SCAG’s Inclusive Economic Recovery Strategy

Pam Sornson, JD on December 17, 2022

Pam Sornson, JD

December 20, 2022

You can’t know which direction you’re going if you don’t know where you are. That was the context underlying the development of the Racial Equity Early Action Plan (REEAP) by the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG). In pursuit of the Plan, the agency developed its Inclusive Economic Recovery Strategy (IERS), which established a blueprint of recommendations to guide the acquisition of resources needed to alleviate the injustices that are so pervasive in its six SoCal counties.

 

REEAP Examined

In mid-July 2020, SCAG’s Regional Council affirmed its commitment to advancing DEI and justice initiatives throughout the six counties within its jurisdiction. At the time, the COVID-19 pandemic was exposing serious inequities embedded within numerous social systems. SCAG appointed a special Equity & Social Justice Committee to assess that current status and hypothesize how best to address those challenges. Populated by nonprofit and private sector representatives, elected officials, and university partners, the group represented the leadership and constituent interests of the SCAG’s six counties.

The tasks assigned to the Committee included reviewing and offering feedback on four fundamental agency elements. Their findings and conclusions would then help SCAG shape its understanding of the realities of the current situation and develop appropriate responses to those adverse and unfair situations:

Clarify an agency-wide definition of “equity” to ensure that all participants were working toward achieving the same community goal.

Assess existing DEI-related activities in the agencies and departments that populate the SCAG.

Create a preliminary framework for the action plan, including an overarching statement of its goals, activities to be undertaken in pursuit of those goals, and identifying the resources needed to achieve success.

Create an inclusive economic recovery strategy that encompasses both the DEI remediation initiatives and a plausible path to recovery after the economic chaos caused by the coronavirus.

In May 2021, the Committee issued its report, summarizing its factual findings on these issues and offering a preliminary schematic as a structure for the racial equity initiative. Of particular interest is the equity inventory undertaken by the Committee, which established a preliminary baseline assessment of inequities found within the geographical region. That assessment provided data on 26 “equity indicators” grouped into the goal sets of the “Connect SoCal” plan:

economy,

healthy and complete communities,

mobility, and

environment.

These indicators illuminate opportunities within the agencies to consult with their constituents and create partnerships designed to alleviate the racial disparities in their local communities.

The Framework suggested by the Committee advances four overarching goals, all of which are encompassed within three operational strategies:

Listen & Learn. To understand the shared history of discrimination, all stakeholders must be willing to hear and accept those uncomfortable realities.

Engage & Co-power. Every voice has value at this table. The Committee urged creating across the SCAG an environment that includes and respects the opinions and experiences of all its constituencies.

Integrate & Institutionalize. Change must happen at the system level, so all levels of agency effort must centralize racial equity as their primary focus. This strategy incorporates both internal and external systems.

Utilizing these strategies, each agency was encouraged to work toward achieving the Framework’s four goals:

Shift department and agency cultures to escalate awareness and embrace diversity, inclusion, and equity principles.

Put racial equity at the heart of regional policy and planning mandates. Policies and procedures designed to eradicate discrimination and empower success for all populations should be embedded into the fundamental practices of each regional governmental system and its public and private partners.

Regional leadership can promote equity initiatives to local governments and encourage their partnership in developing fair and just social systems on all levels of government.

Share the equity and justice intentions with the broader community while activating the practices and procedures designed to achieve those goals.

 

IERS Launched

The inclusive economic recovery strategy also included an assessment of resources that identified the current economic development and funding efforts designed to achieve equitable outcomes for all community members. The Committee organized these resources into four broad categories:

economic development initiatives,

state funding references,

federal funding references, and

a literature review of relevant sources of information and insight.

Further, each resource category was also parsed into four distinct subcategories, each of which focused on the resources available for expenditure toward a particular equity concern:

housing production and preservation,

transportation and infrastructure,

sector-based (industries and businesses), and

human capital (labor and workforce).

The IERP’s resources include both a brief summary of their content and a listing of the conclusions they offer. Entities, both private and public, can access these resources to discover new pathways to equitable success, best practices to engage in those processes, and possible optimal outcomes that can clarify local, county, and regional goals. For example, the literature review of “human capital” resources includes an analysis of projects written or presented by the American Jobs Project, the American “Build Back Better” plan, the Brookings Institute, and many more think tanks and economic and workforce development experts.

The resources provide invaluable information that encompasses, in broad strokes and with finite detail, the issues and challenges arising from each concern and offer conclusions and suggestions on possible ways to address them.

 

The REEAP and the IERP demonstrate the SCAG’s dedication to remediating unfair discrimination from the public and private systems supporting its six-county jurisdiction. Each initiative addresses unique and complex challenges by identifying those realities and offering suggestions and practices that can be applied to reduce them. The work of this agency is helping all of its individual counties and their local governments to uncover and eliminate the scourge of racial inequity so that all their residents can achieve personal success.

The Southern California Association of Governments – SCAG

Pam Sornson, JD on December 17, 2022

Pam Sornson, JD

December 20, 2022

Managing California’s vast network of public resources is the job of its 539 general-purpose governments. Within those governments, there are over 4400 local government units and almost 4000 special districts. Together, these politically determined entities manage billions of dollars worth of the State’s publicly owned assets. It makes sense, then, that by working together, they can reduce publicly funded expenses while enhancing publicly mandated benefits. This is the work of the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG).

 

The Powers of the SCAG

The SCAG’s authority derives from both state and federal law. In California, the agency is a Joint Powers Authority (JPA), a Regional Transportation Planning Organization (RTP), and a Council of Governments (CoG). In federal jurisdiction, it is a designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO).

The premise of the JPA is to offer more efficient and effective government services to the general population while pooling insurance coverage and working together to reduce the public’s exposure to unnecessary risk. Sometimes, a new JPA is appointed to resolve a particular service delivery challenge.

An RTPO supports the efforts of local and regional governments in their non-metropolitan transportation planning and development activities.

The MPO oversees the planning and development of metropolitan transportation systems. As a single entity, the MPO represents localities in all urban areas with populations over 50,000.

The combined authority of these three agencies spans virtually all elements of society, including industries, education, transportation, and more. The SCAG region includes six counties: Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, Ventura, San Bernardino, and Imperial.

 

SCAG’s Work

As per its mandate, SCAG’s primary focus is regional transportation planning. Accordingly, its premier effort, “the 2024-2050 Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy,” encompasses its long-range vision to facilitate future mobility and housing needs as well as to pursue economic and environmental goals. Its purpose is to gather information and insights from regional stakeholders to ensure that emerging transportation systems appropriately support the communities that they will serve.

Within the broad scope of the strategy is the “Connect SoCal 2024” (CS24) initiative. Currently in its development stage, CS24 is now collecting transport and economic data from local and county governments, transportation commissions, nonprofit organizations, and tribal governments within its six-county jurisdiction. The resulting analyses and conclusions drawn from that information will inform the next phase of the strategy. Built into the process are the regulations and standards set by other government mandates, including land use planning, greenhouse gas emission goals, Clean Air Act requirements, open space preservation, and public health and safety, to name just a few.

Additionally, CS24 will build on the economic and growth projections developed for its “Ready for 2024” project. That project has coalesced current information about employment, housing, populations, and education requirements at the regional, county, city, and town levels. Combined with trending and demographics data, the ‘Ready for 2024’ report will give decision-makers the information they will need to plan services for those projections far into the future.

SCAG maintains a series of ‘Atlas Jurisdictional’ reports that provide details and data relevant to each of the individual county members as well as to the regional group as a whole. It also manages a volume of resources and fact sheets that government entities can use to collect information from their residents to develop smaller, comparable, compatible development strategies for their communities. SCAG is also invested in ensuring that all Southern California residents are included and represented in its existing and emerging systems. Other programs and projects it runs are focused on housing, sustainability, transportation, the economy, and maintaining state and federal compliance.

