Pueblo Corporate College, the workforce development division of Pueblo Community College, in Colorado, provides highly customized training for new and established companies and can train employees right at the job site through the use of mobile learning labs. In fiscal 2012, the division provided 3,586 hours of training to 1,674 participants, generating $809,238 in revenue […]

Norwalk Community College (NCC), in Connecticut, is one of three colleges chosen by Jobs for the Future and Achieving the Dream to lead a STEM Regional Collaborative to prepare more students for high-paying “middle skill” STEM jobs. The STEM grant, funded by the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, emanated from strategic developments […]

Southwest Tennessee Community College is only 15 years old, but it has had nearly 100 percent success in placing students from its career programs into the workforce. College leaders attribute this success to a number of factors, including the relationships with industry professionals and constant outreach to students. The college’s career services department surveys students […]

Through partnerships with local manufacturers, universities and high schools, Harper College, in Illinois, is working to attract students to its newly revived Advanced Manufacturing program to help fill a workforce need. The college had suspended its manufacturing program several years ago but brought it back in 2012, in response to local industry needs. Manufacturers joined […]

Several community colleges in Ohio are launching programs in response to students’ needs. Right Skills Now (RSN) at Lorain County Community College (LCCC) is a skills-based job-training program that connects students to in-demand jobs. Northeast Ohio is a strong manufacturing region with lots of big players, such as U.S. Steel, Ford and Whirlpool, as well […]

Report after report has documented the growing need for more skilled labor in the U.S. workforce. In the most recent quarterly survey of the National Association for Business Economics, 35 percent of respondents said their companies experienced shortages of skilled labor, up from about 25 percent in the three previous surveys. A study by the […]

Community colleges share a mission: to serve their local populations. These programs — some of which may seem a little unusual to regions without these kinds of industries — are examples of how the skills needed can go beyond typical areas of study. Lassen Community College, in Susanville, California Associate degree: Firearms Repair and General […]

Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC) was in the vanguard of the Michigan New Jobs Training Program, which enables community colleges to contract with local businesses to provide specialized training for new employees. The college was the first of the state’s 28 two-year institutions to enter such an agreement, and it has since grown its list […]

This excerpted article, by Ellie Ashford, originally appeared at Community College Daily. Community colleges across the country are strengthening ties with employers, industry groups and workforce organizations through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership (IMCP) initiative. Twelve partnerships were approved for the IMCP designation in 2014, and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker […]

It’s common knowledge, or at least a long-held assumption, that students get more than financial value from a college education. But how do you assess a nonmonetary return on investment? Christina Whitfield, vice chancellor for research and analysis for the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS), decided to find out. Creating a degree-alignment tool […]