Community Colleges: The Economic Developer’s Workforce Partner

by Dale F. Campbell, Professor and Director, Community College Leadership Consortium & Futures Assembly, University of Florida, and Ellen M. Long, President, National Council for Continuing Education and Training and Principal, Long & Associates

The nation’s 1,100-plus community colleges are well known to economic developers as partners already in place to meet their region’s workforce needs. Yet even economic developers may be unaware of the wide-reaching impact of community colleges. Some fast facts:

• 50 percent of new nurses and the majority of health care workers are educated at community colleges.

• Close to 80 percent of firefighters, law enforcement officers, and EMTs are credentialed at community colleges.

• 95 percent of the businesses and organizations that employ community college graduates recommend community college workforce and training programs.

This article highlights a few innovative initiatives and partnerships that community colleges and economic developers have embarked upon to ensure that their communities have the necessary skills to retain, attract or grow desired industries. Three of the five programs are national award winners, having won the Community College Futures Assembly Bellwether Award in Workforce Development or the National Council of Continuing Education & Training (NCCET) Exemplary Program Award.¹ Both awards emphasize demonstrated results and provide lessons learned for those interested in replicating the initiatives at their local community colleges.

Responding to the need for a technologically advanced workforce

In the late 1990s, the American Forest and Paper Association (AF&PA) created the Agenda 2020 Technology Alliance to develop strategies to transform the American pulp and paper industry for global competitiveness by the year 2020. After the alliance identified five strategies based on research and technological innovation, the industry then needed a technologically advanced workforce to implement them.

As part of Alabama Southern Community College’s Industry Alliance for a Technologically Advanced Workforce, students gain skills that help meet the workforce needs of the region’s key employers.

An existing technical program and industry alliance at Alabama Southern Community College (ASCC) was selected as a workforce development model. The Alabama Southern Industry Alliance for a Technologically Advanced Workforce now includes eight advanced technology manufacturers in six rural counties. These companies collectively sponsor over 60 ASCC scholarships and provide internships in order to recruit top students into a pipeline to the region’s best jobs.

The scholarships and internships are for four advanced technology programs, depending upon industry needs: paper and chemical technology; instrumentation and electronics; industrial maintenance and electrical technology; and machine technology millwright. The 60 scholarships, valued at a total of $300,000, lead first to internships and then to jobs that typically start at over $35,000 a year.

This scholarships-internships-jobs partnership was pioneered in 1995 between Alabama Southern and CIBA Specialty Chemicals. In 1999, when the partner companies had grown to include Boise, Alabama River Pulp and Temple Inland in addition to CIBA, the American Chemical Society cited Alabama Southern as having one of the top industry/education alliances in the United States.With the expansion to eight companies, the industry alliance has become one of the strongest in the nation.

The National Science Foundation awarded Alabama Southern a $5 million grant to become the National Center for Pulp and Paper Technology Training and promote similar partnerships nationwide. AF&PA has since asked Alabama Southern and its partner, Auburn University, to lead its national Technologically Advanced Workforce Initiative.

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¹The Bellwether Awards annually recognize outstanding and innovative programs and practices that are leading community colleges into the future. The Workforce Development category recognizes public and/or private strategic alliances and partnerships that promote community and economic development. The awards are sponsored by the University of Florida Institute of Higher Education and presented annually at the Community College Futures Assembly in Orlando. Each year, NCCET recognizes both outstanding leadership by individuals and exemplary programs from around the nation.