 

SCAG in LA County

As the largest county in the country, Los Angeles County will receive significant benefits from these SCAG efforts as they roll out through 2045. The data suggests that:

The number of households in LA county will grow from 3.3 million in 2016 to over 4.1 million in 2045.

The population – the actual resident headcount – will grow as well, from its current 10.1 million residents to more than 11.6 million by 2045.

Population demographics are changing as well. The percentage of young people (under 15 years) will drop from 20% in 2016 to just 17.5% in 2045. The middle-aged population volume will drop, too, from 67% to 61.5%. However, the percentage of seniors living in the county will rise from 13.2% to 21%. This data point suggests that support and services directed to the senior citizen population will have to grow significantly to match that growing demand.

The type and number of benefits to LA county derived from the SCAG strategy will also be significant. The strategy aims at managing publicly owned resources to provide optimal service and support to the population.

The plan intends to reduce the volume of publicly held green spaces that are converted into industrial or residentially zoned areas. The goal is to reduce the consumption of green spaces per year by almost one-half (41%), so that future residents will be able to enjoy California’s undeveloped and natural environmental beauty.

Individual households will see monthly and annual cost reductions for their publicly provided resources, including water, transportation, and energy.

The plan also focuses on reducing the human and economic costs of transportation gridlocks. LA County is crisscrossed by several major highway systems, all of which experience significant delays due to overcrowding. The goal is to utilize better traffic patterns and controls to reduce the duration of each delay and also reduce the cost that those incur. Notable traffic improvement projects already on the books include a subway extension from Metro West Side to Century City to Westwood, a light rail extension from Azusa to the San Bernardino County line, and the addition of express lanes on Interstate 10 from Interstate 605 to the San Bernardino County line.

Not least significant is the projected growth in employment numbers. SCAG’s strategy for LA County anticipates that it will gain close to 200,000 new jobs each year between 2016 and 2045.

 

SCAG’s Executive Director, Kome Ajise, spoke with Pasadena City College Vice President of Economic and Workforce Development Salvatrice Cummo about the agency’s activities. The collaboration among these governments mirrors and enhances the cooperation emerging in the region’s EWD sectors. Together, this constellation of talent, intelligence, and initiative will drive the development of Southern California’s economic future.

 

Stephen Cheung’s Data Drives the County’s Economy Forward

Pam Sornson, JD on December 2, 2022

Understanding global financial and industry developments and how those impact the LA County region will help its industrial complex define and structure its short and long-term public and private investments. As the closing keynote speaker at the November 8th Future of Work Conference (FOW), hosted by Pasadena City College’s (PCC) Economic and Workforce Development division (EWD), Stephen Cheung offered his expert analysis of the possibilities suggested for LA County’s future economic opportunities. Mr. Cheung is the President of the LA Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) and the World Trade Center LA (WTCLA). In his opinion and based on extensive research and analysis, LA County can achieve exponential economic gains if it builds on its vision of where the global economy is going, not where it is right now.

Down a Little. Never Out.

LA County and all its residents suffered significant losses during the COVID-19 pandemic, just like the rest of the world. However, this region is well-known for its resilience and stamina, and its recovery efforts reflect its globally recognized dedication to overcoming adversity. Mr. Cheung’s evaluation underscores how this positive attitude will assist the County in achieving even greater economic excellence in the future than it did in the past.

Like everyone else in the workforce and economic development sector, considerations of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic color virtually all aspects of current and potential activities. Accordingly, Mr. Cheung analyzed data collected before and during the health crisis and up to the present to determine where the County’s economic realities lie in comparison to where it was two years ago:

In just two months, April and May 2020, the region lost more than 3/4 of a million jobs (784,800), which closed down thousands of businesses and created an immense demand for unemployment benefits.

Also, in May 2020, LA county experienced an unemployment rate of 19.2%. One in five workers was out of a job.

Those two data points reflect the worst economic moment in Los Angeles County since January 2000. The COVID-19 pandemic caused more employment havoc than either the bursting of the Dotcom Bubble of the early 2000s or the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009.

 

Always Optimistic

Cheung’s good news for 2022, however, is very heartening:

By September 2022, the County had recovered 91% of all the nonfarm jobs lost in 2020.

Also, as of September 2022, the County’s unemployment had fallen to a low of 4.5%.

This data confirms that LA County is definitely back in business, and its economy is slowly recovering from that dramatic and distressing downturn.

But it’s not returning to its “old normal,” Cheung says. Instead, while the pandemic eliminated hundreds of occupations completely, it also generated hundreds of new vocations that require workers to have different skill sets from before, as well as a more technology-savvy knowledge base. Consequently, former employees who are still out of work – and those who want to improve their ‘upward mobility’ – will most likely have to obtain new training and occupational skills to qualify for the work options that are emerging in the post-COVID economy.

Additionally, several industries that have already expanded beyond their pre-pandemic perimeters are now looking for a new labor force to fill these employment opportunities. The healthcare, business and professional services, transportation, construction, motion picture and sound recording, and information sectors are all building on COVID-driven insights and will need more workers as they grow into their “new” normal. As a result, the overall job posting volume is up, too, surpassing 110,000 in July 2022.

 

On a Firm Foundation

As assuring as the current labor data appears to be that LA County will enjoy a secure economic future, it is Cheung’s prognostications that the region’s emerging economic opportunities actually hold the most promise for a genuinely well-entrenched economic comeback. The County remains a commercial industry powerhouse across many significant industrial bases, including aerospace and defense, digital media and entertainment, trade and logistics, and manufacturing. All of those sectors will also be gaining ground moving forward as they adapt to emerging economic opportunities.

In addition:

LA County is the continent’s most significant transport and logistics hub. Despite the pandemic, the LA and Long Beach Ports handled over 10 million ‘TEUs’ (twenty-foot equivalent units) during FY 2021-2022, more than 3.5 million more than the previous FY. The port of Long Beach alone managed over 3,000,000 TEUs between January and August of 2022.

LAX, one of the world’s busiest airports, handled almost 19 million passengers between January and September 2022, which is a 107% year-over-year increase in passenger volume. In 2021, the aviation hub handled over 48,000,000 passengers.

LA County is also a startup epicenter, generating hundreds of new companies each year. Currently, 120 Venture Capitalist firms manage more than $9.1 billion in venture capital investments, and the County is home to 31 business accelerators, 49 incubators, and over 8,000 startup enterprises. Trader Joe’s, Hulu, Ring, and Fandango are just four of the thousands of internationally recognized brands that originated in an LA County storefront.

Home to global film, television, and multimedia industries, LA County also hosts millions of dollars worth of sporting events and entertainment at dozens of venues across its 88 cities. In addition to professional football, baseball, and hockey teams, the County will also be welcoming National Golf tournaments, horse racing, soccer, and Olympic sporting events in the coming years.

LA County’s still solid financial footing isn’t only American-based, either. Foreign-owned enterprises own thousands of businesses, employ almost two hundred thousand workers, and pay more than $17 million in annual salaries to their workers.

 

Cheung’s fact-based messaging underscored his message that LA County is and will remain a globally recognized economic powerhouse for years to come. California’s robust 2021 GDP of $815B (4th largest in the world) demonstrates its capacity to overcome even pandemic-driven catastrophes, while its cultural diversity (240+ languages) invites a constant stream of new ideas and dreamers. Moreover, as the State’s and nation’s largest county, LA County will remain at the economic center of the western hemisphere’s industrial universe. “All those businesses and industries will need well-trained workers,” says Cheung. “The community colleges should be the first place they go to find those resources.”

