Tag: Community Colleges

States Look to Community Colleges to Fill Labor Gap

Monique Acosta began the month of March as a pre-K classroom assistant in Arizona, with no credential beside her high school degree.

She ended it with a certification in a booming branch of electronics and started applying to entry-level jobs at Boeing.

For four hours a day, over 10 days total, Acosta studied the fine art of stripping, cutting and crimping wire as part of a technical “boot camp” at Mesa Community College outside Phoenix. The program, created in partnership with Boeing and taught by company engineers, aims to rapidly upskill students into jobs that local employers need to fill.

Now — amid a labor shortage that has baffled businesses and slowed the nation’s economic rehabilitation — policymakers, community college administrators and private businesses in several states are fueling new workforce-oriented initiatives, from tuition incentives and paid apprenticeships to boot camps such as the one Acosta completed. Read more.