Community Colleges: The Economic Developer’s Workforce Partner (cont.)

Responding to the loss of local industry

At a celebration of the tenth anniversary of the STCC Entrepreneurial Institute, Cynthia Bailey, owner of Event Massage (a student business that graduated out of STCC’s incubator), hands her business card to Andrew Jensen, a current student business owner.

Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) in Massachusetts was selected as the 2004 recipient of the national Bellwether Award in Workforce Development for creating the STCC Technology Park and Springfield Enterprise Center (SEC). The STCC Technology Park was created in the 15.3-acre former Digital Equipment Corporation facility adjacent to the STCC campus.When the company left, the land and buildings could have become a vacant site in the center of the city, with an accompanying loss of nearly 1,000 jobs. Yet over the past decade, this vibrant complex has created 1,000 new jobs with an estimated total payroll of more than $20 million.

Challenges that the college had to overcome in bringing the vision of the technology park to reality were numerous, according to former STCC president Andrew Scibelli. For one thing, there were no role models to emulate – no other community college in the country had attempted to establish and manage a technology park. Also, legislation at that time prevented state agencies from charging and retaining tenant rents to sustain operations of a park. (Hence new legislation was written, creating the STCC Assistance Corporation to own and operate the park.) Further, there was civic concern that state ownership would remove the site from city tax rolls; however, the STCC Technology Park contributes more than $200,000 in annual property tax revenue to the city.

The SEC building houses a business incubator/accelerator, providing networked office space, office support services and pro-bono guidance from a 35-member advisory board of local business professionals. The service is designed to assist young businesses during their critical first years. Additional tenants include SCORE, the SBA, and venture capital/loan fund corporations. The offices support new companies as well as existing small business owners throughout greater Springfield.

Successes to date include several new businesses that have graduated from the SEC incubator into the technology park or surrounding communities, including one that was recently purchased by a national firm; eight student ventures that are now operating in the incubator; and 26 that have moved out into the city or on to other opportunities.

Responding to community healthcare needs

Portland Community College (PCC) in Portland, Oregon, doesn’t want patients to be denied adequate healthcare due to a language barrier, and it has implemented a statewide healthcare interpreter training program to prove it.

During the fall of 2006, Oregon enacted a new law that helps healthcare interpreters earn official certification, just the fourth of its kind in the nation. The Healthcare Interpreter program, part of the college’s Institute for Health Professionals, already has the required 70 hours of instruction and 30 hours of local clinical practice in place throughout the state. A network of community colleges, hospitals and agencies helps fulfill state mandates and prepares participants for the certification exams.

The distance-learning program is offered via interactive television at multiple locations around the state, reaching from small rural clinics to metropolitan Portland and many venues in between. Students learn about medical terminology, anatomy and physiology, and medical interpreting concepts, roles and responsibilities. They can see, hear and interact with their instructors and participate in real-time class discussions. Clinical practice is set up at local sites and is supervised by trained interpreters.

“Through PCC’s program, hundreds of interpreters have received training, not just to communicate with Spanishspeaking patients, but also in languages such as Russian, Farsi, Vietnamese, and Japanese,” said Maria Michalczyk, founder and director of PCC’s program. “People are waiting for something to officially demonstrate their qualifications, and businesses want to hire people with credentials.”

The healthcare interpreting students, many of whom are new immigrants with excellent English as a Second Language skills, get not only an entry-level position in the healthcare field but also the chance to hone these skills into a lasting profession or to use as a gateway to other healthcare careers. The Oregon Labor Market Information System projects interpreters as a growing job category, with an annual statewide salary of approximately $37,826 in 2006.

The Healthcare Interpreter program is an innovative model, in demand throughout the United States and other countries such as Japan and Canada.

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