Dr. Su Jin Jez Connects Education to Employment

Pam Sornson, JD on December 2, 2022

Pam Sornson, JD

December 6, 2022

To quote Dr. Su Jin Jez, Los Angeles County should consider its economic future the same way Wayne Gretzky thought through his next move on the ice: “You follow where the puck is going,” he said, ”not where it is right now.” Where LA County is going economically is the big question facing its industrial, enterprise, and governmental organizations. That’s just one of the concerns addressed at the November 8th Future of Work Conference (FOW) hosted by Pasadena City College’s (PCC) Economic and Workforce Development division (EWD). Dr. Jez gave the opening keynote presentation and shared with attendees how her organization, California Competes, looks at the educational barriers facing so many of the State’s higher ed students.

Building stronger partnerships between educators and employers is the ultimate goal of California Competes. The organization’s fundamental premise is that a well-educated population builds a more robust economy, so all stakeholders in economic success initiatives are also stakeholders in successful higher education systems. Dr. Jez led made a compelling argument about how higher education and employment are the foundational pillars of today’s and tomorrow’s economy.

 

California Led the Nation in its Valuation of Advanced Education …

Research offered by Dr. Jez revealed that Californians place a high value on advanced and supplemental education. A 2016-2019 survey indicated that 57% of Californians at that time recognized that additional education contributed significant benefits to an improved economic status. That percentage compares to other states in the country, such as Wyoming and the Dakotas, where only 33% of those surveyed asserted such a high regard for advanced education opportunities. Additionally, the survey indicated that those populations that would most benefit from additional education resources were Californians of color and those without a high school diploma.

The motivations to pursue more education varies, but when asked:

more than half of survey respondents (57%) said they would pursue additional education if it came with a guaranteed employment outcome;

an almost equal percentage (56%) said they would attend if tuition were free, and

another significant percentage (54%) revealed they would attend if the college opportunity fit well with their schedule and other life obligations.

Equally interesting was the number of Californians that believed vocational programs, as compared to graduate degrees, were very much worth their cost. When comparing the five outcome options offered by advanced education beyond high school, attaining a graduate degree was deemed well worth the price by 59% of respondents, while 62% of respondents said the same about a vocational certification program.

Graduate degrees received the highest rank for ‘career value’ (66% listed these as offering the best long-term educational outcomes), which defines the correlation between added academic credentials and a higher standard of living over the course of one’s life. Vocational achievements were second, surprisingly, with 54% agreeing that they offered significant long-term benefits; bachelor’s degrees were third (7% behind vocational credentials, at 47%), and associate degrees were fourth on this list (at 42%).

This aggregated data indicates that Californians understand that they don’t need to achieve a four-year or more university degree to achieve a well-paying and satisfying life-long career.

 

… Until it Didn’t

Despite the value and benefits of pursuing additional education beyond high school, today’s statistics reveal a decided decline in enrollments in colleges across the state, especially at community colleges. The downturn continued even after COVID vaccines reduced the threat of the virus and allowed campuses to open again. In the fall of 2021, more students left their college campus than had done so in the fall of 2020. Since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, Community College registration numbers have fallen, down 7% from 2020 and 20% overall when compared to enrollment numbers of the fall term for 2019. A March 2022 memo from the CCCCO revealed that the cumulative loss of students over the course of the coronavirus concern includes more than 300,000 learners. This disturbing data suggests additional research is necessary to determine what will bring students back to school, especially since they know or could know of the benefits they would gain if they elected to pursue that course again.

 

California Competes Adds Data to the Conversation …

The California Competes research organization evaluated these statistics. It determined that several factors are keeping potential workers away from the employers who need them, now or in the future.

Cultural Barriers

Dr. Jez asserts that cultural challenges are some of the most significant barriers for many California residents who would benefit from but are not accessing higher education resources. Those populations having the most difficult time entering and persisting through any level of college program are the stereotypical populations: People of Color (POC), first-generation would-be college attendees, and those from society’s lower social and economic strata. In too many instances, according to jazz, existing policies and practices become insurmountable hurdles to learners from these communities.

Structural Barriers

Not only do they not have the social support systems that could sustain them through their academic term, but they also have challenges finding their way through the systems that currently exist in today’s college landscape. Each of these state-owned yet independently run organizations utilizes its own unique form of governance, rules, and protocols. Gaining access to one doesn’t equate to having access to all. Moreover, the processes required to qualify, enter, and pay for these resources are often beyond the financial capacity of many would-be college students.

‘Values’ Barriers

At least at the present time, there also appears to be a disconnect between the colleges and the employers that would hire their graduates. While the colleges prioritize graduation rates, persistence percentages, and incoming enrollment numbers, their employer and business-based community partners value high levels of skill, in-depth comprehension of industrial practices, and strong work skills that translate into profitable businesses. California competes suggests that schools should evaluate their programs in light of what their economic partners require. Both sides of these partnerships need to completely comprehend what needs to be taught and why that matters if they are each to achieve success in their shared economic development environment.

 

… And Suggests Solutions

Dr. Jez offered some of the conclusions she formed based on an analysis of the aggregate data. She has determined that one “best practice” would be to create multiple roles around college campuses that connect directly with local business entities. Faculty members, dedicated staff people, administrative agents, and others can engage directly with the business community throughout the school year to share information and seed the other’s perspective of industry and education evolutions. She also encourages all workforce development sector participants to develop and sustain shared spaces to gather the various elements and professions in one room for collaboration on solutions to these complex economic problems.

Jez notes that California Competes is already working on developing this second solution, as she introduced its regional pilot program, “LA Career Ready.” Launched in May of 2022, the pilot will develop processes to streamline and analyze workforce development programs to generate the capacity for cross-sector collaboration. Four Los Angeles County community colleges( Compton, El Camino, Los Angeles SW comma, and West Los Angeles) have committed to the program’s initial two-year term.

 

The contributions of California Competes and Dr. Su Jin Jez are significant for all stakeholders in LA County’s workforce development environment. Pasadena City College, its Economic and Workforce Development division, and conference attendees greatly appreciated her presentation.

The Future of Work Needs Higher College Enrollment Numbers

Pam Sornson, JD on November 14, 2022

Pam Sornson, JD

November 15, 2022

The Future of Work Conference (FOW) held at Pasadena City College (PCC) on November 8th, 2022, and hosted by its Economic and Workforce Development division (EWD), was a spectacular success when measured against its intended goal. Panelists and speakers from all sectors of the EWD environment presented clear and relevant insights in response to the challenges now faced by California’s Community College and Higher Education systems. The conference’s overarching message should be of value to anyone interested in pursuing an improved economy by building a well-trained, future-focused labor force.

 

Collaboration Will Be Key …

As noted by Dr. Erica Endrijonas in her welcoming comments, now is one of life’s “rubber meets the road” kind of moments. Empowered by statute, policy, and funding, the California Community College system (CCC) is uniquely positioned to rise in response to the imposing economic and social challenges emerging as the COVID pandemic recedes.

As PCC’s President and Superintendent of the PCC District, Dr. Endrijonas presides over a county-wide network of educational institutions and state and regionally based mandates. PCC is the designated coordinator of the Los Angeles Regional Consortium (LARC), a collaboration of the County’s 19 community colleges. In that role, the school – and especially its EWD division – is working to coordinate countywide efforts to streamline educational systems that meet the labor force demands of regional businesses and industries. Launched just in January 2022, the newly established LARC is now processing the immense volume of accumulated data related to those efforts as it sets itself as the “go-to data resource” for the County’s education, workforce, labor, and industry sectors.

PCC, the LARC, and their EWD colleagues across the County are now working at crafting several variations of workforce and occupational ‘rubber’ that will drive the region’s industrial engines forward on its economic recovery ‘road.’

