In June, Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation that will provide California’s community colleges with up to $200 million annually to expand career technical education programs. Named the Strong Workforce Program, this aims to encourage community colleges to “create new career pathways, increase faculty, strengthen curriculum and improve regional cooperation among colleges, businesses and other groups.”
The program will boost the number of skilled workers produced by community colleges in high-demand industry and service sectors for high school and college students.
In its wisdom, the Strong Workforce Program Task Force identified 25 recommendations, organized into seven categories, to maximize student success and return on investment. The recommendations range from identifying workforce data and outcomes to integrating more industry professionals as faculty.
I believe this program could be a game-changer, particularly for millennials who have been hamstrung by the economy and job market over the past eight years. However, in order for the program to reach its fullest potential, community colleges must address some bigger-picture considerations that extend beyond its current vision.
First, the Strong Workforce Program must identify the employment needs of regional economies. As it is currently written, the program calls for regional coordination, including communication between community colleges, business and industry representatives. Indeed, this is a good thing.
However, as we know, California is a state comprised of very different regions, from technology in San Francisco to entertainment in Los Angeles to agriculture and government in Sacramento. Addressing the employment needs of regional economies while improving regional coordination requires in-depth polling and focus group research, which will help determine the jobs in highest demand by region according to business owners in the regions.
Second, the program should include an intense focus on identifying jobs with greater “career mobility.” Career mobility means professionals can transition into higher-level, higher paying jobs and establish a long-term career trajectory. Workers, millennials especially, need to be able to ascend in their careers, make lateral moves or change roles in a career that result in future benefits. Industries such retail and food service offer limited career mobility opportunities.
Finally, the Strong Workforce Task Force should take the long view. Short term job trends or sudden shifts in employment should be secondary concerns to long-term considerations. The focus should be on where high paying jobs will be in the future.
The Wall Street Journal reported in April that the country is at risk of massive shortages in areas such as occupational therapists, railroad engineers, mathematicians, and machinists over the next 10 to 15 years. In Los Angeles, multiple news reports have indicated that skilled trade professionals, like electricians and plumbers, already have their pick of jobs, and demand is expected to grow.
The fact is, job development programs are an excellent return on investment for employees, governments, taxpayers and students (particularly with a tuition-free first year for Los Angeles Unified School District students). As the Strong Workforce Program suggests, the opportunity exists for community colleges to become essential catalysts for California’s economic recovery and jobs creation at the local, regional and state levels.
To take advantage, however, we must first consider the bigger picture.
David W. Fleming is founding chairman of the Los Angeles County Business Federation. Bizfed will host a discussion on the challenges of secondary and higher education at the NextUp Forum by the BizFed Institute on Friday at L.A. Trade Tech.
