most experts suggest that Fall ’20 enrollments in all schools will be down, perhaps by as much as 20%. The numbers include both new and returning students, as both groups assess how to manage their education despite the pandemic. Many of these students will elect to take a gap year rather than risk resources on an uncertain future. Others may delay starting their new school year until winter or spring. Schools will need to determine how they’ll manage their funding, considering these cuts in their annual revenues.

The federal and state governments may help, however. During the ’07-’09 Recession, Congress approved the  Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training Act (TAACCCT), which released $1.6B into community colleges across the country as resources to assist with their burgeoning student base. The schools used the funds to improve services and programs to meet student’s needs. In April 2020, Congress approved a $14B package for higher education ($6B for student emergency cash grants), which amounts to just one percent (1%) of university expenses. College presidents across the country assert that at least $46.6B is more likely to offset long-term damage, so there may be more support coming from that source.

 

Envision the Best

On the much brighter side, community colleges should see higher than usual enrollments as students elect their less expensive option over the more expensive four-year schools. Younger and beginning students appreciate the reduced cost of a two-year community college over a four-year school, and many can also live at home while attending. This factor reduces their expenses while also relieving them of the health and safety concerns about those on-campus living quarters. Older, now unemployed students are looking for new skills, and today’s community colleges are structured specifically to meet those needs.

The schools can also consider how they can modify their offerings to help students return to campus safely and with confidence, so they can enjoy the close human engagement that underscores the full college experience.

Some schools are already considering a late start – perhaps October or November – to give science more time to develop treatments and vaccines.

Others are considering opening the campus only to first-year students, providing them with an intense entry into their college life, and setting them up with a solid foundation for their future.

Still others are contemplating limiting the number of on-campus programs to reduce the density of students on campus. They would offer their other courses online.

Each school will have to determine how best to move forward, given their unique set of circumstances and the needs of their anticipated student bodies.

As the Fall 2020 college term nears, the COVID-19 pandemic demands that colleges and universities flex their resources to address their constituencies’ sensitivities while utilizing those reduced resources as optimally as possible. By doing so, they can provide the style and format of education that promises their students’ stable and rewarding employment as the pandemic subsides and the economy begins to recover.

 

 

Pasadena City College Foundation: Building a Brighter Future

Pam Sornson, JD on June 2, 2020

If you’ve ever walked any of the Pasadena City College (PCC) campuses, you’ve already experienced the great work done by its philanthropic partner, the PCC Foundation. While it provides financial and other support for the school’s students, staff, and faculty, the Foundation also raises capital for building and campus development projects. Considering the success enjoyed by both PCC and its educational and regional communities, the Foundation’s efforts are providing a remarkable return on their investments.

 

A Broad Mission

Fundamentally, the Foundation’s mission is to find community and financial support to enhance the education systems at PCC. That broad statement allows its 36-member Board of Directors to focus on a variety of projects, each of which offers a distinctly different type of educational advantage. Together, the projects infuse the school with millions of dollars of educational value each year.

 

A Variety of Supports

The PCC Foundation raises, manages, and disburses funding for a variety of education-related causes:

 

Student Supports

The PCC Foundation prioritizes the well-being of PCC students in both its financial and development planning.

A Dedicated COVID Response

While funding scholarships to cover the costs of tuition, books, and college incidentals, today, the Foundation is also assisting students impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Responding to donor outreach, Foundation staff members are coordinating the distribution of financial resources to students whose lives have been upended by the school’s closure and the state’s ‘safer at home’ mandate. Students needing funds to cover unexpected costs for housing, child-care, or medical expenses should apply. There are also funds for those needing technology to access online resources to maintain their educational progress. Continuing donations for this purpose are always welcome.

Scholarships

Even without the pandemic, the Foundation dedicates much of its effort to assisting PCC students through its scholarship programs. Those provide funding to all students who lack the resources they need to gain access to the education they crave.