 

… With Everyone at the Table …

The exceptional talent that populated the day’s roster of panelists indicates the value their agencies place on this discussion. Moderated by Jessica Ku Kim, the Chief Deputy of the Department of Economic Opportunity for the County of Los Angeles (who knows a thing or two about workforce development on a macro scale), the panel’s expertise spanned visionary endeavor to large government investment. A PCC alum and entrepreneur and representatives from Los Angeles County (LAC), the California Community Colleges Chancellors Office (CCCCO), PCC, and the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) each provided their unique perspectives on how these issues are impacting the work that they do. Their comments reflected how their agency or effort is or will be addressing these critical concerns.

 

… Talking About: Declining Enrollment

The declining enrollment numbers across California’s higher ed systems are of particular concern to all. For schools, fewer students also means fewer resources with which to build and sustain high-quality programming. For businesses and industries, fewer students mean a smaller and less qualified workforce with which to generate future growth. For the government, fewer students may mean reduced state revenues and a higher future demand for social services. Each of the five panelists offered their particular input on this topic:

Will Walls

The perspective of panelist Will Walls is particularly unique; he was a nontraditional student and is a PCC graduate and entrepreneur. His personal experience informed this response. As a new student, he was at a complete loss when he first entered the campus, not knowing where to go or how to start. In his words, “students don’t know what they don’t know. Schools need to do better at informing potential and returning students of all available options and opportunities.”

Dr. Micah Young

Dr. Micah Young, PCC’s Dean of Health Sciences, responded with his own question: how effective is the faculty in connecting its work to achieving student goals? Dr. Young believes that a close interface between teacher and student can enhance the student’s experience and encourage further attendance.

Sandra Sanchez

As interim vice chancellor of the CCCCO, Sandra Sanchez oversees the state-based Strong Workforce Program (SWP), the California Apprenticeship Initiative, and the California Adult Education Program, among many others. She revealed that the Chancellor’s office is changing regulations and developing new data-based policies to facilitate the introduction of promising new approaches that support student enrollment and retention across all of California’s 116 community colleges. She emphasized the Chancellor’s office’s attention to data and its growing reliance on that information to track and report on student and college success rates.

Martin Hernandez

Martin Hernandez is the internship coordinator for the LA County Department of Arts & Culture, the largest such program in the country. He recruits students for existing internships. In his experience, having on-campus personnel who are invested in championing the internship option among faculty is a critical step and opens the door to more work-based learning opportunities. He also noted that misaligned values separate the college’s focus from that of the student. If the college tracks retention and persistence numbers but not student graduation and job placement numbers, then it’s not focused on helping students achieve their goals. In his words, “the school and the student should be rowing in the same direction.”

Kelly Lobianco

As the Executive Director for the newly established Economic and Workforce Development Branch of the LA County Department of Economic Opportunity, Kelly Lobianco is well versed in growing workforce development and social enterprise programming. She agrees that a shared vision of success across the EWD environment is critical for each of its elements to achieve its individual goals. With several county agencies now clustered under the single, County-based EWD branch roof, she is confident that her agency will be able to provide support and resources for the countywide EWD effort. She sees that sector as being populated by many “customers,” each of which requires a different platform of services. She includes students in her definition of ‘customer,’ as well as businesses, industries, schools, think tanks, etc. Her office will engage with and leverage those community resources to enhance economic and social enterprise success at the macro level.

 

The compelling takeaway from this part of the conversation is that workforce training is and will remain a critical element of the community’s economic growth. It is in everyone’s best interest to ensure that all potential learners have access to the resources they individually need to find, be trained for, and secure a financially rewarding job.

The next article in this edition of the Pulse features the balance of the roundtable discussion on equally critical EWD initiatives. The next edition of the Pulse will feature the contributions of the conference’s two keynote speakers, Dr. Su Jin Jez, Executive Director of California Competes, and Stephen Cheung, President of the LA Economic Development Corporation and the World Trade Center LA.

Reducing Barriers Facilitates the Future of Work

Pam Sornson, JD on November 14, 2022

Declining enrollment numbers weren’t the only concern discussed at the recent Future of Work Conference hosted by the Economic and Workforce Development (EWD) division at Pasadena City College (PCC). The event’s five panelists, each bringing a unique perspective to the conversation, also addressed ancillary issues that are impacting today’s higher education, industrial, and workforce development sectors. All were aware that these topics also present significant barriers to student success and also, therefore, economic success.

 

Inequities

Data suggest that current policies and practices create adverse outcomes for a disproportionately large percentage of African and Latinx students. According to the Pell Institute, 62% of learners from high-income families graduate with a bachelor’s degree, compared to only 13% of learners from under-resourced communities. In many cases, lack of funding is the problem. However, students from these populations also struggle to find resources to sustain them through their education. They are more readily available to learners from more stable economic backgrounds. A lack of transportation, child care, and other family and social obligations frequently force these students to choose between an education and living their life. Panelists were asked to comment on how to reduce or remove these barriers.

Will Walls commented on the fact that out-of-state students face the additional barrier of higher tuition. Conventional college tuition strategies often provide in-state students with reduced rates compared to those of students coming from other locations, with no thought given to their suppressed economic situation. The practice inhibits some potential students from pursuing their education in California. Walls also suggested that many students in this economically depressed cohort group struggle to feel welcome on campus. He believes that a dedicated outreach to each student, offering the assistance they need to find the specific resources they want, would encourage many, if not most, to remain in or return to school.

Sandra Sanchez agreed with Walls. She asserted that students needed to know that they belonged on campus unconditionally, regardless of their social, economic, or ethnic status. She believes that the schools should shoulder the burden of facilitating access to resources so that when students declare they can’t find what they need, there is a school representative nearby to help them. Kelly Lobianco followed up by suggesting that colleges track student activities not only through the undergraduate process but also after graduation and into their careers. Additionally, Martin Hernandez believed that it is as important to understand the kinds of support each student needs as it is to understand what their ultimate educational goal might be. He noted that the definition of “student success” is as personal as each student’s identity. Schools should work to help their learners achieve their individual definitions of success.

Dr. Micah Young added that school personnel and students should actively engage in “value” conversations, asserting that the values offered by the institution may not match the values expected by the student. He sees two styles of “valuation” that can help both the institution and the learner clarify what they believe it is true:

The value of education as a standalone asset. Does the student benefit as much from the college experience as they do from the learning they’re achieving?

The value of a career. Is the student more interested and invested in attaining that future goal than they are in the means they pursue to achieve it?

Dr. Young suggests that learners attend higher education programs for different reasons; knowing what those are helps the learner and the college define their expectations of “educational success.”

 

 

Opportunities

Panelists were asked to comment on their experience of barriers within the workforce and economic development system as a whole. Happily, they chose to discuss new opportunities that have emerged because of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Martin Hernandez and Sandra Sanchez, the unique circumstances of the coronavirus compelled positive evolutions in their organizations that might have taken years or decades to appear, if at all.

Hernandez was proud to report that his program grew substantially over the course of 2020 and 2021. Instead of remaining at a limiting four-month term, which was its norm, his internship opportunities were extended out to nine months, and added remote and hybrid (on-site/remote) internship formats as standard options, as well (dependent on the needs of the business, of course). He has received very positive feedback from his student interns and is tracking data to determine whether the programs for whom he recruits are reaping a similar benefit.

Sanchez is also proud of how the community colleges pivoted so quickly and comprehensively to an entirely online format. Those transitions reduced the perceived barriers to a more digital educational landscape and, instead, helped both instructors and the instructed gain new skills and deeper insights about their shared subject matter. Consequently, the CCCCO updated outdated regulations to allow more flexibility to teachers and faculty about how they offer their lessons. The new rules make it much easier for individual teachers to introduce work-based learning opportunities into their curricula as a fundamental element of their program.

