Expanding Your Credit and Non-Credit Offerings Through Sector

Specific Partnerships October 16, 2013

Carol Weigand, Project Director

Air Washington Overview

$20M (100%) DOL funded project supporting aerospace workforce education

11 Community and Technical Colleges7 WDC Partners50 Industry partners to dateTotal participants – 2615Numerous statewide stakeholders

The 30,000 Foot View

Why Aerospace?

Largest aerospace cluster in the world

$70B impact on Washington State’s economy

450 aircraft produced annually

Over 1000 aerospace companies operate in Washington State

Aging workforceFierce competition

for talent

Workforce Demand

Increasing training capacity Providing innovative strategies for low

skilled and TAA eligible workers Developing short term opportunities that

meet industry need Creating new relationships with

educators, industry and community partners across the state

Air Washington is helping support the workforce needs by…..

How have sector specific partnerships helped us define our offerings and created

sustainability?

Who are our partners?

Industry Workforce Councils

Education Numerous agencies

Other stakeholders

A reliable workforce and a workforce pipeline

Skilled workforce workplace basics, computer basics, math skills, soft skills

Experience Increased training capacity

Industry Partnerships Have Provided Input

Created a plan that prioritized the most immediate industry needs

Quickly engaged partners and stakeholders -seeking assistance

Communicated our progress regularly Monthly meetings with industry Quarterly project advisory board meetings Weekly consortium calls Quarterly face-to-face consortium

meetings Quarterly newsletters

How we responded…..

Created a college specific (statewide) non-credit “on ramp” to aerospace careers program

Used a non traditional assessment, aligned traditional assessment and created PLA guidelines

Focused on TAA, English language learners, females and Veterans

Imbedded short / stackable certificates

Mobilized Quickly

Capacity expansion was difficult – SME’s can be hard to find

Aerospace has its own language – engaging low skilled workers was a challenge

New industry skills emerged – NDT, FARO, composite repair

Student aptitude and attitude College processes

Immediate barriers….

Colleges supported faculty recruitment Student recruitment strategies and placement

practices shared IBEST “ish” programs were created and ELL

aerospace workplace curriculum was developed and shared

New skill sets embedded within existing programs or tested in CE

Best practices emerged and were immediately shared

Nothing created was mandatory

Regular communication removed many of these barriers….

Intelligence/Aerospace industry specialist

WorkSource expert College program expert Student retention specialist Employment expert

Workforce Navigator/Concierge Partnership

Serve on advisory board Create additional branding opportunities

Utilized them for exposure – helped us cast a wider net

Other Partnerships

Aligned curriculum Shared curriculum Articulation with K-12 Brought in other colleges Transparent Outreach

Educational Partnerships

Relationships are crucial to a successful project

We must respond quickly – create multiple options – best practices emerge

Branding is crucial Importance of data collection -

BLUF Industry feedback keeps the

project dynamic

What have we learned?

Industry - localized College Presidents Aerospace Pipeline Committee

Labor Professional Organizations Additional Educational Partnerships

Project Sustainability Efforts

Questions ?