Scholarships based on both merit and use requirements are offered, and applications are developed and submitted through the academicworks.com link. Students who are active outside school can include those efforts on their application, too, regardless of whether they are hobbies, work, or even family care responsibilities. Two scholarship cycles per year keep applications options open, so learners can apply when it works best for them.

To ensure no one misses out, there’s even a ‘Scholarship Workshop Video‘ that walks learners through the steps of applying and qualifying for a PCC Foundation Scholarship. The video contains valuable and timely information about dates, deadlines, policies, and procedures, and includes tips to develop a comprehensive and successful scholarship application.

For the 2018-2019 school year, the Foundation provided scholarships totaling over $1,155,000.

 

Personnel Supports

The people who work at PCC are also favored with recognition and accolades every year. In addition to the scholarships and the general fund, the Foundation also sponsors the Risser Awards to recognize the outstanding efforts of exceptional PCC individuals.

The Risser Award – Outstanding Teacher

Every year, the Foundation also recognizes that one remarkable teacher who, for that school year, epitomizes the best qualities of college-level education. Nominated by students, these exemplary educators offer consistently high-quality teaching and fair and informed evaluations and grades. As inspirations to their students, these teachers represent the best of the school and act as leaders for the rest of the faculty and staff.

The Risser Award – Outstanding Support to Education

Every college is more than just its students and faculty. Supporting them all is a dedicated staff focused on providing the infrastructure and services needed to ensure a high-quality education for every learner. The Risser Award for Outstanding Support to Education recognizes the PCC staff person who has risen above the clamor of a busy college setting to provide unparalleled service with a happy attitude and the highest demonstration of character. These Award winners offer consistent and reliable job performance year after year, helping both students and teachers achieve their annual and educational goals.

 

Special Projects

The Annual Fund provides funding for more substantial, specialized, or capital projects.

The PCC Piano Program  

PCC’s E Applied Music program, just one offering in the school’s Music Department, offers instruction and classes for specific instruments or singing to enhance the student’s performance and technical skills. The Foundation enhances this program by facilitating the F PCC Piano Project, which collects and distributes donor contributions to dedication pianists. The funds help pay tuition, provide scholarships, and sponsor masterclasses and ‘Artists in Residence.’ Additionally, the funding helps to maintain the 56 pianos that live permanently on the PCC campus.

Capital Projects

As noted, PCC’s campus has been blessed by the generosity of the Foundation donors, whose contributions are responsible for much of the beauty and design of the school’s physical facilities.

The Robert G. Freeman Center for Career and Completion is just completing its first year in operations and is proving to be a magnet for both career-minded students and local and regional businesses looking for talent.

The Center for the Arts on the Pasadena campus is the home of both the Music Department and its Piano Program.

The Boone Sculpture Garden at the heart of the campus is home to three works by internationally renowned sculptors. They sit peacefully alongside the Galloway Plaza.

Also attached to the Sculpture Garden is the Jameson Foundation Amphitheater, which offers a pleasant and peaceful gathering spot for students and staff.

Most PCC citizens have enjoyed at least one sports spectacular in the Robinson Stadium, dedicated during the Fall 1999 semester. The facility supports PCC’s athletes while providing its community with fun and healthy spectator events.

Many of the capital campaigns are named after notable PCC alumni or their family members.

 

Funding the Foundation

The PCC Foundation solicits financial gifts in three forms:

Straight-up donations, that usually go to the Annual Fund if not otherwise designated;

Endowments of specific College assets, such as department chair positions;

and Planned Giving.

The accumulated funds are invested every year by an outside financial partner, and the annual interest is used to fund specific projects.

Therefore, the school’s donors are critical to the success of both the Foundation and Pasadena City College. The Board of Directors’ recently released strategic plan is undoubtedly just one reason donors continue to donate their hard-earned resources to the school. It outlines their four priorities for PCC investments, and why those are important to the school and its community:

1  Increase student scholarships through enhanced contributions to the College’s Promise Program.

2  Improve Career and Technical Education capacities by providing upgraded technologies and systems and the educators and experiences required to master them.