 

 

Shared Visions of Success

Finally but not least, Kim asked the panel to share their thought on what the LA region could do at this moment as a unified system to support this educational and economic evolution. Collectively, three insights were advanced:

Kelly Lobianco commented that schools should bear the burden of moving learners through initial engagement and into their career opportunity. Existing systems encountered by new students are too often unwieldy and confusing and put off those potential learners who become overwhelmed.

As voiced by Will Walls: write a collective success story. Each agency is contributing resources and energy to these initiatives. Gather those individual histories to tell the full tale of what Los Angeles County has been doing, the successes it’s already had, the lessons it’s learned, and the directions it plans to go.

Martin Hernandez emphasized gathering a complete picture. The entities appearing in today’s conference are just a few of the hundreds of organizations across the county that are also contributing effort to these initiatives. What can we learn from them, he asks. And how can we use their experience to inform and enhance our own endeavors?

The conference’s timeline of a scant three hours was not expected to facilitate an in-depth conversation on any individual issue. Instead, the panelists and keynote speakers provided unique observations and information to improve the understanding of conference attendees of the issues facing Los Angeles County in its quest for economic development.

 

The next edition of the Pulse will share the information and insights offered by our two exceptional keynote speakers, Dr. Su Jin Jez, the Executive Director of California Competes, and Stephen Cheung, President of the LA Economic Development Corporation and the World Trade Canter LA.

California’s Community Colleges Weigh in on Barriers to Work-based Learning

Pam Sornson, JD on October 31, 2022

One challenge facing many college students is to identify and pursue an educational pathway that ties directly to both their chosen career path and relevant labor demand. The issue may not be that the student’s preferences or resources aren’t appropriate or sufficient; the problem may be that the pathway they seek still needs to be created. The problem is confounded when the student also needs the ancillary resources necessary to assist their educational efforts. Consequently, many college-age students (and especially Community College students) elect not to pursue higher education at all rather than struggle to find something that they want to do, have the ability to do, and can find a job doing.

 

Research. Revelations. Relevance.

Today’s higher education system is grappling with how to appropriately train learners to be truly prepared for their work life. At the November 8th  Future of Work Conference 2022, hosted by the Economic and Workforce Development Division (EWD) at Pasadena City College (PCC), panelists will discuss this concern as it relates to work-based learning and on-the-job training. In too many cases, those learners with the most need for such educational opportunities are also the least likely to find them accessible.

This reality is especially true for Community College students, according to a summer 2022 survey conducted by College Pulse (with support from Kaplan) and Inside Higher Ed. That data revealed that 42% of surveyed Community College students reported having had access (virtually or in person) to internship opportunities, compared to 64% of four-year university students. The frustrated young people voiced several barriers that prevented them from pursuing this sometimes critical career-engaging option:

They couldn’t afford to take a non-paid internship, having financial obligations to support themselves and their families.

They didn’t have the time to “work for free” while also attending classes, working for pay, and caring for others.

They needed supporting resources to back them up if they were to focus on an internship or apprenticeship placement. Some struggled to find reliable transportation, while others were experiencing housing or food instability.

The realities for the Community College student body population are, a significant percentage of the time, decidedly different from those of students who attend four-year colleges. The latter group often is populated by learners from financially stable homes, with a broad range of support services available, and who have had exposure to more – and more varied – employment training options.

From the educational and employment perspectives, the reality of lack of access to career-relevant, on-the-job training is equally bleak:

The cultural ‘norm’ of unpaid internships or apprenticeships established this fundamentally inequitable ‘training’ structure decades ago. Wealthier students could afford to work on an unpaid basis because their families supported them during those periods. Not-so-wealthy families did not have the same capacity.

The design and application of today’s “traditional” on-the-job training opportunities were not necessarily intended to benefit the learner. Instead, many existing internships, apprenticeships, and on-site training opportunities are designed to meet the employer’s needs. Without consideration of the influences on the student’s life, employers have no incentive to facilitate flexible work hours or remote work options.

In many cases, the student doesn’t enter the internship position with a fully fledged skill set because their socioeconomic status has not exposed them to conventional work and occupational habits.

Unfortunately, despite these metrics, the overwhelming majority of Community College students surveyed (86%) who had found internship or apprenticeship options declared that their “experiential learning” opportunity was very helpful in preparing them for their future occupations. In contrast, only 62% of students enrolled at four-year colleges had the same sense of success in their on-the-job training position.

 

California’s Community Colleges Come Together to Examine the Concern

The California Community College Chancellors’ Office (CCCCO) has been working on this puzzle for many years. It has focused its research efforts on evolving cultural, industrial, occupational, and business influences to understand the underlying tensions that exist in those sectors. Its data is now driving its decision-making to reverse obsolete, nonproductive strategies while devising new ways of training a complex and diverse workforce.

In collaboration with its curriculum committee, the CCCCO recently (July 25, 2022) revised its “Work Experience Education” (WEE) regulations to align those rules with the current push to develop work-focused, on-the-job training opportunities. The original WEE rules were adopted in 1971, a full 20 years before the system adopted ‘Workforce and Economic Development’ as its third primary mission. Now recognized as archaic, they were changed to fulfill mandates established by the State’s Vision for Success initiative and to build into the educational infrastructure the supports needed by students whose needs extend beyond the classroom.

The evolving perspective from the State level has encouraged college administrators to find ways to integrate work-based learning options into core curricula so students aren’t compelled to choose one or the other as their primary educational process.

The CCCCO also encourages schools to develop around individual students networks of employers and industry professionals to support them as they progress through training and launch their careers.

And it encourages employers or potential employers to consider creating paid internship and apprentice positions so that students from all economic levels can access that critical occupational training.

In its role as a contributor to the EWD initiative, the CCCCO recognizes that the journey to a fully evolved workforce development-focused Community College system is in its infancy stage. However, combining its efforts with the activities of individual schools, businesses, and industries will eventually lead to a constellation of educational and training options that will resolve many of the community’s challenges. It will:

provide students with well-compensated occupational opportunities,

businesses with a highly skilled flavor force, and

the State with a reliable, robust, fully functional economic foundation.

The cumulative economic impact of hundreds of thousands of community college alums working in California totals approximately $109 billion in annual revenues to the State. Removing the barriers to education and training that prevent hundreds of thousands more potential learners from contributing their effort to the community cause can only help everyone – learners, schools, employers, industries, and the State as a whole.

 

Pasadena City College Leads LA County Community College EWD Conversation

Pam Sornson, JD on October 31, 2022

Pam Sornson, JD

November 1, 2022

Pasadena City College (PCC) is not a randomly chosen location for the November 8th, 2022, Future of Work Conference (FOW). For years, PCC leadership has focused on building a ‘workforce development’ campus by designing and implementing programs to support its student body and corporate neighbors. Today’s leaders, Superintendent/President Dr. Erica Endrijonas and Vice President, Economic and Workforce Development Salvatrice Cummo, are carrying that effort forward by hosting events like the FOW conference and engaging with all entities involved in the Los Angeles County and Southern California economic development sector. Their individual and unique histories combine to create an insightful, informed, and inspiring team, fully capable of driving forward the complex network of regional and state-based EWD initiatives.

 

Salvatrice Cummo

Gathering together assemblies of experts to address the hard issues facing Community College constituents is a skill that comes naturally to Salvatrice Cummo, Vice President of the Economic and Workforce Development division (EWD) at Pasadena City College (PCC). Economic growth and corporate development have been her focus throughout her career, and she’s now well-versed in virtually every avenue and nuance of the business and industry infrastructure.

Cummo took leadership of the EWD division in late 2017, having led its Small Business Development Center (SBDC) for four years prior to that, and directing the business development activities of the Montebello Chamber of Commerce for six years before that. With a Bachelor’s degree focused on commerce and a Master’s degree focused on entrepreneurship and innovation, her expertise is fueled by both education and experience.

