What would it look like if a county Workforce Coalition took on building an educated workforce to meet employers' demands?

What would it look like if a county Workforce Coalition took on building an educated workforce to meet employers' demands?

That's what Lawrence County Indiana is trying to do (source: http://www.wbiw.com/2020/02/17/lawrence-county-workforce-coalition-works-to-build-an-educated-workforce-to-meet-the-demands-of-employers/ )

  • A grant from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development provides nearly $700,000 to address the "weakness" of  an uneducated or low-skilled workforce. With matching funds this was over a million dollars.
  • The three goals  of the Coalition are:
  1. Prepare all students for careers while in high school
  2. Increase Post Secondary Education
  3. Increase Adult Education and Training Programs, certifications, and employment.
  • The  five main Strategies behind these programs are to:

  1. Increase the use,  by youth and adults in the region, of the Career Center
  2. Increase the number of internships and apprenticeships in the region
  3. Increase job skills of unemployed and underemployed with outreach to justice-involved residents
  4. Create a PTECH School
  5. Develop and implement an awareness initiative around career and job opportunities
  • In Lawrence county only 27 percent of the people have a college degree. The Workforce Coalition goal is to increase this to 60 percent
  • The Coalition has been trying to increase the number of adults with a high school equivalency certificate through two adult basic skills programs: the Vincennes Adult Education Program  and the Vincennes University ABE Program
  • The Lawrence County Coalition has also increased the number of student business internships in the student's related field of study. The Coalition exceeded its goal of 120 positions by 33 positions

If your county has taken on building an educated workforce to meet employers' demands, what does that look like for businesses, students and programs there?

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Program management Group

Comments

ACTE's 2019 Year in Review of State Policies Impacting Career and Technical Education (CTE)  does a good job of laying out the 29 policies affecting workforce development, and 20 policies related to adult education.  

You can read more what happened in Indiana (p. 19), or the policies that passed in your state, and their intended impact on adult learners and employers.  This is a great resource to explore in response to David's question.   Are the policies matching with what you're seeing in your state?  Are they moving adult learners in the direction to meet employers' needs?

Mike Cruse

Career Pathways Moderator

michaelcruse74@gmail.com