3  Expand the Arts department by reaching deeper into the resources available in its neighboring Los Angeles entertainment industry.

4  Enhance Athletics by maintaining world-class facilities to develop and produce world-class champions like alumni Jackie Robinson and Coach Jerry Tarkanian.

Pasadena City College offers its students an amazing education at an equally amazing price. Helping them achieve those goals is the PCC Foundation, a dedicated group of 36 individuals who give their time, expertise, and money to the further development of one of Pasadena’s shining resources. Don’t you want to donate to the Foundation now, too?

Evaluating the Economic Impact of Pasadena City College

Pam Sornson, JD on June 2, 2020

There is a myriad of reasons to attend Pasadena City College (PCC), including gaining employable skills, learning a trade, or preparing for further higher education. What many people don’t consider, however, is the value that PCC offers to its community, both as a business that produces a valuable product, as well as a generator of regional revenue. A new study by economic modeling firm, Emsi, clarifies those values as they flow from the single PCC class of 2018-2019, reflecting a $600M annual spend building on an overall $4B return on investment. Those numbers are impressive in and of themselves, but they really stand out when you extrapolate their meaning across years of educational successes by PCC graduates.

 

Two Views: Multiple Values

The study looks at the college through two lenses:

as a direct economic generating entity, and

as a long-term public and private investment vehicle.

As a direct economic generation entity, the school is responsible for putting millions of dollars into Pasadena’s economy every year. As a long-term investment vehicle, the school returns billions of dollars of added value to its stakeholders by producing a well-trained workforce, developing innovative new enterprises, and maintaining area and regional industries.

Fundamentally, the Emsi research underscores what PCC’s community already knows: the college plays an integral part in the economic health and well-being of Pasadena and its surrounding region.

 

Economic Inputs – Class of 2018-2019

As a whole, the school and its constituents generate millions of dollars annually for the local community:

PCC offers a high-quality education for its students at a fraction of the cost of neighboring four-year universities. In-state residents will spend less than $4,000 annually for tuition, books, fees, and supplies, while the expense for out-of-state residents totals less than $10,000. Those values attract local and far-away learners; 65% of the 2018-2019 class came from out of the region.

Each student also represents additional spending in the form of lodging, food, and transportation. With a student population of over 26,000, annual student spending alone contributes over $16,000,000 to the local economy.

The college leverages those student funds to pay its faculty and staff, maintain operations, and support the surrounding businesses that provide its supplies and provisions. The cumulative annual spending by both school staff and its daily operations contributes another $177 million to the local economy.

Together, student and administrative spending by PCC each school year add approximately $200 million to the local economy.

 

Investment Returns

So, what values does the college generate for its community after its students graduate? According to the report, they are many and they are significant.

 

For students:

PCC students invest significant values into their education, including not just their tuition and living costs, but also in the forbearance of wages they would earn if they were working instead of attending school. Many also take out student loans to cover their college costs. The class of 2018-2019 invested over $58 million in out-of-pocket expenses and another $167 million in foregone wages and time.

Their investment will pay them back well, however. PCC 2018-2019 graduates with associates degrees will earn approximately $10,500 more per year throughout their career than their high-school graduate peers ($45,000 versus $34,000) and almost double that of non-high school graduates ($26,000).

The return on investment for each student ratio’s out at 4.2; they eventually reap $4.20 in higher earnings for every dollar they spend.

 

For Taxpayers:

In general, State investment in California’s community colleges is substantial. For example, PCC will use a $42 million appropriation to construct the new Armen Sarafian Building, part of the State’s $215 billion investment in its community schools.

Those investments are expected to rise, too, as California invests in the infrastructures its industries will need in the coming decade. California estimates an 11% growth rate for workers with associates and postsecondary nondegree-level skills by 2026 (as compared to only 7% for all occupations). Further, by 2025, California’s Public Policy Institute predicts a shortage of one million workers in these fields, a fact which demonstrates the growing value of the community college as an economic engine.