PCC’s EWD and its connections with local, regional, and statewide economic development partners have grown significantly during her tenure:

The division itself has expanded with the addition of the Robert G. Freeman Center for Career and Completion, the Workforce Training Center, the PCC Extension, the Los Angeles Regional Consortium (LARC), and curricula that fulfill mandates directed by Perkins grants and California’s Strong Workforce Program.

Cummo is an active member of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC), the LA Tech Talent Pipeline, the Bixel Exchange, and the San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership (SGVEP).

In partnership with the PCC foundation, she launched the first-ever “Business Council” to bring together leadership from national and international corporations with established connections to the LA industrial community. She is also responsible for launching the “Startup Collaborative,” a group of businesses, think tanks, and economic and workforce laboratories, to contribute to developing and designing labor force-focused educational systems.

Cummo also serves as PCC’s liaison to California’s state government, where she interacts with a network of initiatives and programs, including those centered on Adult Education, Apprenticeships, Economic and Workforce Development, the Perkins grants, and the Strong Workforce Program.

As moderator of the November 8th FOW conference, Cummo will guide the panelists through discussions about how to break down barriers to work-based learning opportunities.

 

Dr. Erica Endrijonas

Optimizing opportunity appears to be a hallmark of Dr. Erica Endrijonas, Superintendent/President of Pasadena City College (PCC). As an alum of Cal State Northridge, she has benefited directly from the State’s commitment to affordable higher education. As the first openly gay president of PCC, Dr. Endrijonas is also uniquely familiar with societal barriers that impede forward progress for marginalized populations. Consequently, she is determined to ensure that California’s community colleges continue their role as drivers for social mobility for all community members.

Having worked through several positions in the California Community College system, Dr. Endrijonas assumed her role as PCC president in the Fall of 2019. She brought with her 20 years of teaching and administrative experience:

While at CSU, Dominguez Hills, she served as Dean and taught several humanities courses (including Literature and the Rights of Women, Success and Values in the United States, and Death and Dying). She continued on at Santa Barbara City College as Dean of Educational Programs and overseer of that school’s Business, Health and Human Services, and Technologies divisions. She served as Executive Vice President at Oxnard Community College and Los Angeles Valley College President before taking her position in Pasadena.

In addition to teaching and administrating, Endrijonas also sat on several boards of directors, including those for the community college system’s Chief Instructional Officers, Chief Student Services Officers, and the Association for Occupational Education. She participated in numerous economic and social organizations, including the Valley Industry and Commerce Association and the Valley Economic Alliance. Her work as chair of the California Community College Athletic Association reflects her love of football, and she was an active advocate and Co-chair for the National LGBTQ Presidents in Higher Education Board.

Her tenure as president of PCC began only months before the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. Applying her usual determination and ingenuity, Dr. Endrijonas was diligent about hygiene and sanitation standards, physical safety standards, and, eventually, vaccination protocols and mandates. By February 2022, COVID testing on campus revealed a positivity rate of only 1.8%, compared to LA County’s 12.5% rate.

As the immediate threat of the pandemic recedes, Dr. Endrijonas is turning her full focus to PCC’s new role as the Coordinator of the Los Angeles Regional Consortium (LARC) and all the opportunities that the new status conveys. The LARC is a collective of Los Angeles County’s 19 community colleges, and its purpose is to coordinate the EWD efforts of all schools to align with local and regional labor and workforce demands. PCC’s role as LARC Coordinator will impact EWD efforts across LA County and influence the lives of thousands of community college students. Endrijonas’s education and experience in workforce development and Community College success will serve her and her school well as that initiative rolls out.

 

Dr. Endrijonas will open the FOW conference with welcoming remarks.

Introducing the Future of Work Conference Panelists, Part Two

Pam Sornson, JD on October 18, 2022

Pam Sornson, JD

October 18, 2022

Of course, there is no ‘workforce’ without workers. And, increasingly, those workers need advanced skills and occupationally directed training to find and secure the jobs they want doing the work they want to do. Global events of the past decade have driven the evolution of skill sets beyond those typically achieved through high school. Technology, in particular, has transformed many occupations, most of which are still highly valued and, in many cases, well compensated. In addition to “soft skills” (critical thinking, active learning, problem-solving, and resilience, among many others), today’s and tomorrow’s workforce must also achieve competency in technological skills, such as digital marketing, automation management, information security, Internet of Things management, etc. To gain these skills and earn a satisfying career, most workers in the future will need to attend some form of post-high school education program. California’s community colleges are building the foundations to provide that strata of educational excellence.

Not surprisingly, the Future of Work conference includes education experts as panelists, two of whom are also featured guests on the PCC EWD podcast, Will Walls and Dr. Su Jin Jez.

 

Academics

Sandra Sanchez, Interim Vice Chancellor, California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office

Ms. Sanchez has a long history of involvement in the workforce development sector, having managed that division at Santa Monica College and in her role as Dean of Economic and Workforce Development at Los Angeles Harbor College.

She is presently serving as Interim Vice Chancellor in the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. Here, she maintains a vigilant eye over a diverse plethora of workforce development aspects, including entrepreneurial development, adult education, apprenticeships, nursing and allied health, and K-12 partnerships. Her contribution to the conference discussion will ensure that these critical educational avenues are included as fundamental elements of workforce development.

 

Micah Young, M.D., Dean, Health Sciences Division, Pasadena City College

Pasadena City College facilitates a robust catalog of healthcare education programs, each of which is designed to provide the well-skilled healthcare workers that are in such high demand now and will remain in demand for the foreseeable future. Employment in health-related occupations is anticipated to grow as much as 13% between 2021 and 2031, adding approximately 2,000,000 new jobs over that decade. The healthcare sector is projected to grow faster than any other occupational industrial category.

In the role of leader of the Health Sciences division, Dr. Young ensures that appropriately qualified students attain admission to his programs. He also assures that the academic and professional instructors offer training and skills relating to all aspects of these health-related occupations, including mastery of the emerging technological expertise demanded by post-COVID and evolving technology capacities.

 

Learners

One voice that is too frequently left out of the workforce development conversation is that of the student. Significant educational resources are directed toward achieving ‘student success.’ That value is commonly measured by institution-based metrics, such as retention rates, graduation rates, time to completion, and academic performance, to name just a few. From a student perspective, however, educational “success” is measured not by what was achieved in the classroom but instead by achievements gained in the work world.

Will Walls, Student Leader, Pasadena City College

PCC alum Will Walls joined in a podcast with Salvatrice Cummo, PCC’s Vice President for Economic and Workforce Development, to share his Community College experience as a student. Entering Community College after a long former career, Walls was the quintessential “nontraditional learner.” He was older and had already attained success in another field. However, he was also a “typical” Community College student: he wanted to move his life in a different direction. Walls knew he wanted to change his life, but he did not understand what he wanted to do. Inspired by the college success of a friend, he chose to attend their alma mater to achieve a comparable level of success. He not only found a career he loves (using his linguistic anthropology degree to provide sales pitch coaching to small business entrepreneurs), he also gained critical occupational skills working for PCC’s Robert G. Freeman Center for Career and Completion. By his own account, his PCC college experience has indeed changed his life in ways he could not have predicted.

 

All of the Above

Dr. Su Jin Jez, Executive Director, California Competes

Dr. Jez cites her parents’ challenging early circumstances as the drivers of her personal pursuit of higher educational excellence. She is a first-generation college attendee and holds both a master’s and a Ph.D. degree from Stanford University. She’s acted as an Associate Professor of Public Policy and Administration at California State University Sacramento and as the Associate Director of the Sacramento State Doctorate in Educational Leadership program. Her applied research has provided guidance for California’s community colleges, the State University system, and its Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education. She has published extensively and presents across the country on critical higher education and system change issues.