The City of Pasadena is thirsty for those workers, too. Its 13 commercial areas are home to globally recognized businesses and industries encompassing every style of occupation from technology to environmental resources to healthcare and healthcare education. These commercial ventures are already invested in the area’s perfect weather and collegial attitude; they are also more than interested in investing in a well-trained workforce, too.

The value of those investments is repaid in a myriad of ways by PCC, its students, and its alumni.

Throughout their careers, PCC graduates return two dollars for each individual public dollar that supported their education.

Additionally, these investments and the improved lifestyles of their recipients represent millions of dollars of costs avoided:

Employed workers make fewer demands on public healthcare services;

Well-educated citizens have fewer interactions with law enforcement, and

Reliable and well-paying employment reduces the demands on income assistance programs.

The net value to taxpayers of the benefits of supporting PCC also ratio’s out to two-to-one, so the State generates twice as much long-term value than it spends on its original investment.

 

For Society in general:

The Pasadena region benefits in two significant ways because of the presence and significance of its City College:

Added values increase each year as PCC graduate generates higher wages for themselves and contribute higher purchasing and tax values to their neighborhoods. Reduced social costs enhance those added values.

Economically independent citizens enjoy better health outcomes, reducing healthcare costs;

Reduced crime rates reduce demands on public policing services, and

Reduced reliance on public assistance programs such as welfare and unemployment claims lessens the demands on those programs.

 

The Emsi report indicates that the cumulative revenue benefits and social savings generated by PCC throughout the work lives of its 2018-2019 graduating class totals $4.4 billion, which represents a cumulative return of investment of $9.80 for every single dollar invested.

 

For the Future:

Not insignificant is the effort of PCC’s alumni population. Since 1924, the college has served tens of thousands of students from dozens of countries. For each student, PCC provided the education, experience, and credentials needed to pursue their career of choice. More recently, as one of the State’s top schools for transfers to four-year universities, PCC has also offered the foundational education needed for those learners to excel at those schools and beyond. The Emsi report reveals that, just in the 2018-2019 school year, PCC alumni contributed an additional $407 million to the regional economy.

When combined, the alumni economic contributions and the annual PCC financial contribution total over $600 million in commercial, public, and social values for the school year 2018-2019. When extrapolated over decades, the dollars generated and saved by PCC and its graduates demonstrate the long-term, sustained, and sustainable values that Pasadena City College offers its students, graduates, community, and region.

 

The Robert G. Freeman Center for Career and Completion – The Year in Review: Director Jason Barquero

Pam Sornson, JD on May 19, 2020

The Robert G. Freeman Center for Career and Completion (RGFC) launched in May of 2019 in a new building designed specifically to house career-focused programs under the leadership of Pasadena City College’s Economic and Workforce Development division (PCC EWD). The vision of the RGFC is to provide wrap-around services to PCC’s students as they select and pursue their job and career options. The college has already invested significant time and resources into building up the resources of the Center, and its new Director, Jason Barquero, is excited to build out new services and opportunities on that now year-old infrastructure.

Although relatively new to his role as director of the Center, Barquero is not in the least bit new to his role as a leader in career development for college students. Having studied at several Southern California higher ed schools, he’d personally experienced a variety of school-based ‘career development’ strategies. In his career as a college administrator, he’s contributed to the development of several more in his role as Executive Director of the Career Center at the Otis College of Art & Design. He was tapped to lead the RGFC because he brought with him such a deep understanding of both the needs of its student clientele and of the resources needed to slingshot their occupational futures. The timing couldn’t have been more advantageous: The Center was approaching its first anniversary and needed someone in charge who would be able to harness all the educational and occupational values that it represents.

 

RGFC – One Year In

When he arrived in April 2020 (more about that later), Barquero found the RGFC primed to move forward in developing job and career-focused resources for PCC students and the businesses that would hire them:

The school’s programs were already designed to support career-focused learning. PCC organizes its programming into six ‘Career Communities,’ each centered on a specific industry. Building connections within those industries would only enhance the school’s existing educational strategy.