Currently, Dr. Jez is the executive director of open “California Competes,” a higher education think tank working to solve the state’s challenging social and economic problems. The agency conducts rigorous research studies to inform decision-makers and workforce and economic development stakeholders about issues, concerns, problems, and opportunities emerging throughout the state’s active industrial complex. Additionally, the organization embeds equitable and racially just principles and concepts into its work to influence and direct appropriate workforce outcomes. Dr. Jez will offer the opening keynote presentation.

The Future of Work panel discussion will be invaluable and is not to be missed.

 

Keep your eyes on your inbox for the November 1st edition of the Pulse, where we will introduce the education and workforce development experts from Pasadena City College who will be hosting, guiding, and sharing their wisdom with Future of Work conference attendees.

 

Introducing the Future of Work Conference Panelists, Part One

Pam Sornson, JD on October 18, 2022

Pam Sornson, JD

October 18, 2022

The Economic and Workforce Development division (EWD) of Pasadena City College (PCC) is hosting its 4th annual Future of Work Conference on November 8th. This year’s themes revolve around removing barriers to education and increasing job placement and work-based learning opportunities for students of all ages. Panelists come from a variety of economic, industry, and educational organizations, all of whom are working together to rebuild the economy to meet 21st-century goals and aspirations.

 

The challenges are daunting. The country and the state are experiencing an odd combination of a low unemployment rate and a high volume of unfilled job positions. The factors contributing to those situations are many and varied, as well:

Low unemployment indicates not just that people have found work but also that people are no longer looking for jobs.

The high number of unfilled job openings reflects that at least some of those jobs are unappealing (low pay, challenging schedules, inflexibility) while others require emerging new skill sets that potential workers do not have.

Overlaying both situations are the regulatory, cultural, and bureaucratic barriers that permeate society. The Future of Work conversation on November 8th will address these realities and more.

 

The Who’s Who of This Year’s Panel, Part One:

Los Angeles County has prioritized workforce development to broaden its industrial and economic foundation. There are seven target industries in the County, which, together, employ hundreds of thousands of workers. These industries and their constituent businesses will drive a significant percentage of the County’s economic growth over the next decade. They will need not just more workers but also well-trained and highly skilled workers. Several leaders actively engaged in LA County’s economic development efforts will be sharing their insights.

 

Kelly LoBianco, Executive Director, Economic and Workforce Development, County of Los Angeles

In 2021, the Los Angeles County council began developing an internal department directed specifically at workforce development. The then-existing “Workforce Development, Aging and Community Services” department (WDACS) was divided into two branches, and Ms. LoBianco is the inaugural Executive Director of the new workforce development branch. Ms. LoBianco brings 15+ years of government and public sector experience to this newly created role. Her work encompasses aligning the activities of several different county agencies under the auspices of the “workforce development” label, including the departments of strategic economic development, economic and workforce advocacy, small business assistance, and workforce development. She will also lead the County’s effort to connect education, business, and industry resources to the labor force they need to succeed and grow.

Martin Hernandez, Senior Program Associate, Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture (LADAC)

Los Angeles County and its 88 cities support a thriving economic and culturally significant nonprofit, artistic, and international community, in addition to being home to the global film, music, and television production sector. In fact, cultural and creative organizations comprise the 4th largest business sector in the County, generating annual revenues of over $110 billion. The LA County Arts and Culture department supports and fosters these thriving enterprises by providing grants, technical assistance, and professional development supports for nonprofits, community programs, and county-wide arts education initiatives. The department’s Cultural Equity and Inclusion Initiative (CEII) ensures that the cultures of all LA county residents are included and celebrated at all levels of all of its activities.

In his role as Senior Program Associate for the LADAC, Mr. Hernandez manages the arts internship program, which is the largest paid internship organization in America. College students earn 400 hours of paid work experience at art-based nonprofits in the region, gaining the expertise and skills they need to lead their own creative organizations into the future. Additionally, he implements and oversees educational and professional development efforts for each cohort group.

 

Stephen Cheung, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President, Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC)

While not technically a “county” organization, the nonprofit LAEDC provides research, advocacy, and leadership to LA county’s industrial and business communities. Using company, labor force, and industrial data, the membership of the LAEDC contributes knowledge and resources to enhance and grow countrywide economic opportunities. And the agency is always focused on establishing and maintaining equitable and sustainable systems throughout its economic advocacy programming.

Perhaps its most important contributions to the County’s economic situation are its industry cluster initiatives, which survey and assess an overarching industrial sector’s market and labor demands to create needed connections and solve the problems that develop within and beyond the perimeters of those systems. LAEDC leadership shares its information with business and industry agencies and government departments to ensure all stakeholders can recognize and address both existing and emerging challenges and opportunities. The roster of current LA EDC industry councils includes the E4 Mobility Alliance, the Bioscience Council, the Digital Media and Entertainment Council, and the SoCal Aerospace Council.

Recently installed as the CEO of the LAEDC, Mr. Cheung previously served as that agency’s Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President, as well as the President of the World Trade Center Los Angeles, the Secretary General of Foreign Affairs for Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, and the Director of International Trade for the Port of Los Angeles. He brings his extensive economic, trade, and social services experience to his new role as leader of the LAEDC. He will be offering the closing keynote address at the conference.

 

Future of Work conference in-person and online attendees will gain deeper insights and a broader perspective about LA County’s economic future because of the depth and bread of the knowledge base shared by these three panelists.

 

Searching for Solutions to Declining College Attendance

Pam Sornson, JD on October 4, 2022

Pam Sornson, JD

October 4, 2022

None too soon, colleges are convening with economic and workforce development partners to discuss declines in student enrollments. On November 8th, beginning at 8:00 AM, Pasadena City College will host its 4th annual Future of Work Conference to engage with industry, government, and business leaders who are focused on the higher education sector. Among several relevant topics, they will be discussing the significance of declining enrollments in community colleges and strategies to address that concern.

 

Community Colleges Affected

Community college enrollments dropped significantly at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, as schools closed to protect against spreading that disease. The declines in enrollment in fall 2020 and through 2021 were expected as the pandemic continued. However, having access to vaccines and as a growing percentage of the population was vaccinated, colleges were hoping for an upturn in enrollments for on-site attendance by spring 2022. Many, if not most, industry observers also expected that enrollments would rise again throughout 2022 as the world returned to its “new normal.”

That did not happen. In previous years, when events such as economic downturns caused comparable public distress, college enrollments typically rose as newly unemployed people looked for new avenues of employment. Circumstances specific to the pandemic interfered with that typical enrollment trajectory:

Students or potential students who were parents had children at home who needed care.

Those who relied on public transportation elected not to mingle with potentially unprotected strangers.

And many elected to pursue opportunities for newly available employment instead of returning to school. Employers who desperately needed staff to recover their business were paying higher wages and offering better benefits than they had in the past. For some people, a higher paycheck immediately was more valuable than upskilling or retraining for a new occupation.

The current decline, now at 7.4% since spring term 2020, is continuing a trend that began in 2012. Community colleges have absorbed the majority of that decline, with their enrollments accounting for 5% of that loss. The challenge for all participants in the Community College arena – schools, businesses, and governments – is to find ways to attract those students back to school.

 

Reversing the Decline

How to slow or reverse the enrollment decline is the main topic of college conversations these days. Schools have implemented successful student engagement strategies for many years, so they already have systems and protocols in place. However, the potential student landscape has changed due to the pandemic and the workforce and economic evolutions that it caused or affected. Student engagement staff now need to modify their practices to reflect their future students’ new expectations and demands. Suggestions about what those modifications might be are many and varied:

Expanding options for attendance will be key to the success of any outreach project. Students now expect at least some part of their educational journey to be through online learning and/or work-based learning.

Provide solutions to their challenges. Potential learners who understand college-based support options for financial aid, child care, and transportation, to name just three, have more tools available with which to craft their college journey.

Emphasize the value of a college education. While, yes, many jobs and occupations currently pay well without requiring any level of higher education. However, the majority of college graduates will earn significantly more than their high school graduate colleagues over the course of their career, in some cases, by $500,000 or more.

Open the strategy to include non-traditional learners, too. In many ways, the pandemic has already created a “non-traditional” college experience. Where students typically attended classes and sometimes lived only on campus, today, they can participate from virtually anywhere and access program materials at virtually any time. Consequently, the “potential student” population is significantly larger now than it was before COVID hit.

One entity focused on non-traditional college activities is Modern Campus, a think tank of higher education professionals. Through its online publication, The evoLLLution, the organization invites its members to contribute their personal and professional perspectives about obstacles and expansions in today’s higher education markets. Its Editor in Chief, Amrit Ahluwalia, shared his invaluable insights in a podcast conversation with Salvatrice Cummo, the podcast host and PCC’s Vice President of the Economic and Workforce Development Division.

 

Perhaps most importantly, educators and education administrators must engage with all participants in the economic and workforce development spheres of influence. The members of the National Governors Association advocate developing pathways for education, industrial, and economic development constituents to work together to achieve a well-educated and well-employed population. Their strategy pursues three critical objectives through ten articulated pathways:

The Objectives:

Build a lifelong learning ecosystem

Ensure technological resiliency

Fund and maintain comprehensive support.

The Pathways:

Align leadership in all sectors toward the same goals.

Develop a data infrastructure to track progress and direct decision-making.

Build a “credential bridge” to connect industry to education.

Focus on funding workforce needs and training.

Build technology resources to increase and maintain digital literacy.

Access employer, business, and industry participants as teachers and consultants.

Be a model employer – demonstrate through leadership and practices how the modern workforce should work.

Focus on funding life-long learning opportunities.

Discover and remove barriers that prevent access to higher education.

Encourage flexibility throughout the workforce development and employment systems to accommodate the changing needs of the evolving labor force.

Of course, the actual process of creating these pathways will be a collaborative endeavor encompassing the efforts and contributions of all sector participants. Each pathway will reflect the specific nuances, resources, and expectations that are unique to the people and entities involved. And the pathways themselves will continuously evolve as new resources and evolving expectations emerge.

 

The global community is struggling with many significant challenges. However, from those challenges, opportunities are materializing. The higher education sector has the capacity to address its declining enrollment problem while building an even better, more productive, and more successful workforce training environment. The Future of Work Conference on November 8th will explore these and other options and opportunities to entice new students to college and develop the new labor force that tomorrow’s economy requires.

 

Barriers to School = Barriers to Growth

Pam Sornson, JD on October 4, 2022

Pam Sornson, JD

October 4, 2022

While understanding how “Future of Work” (FoW) concepts impact industries, businesses, and educational institutions, it’s also critical to comprehend how those concepts apply to and impact the individual. The FoW terms “high-quality jobs,” “upward mobility,” and “career education” refer to occupational outcomes for society’s workforce, the millions of working individuals whose efforts contribute to and build the economy. When those workers are un- or underemployed, they suffer personal losses while the community suffers economic losses. Consequently, it’s important to recognize, measure, and remediate those non-employed losses as systems design strategies to reclaim economic success following periods of financial calamity.

 

The High Costs of Un- and Under-employment …

A myriad of economic, climate-related, and public health crises has thrown millions of people out of work over the past decade. While many have either returned to their old job or found a new career in the new economy, others have not fared so well. For a variety of reasons, some people have not yet returned to the workforce and remain unemployed or have returned in an employment capacity that does not reflect their qualifications or skill set – they are underemployed. The reasons former workers stay on in these economically suppressed situations vary. “Unemployed,” for example, can mean many things. Federal standards define “unemployed” as those who haven’t found work in 15 weeks of searching and those who’ve stopped looking after many weeks of not finding employment (‘discouraged’ workers). The “underemployed” class includes marginally attached workers (seasonal or gig workers) and those who are employed only part-time due to adverse economic conditions in their industry or occupation.

Both classes of restricted employment create challenges for the person and their community:

Unemployed people tend to spend less, so they contribute less to the overall economy. Additionally, that lack of employment also signals a lack of tax payments, which causes the loss of government revenues.

Many unemployed people also draw unemployment insurance benefits, which are financed primarily by taxes on businesses.

The un- and underemployed classes also suffer personal setbacks because of their situation. Research indicates that these distressed workers express more negative job attitudes, lower job satisfaction, and overall lower life satisfaction. The suppressed economic and career situation can also contribute to the deterioration of physical and mental health.

Additionally, being underemployed causes long-term restricting career effects, too, that can last for a decade or longer.

 

… While Job Openings Remain Unfilled

Even though many people remain unemployed, the number of unfilled job positions in the country has been growing. As of August 2022, companies posted more than 11 million job openings across America in virtually all sectors of all industries. Studies show that two job openings were available for every unemployed person. Further, survey respondents also shared why they were not taking available work.

For some, available positions didn’t pay well enough to sustain their lifestyles; some of them commented that they earned more monthly income from unemployment benefits than they would earn if they were working.

Others indicated that there were no jobs available near them.

Many claimed a lack of career advancement or development opportunities was also preventing them from finding the work they wanted.

Still others indicated that they did not have access to well-paying jobs due to employer bias and discrimination.

However, in many cases and because of evolutions in the global industrial complex, many un- and under-employed workers lack the skills that are now in demand in many emerging occupations. The “state” of work is changing as technology replaces human labor or renders entire workforces obsolete. Companies struggling to fill open positions also struggle to provide training for potential employees to learn the new skills those positions demand.

Making things more problematic is the fact that, in too many communities, there are no educational facilities or schools prepared to provide ‘just in time’ training for emerging skills. In many cases, the skills required are considered the “middle” skills related to vocational activities, and the number of dedicated vocational training schools has declined steadily for decades. Even when colleges and vocational schools are available, too many potential workers don’t understand what they offer or can’t overcome long-embedded institutional barriers that prevent them from gaining access.

 

Unnecessary Institutional Barriers to Education

Unfortunately, unlike the private sector, which was able to pivot quickly toward new ways of working as the COVID-19 pandemic continued, the schools best suited for providing middle-skilled training facilities, notably America’s Community College systems, were mired in legacy protocols due to outdated regulations and bureaucratic rigidity.

Outdated Regulations

Most often, institutional administrations are mandated to pursue and apply articulated rules and regulations. These regulations emerged over time as the school encountered a need for a specified policy and protocol in specific situations. At the time, the asserted framework made sense because it responded directly to a pain point experienced by the school, its students, or its community. However, the global application of a rule, regardless of the situational context of the moment, can often cause difficulties. For example, many Community College programs sometimes require full-time attendance or mandatory participation in program elements. Standards such as these two can prevent learners from engaging with those programs because they can’t attend when commanded by the school rule.

Bureaucratic Rigidity

Compounding the difficulties caused by outdated regulations are administrations that refuse to respond to emerging situations. Instead, they fall back blindly on long-established procedures as the only appropriate action to take at any time. For example, even while millions of teachers and students were compelled to embrace “online” learning, school boards and administrations were still tracking student “seat times,” “instructional minutes,” and “teacher contact hours.” The leadership at the Community College level isn’t immune to the pressure of maintaining bureaucracy. Their hesitation in innovating in the face of workforce and labor demands has caused many potential students to look elsewhere for their future.

 

These topics – institutional barriers to higher education – are the subjects of the upcoming “Future of Work Conference” to be held at Pasadena City College on November 8, 2022. Panelists from industry, government, and higher education will be discussing how their element of the workforce development initiative can innovate beyond rigid bureaucracy to meet the needs of learners who need help.

 

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