Many of the faculty were already incorporating ‘work-based learning’ (WBL) into their curricula, in the form of field trips, workshops, and other un-classroom activities.

Partnerships had been established with many area businesses, and those were robust in developing deeper and broader opportunities for growth.

And there were already significant counseling and advising teams in place. Resources were available so students could explore career preferences, create resumes, and practice interviews while still in college.

Barquero liked that the educational strategy of the College and its Career Center were so far along in just one year.

He also liked the PCC culture and how it, too, embraced and applauded the ‘education for career’s sake’ mentality. The school’s Board of Trustees and its partner, the philanthropic Pasadena City College Foundation, had already invested in both academic resources (a comprehensive, enlightened faculty) and a physical facility (the Center itself). These investments were, in themselves, a testament to their commitment to PCC students and the communities from which they come. With that level of support in place, Barquero recognized that many of the traditional barriers to high-quality, career-focused learning simply did not exist on the Pasadena City College campus. He was ready to roll from day one.

 

The Coronavirus as a Motivator

As noted above, Barquero joined the school just as the state implemented its COVID-19 ‘safer at home’ mandate. While he had expected to come to school each day and work within the bustling halls of the Freeman Center, now he was working from home (WFH), with staff and colleagues who were new to him, and a student body he has yet to meet. Was he deterred in his enthusiasm for his new job? No. It turns out that just the opposite is true.

Much of Barquero’s work before PCC was in developing technology resources, so he was already familiar with video conferencing, virtual field trips, and other digitally enhanced learning experiences. Whatever resources PCC now has in the way of technology to assist with learning, Barquero is already comfortable with, and he has previously worked through the bugs and challenges that those might present to a less experienced tech-based educator. At the same time, the Center also has on staff a dedicated Work-Based Learning (WBL) Manager, Jacqueline Javier (more on her in a separate article), so at least one role on his foundational team was already filled. From his perspective, the first year of the RGFC had been very well spent.

 

Maximizing Present Opportunities

Further, rather than being daunted by the WFH requirement, Barquero has determined that he will spend this time inventorying and rallying all the resources available now at PCC. He will also be strategizing a future for the school that will provide a stable and comprehensive learning environment regardless of this or other pandemics (or any other disaster that might come along).

And he has an enlightened perspective about how that future might look:

In just his short time with PCC, Barquero continued with the on-going transition of all of the Center’s workshops to a digital format, so none of those resources are either wasted or sitting idle. After a brief lull, while students found their way back to their now virtual school, they began signing up in droves, with attendances in these virtual classrooms quickly filling up. The process reveals more than just an uptick in student numbers; it also generates student engagement data that will inform PCC’s metrics counters.

These virtual learning situations don’t close the classroom, either; they extend it into the world where learners want to work. The students are learning not just their school lessons (faculty members are on board, as well, and present their course work through the same digital portals), but also the technical skills that will enhance their value to future employers.

Barriers are falling, too, as the technology levels the societal playing field that has, for so long, impeded the progress of community college attendees. Students who may have missed field trips or other course-related opportunities because of transportation or family demands can now attend virtually from home, along with all of their classmates. These experiences are especially helpful for first-generation college attendees, who may be seeing, for the first time, a world that was worlds away for their parents.

 

Looking Ahead to the Next Year and Beyond

Barquero is equally excited about how technology and forward-thinking will engage the business community and PCC’s alumni community, both of which he sees as much more significant players in the school’s future. He plans to expand his outreach into these communities using the same technologies he now employs with his student clients.

In some ways, the COVID-19 pandemic is helping Barquero by giving him the time he needs to formulate these ideas and plans, as well as the strategies he’ll pursue to implement them. He’s grateful for that opportunity, as well as for the fact that Pasadena City College was so foresighted when it designed and launched its Career Center just a year ago.

According to Jason Barquero, one year after its launch, the Robert G. Freeman Center for Career and Completion is not only well-founded, but its also well poised to provide its students with a bustling and prosperous future for years to come.

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