Tag: Workforce Development

States Look to Community Colleges to Fill Labor Gap

Caitlin Dewey, Stateline, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts,

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.

  Education

  About News

  • Did a reporter really ask that question?

    It’s about five hours after a cargo ship hit the Key Bridge in Baltimore, collapsing it and sending six construction workers on the bridge into the water. The city’s mayor is holding a press conference when a reporter asks him: “How long is it going to take to rebuild the bridge?”

    Calmly and immediately, the mayor responds: “We shouldn’t even be having that discussion right now. The discussion right now should be about the people, the souls, the lives that we’re trying to save. There will be a time to discuss about a bridge and how we get our bridge back up but right now there are people in the water that we have to get out.”

    On social media, the mayor got mostly applause. The reporter got mostly ripped apart. One X poster wrote: “Shoutout to our mayor Brandon Scott for focusing on the people and showcasing empathy, because the nerve of that reporter to ask about the bridge repair. Like, sir read the (expletive) room.”

    I understand why many people saw the reporter’s question as disrespectful to the victims. But I don’t have a problem with it. How about you? Read more.

subscribe

Subscribe to the BirminghamWatch Newsletter

The WeeklyWatch will be delivered to your inbox each Friday morning.

  Birmingham Southern College

  • Neighbors Worry About Future of BSC Land as Officials Discuss Redevelopment Options

    The mood was somber in the auditorium at A.H. Parker High School Monday night as neighbors of Birmingham-Southern College expressed their concern about the announced closing of the liberal arts college as of May 21.

    State Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, hosted a town hall to field questions about the school. Of particular concern was what will happen to the 192-acre campus. More than one compared BSC to the old Carraway Hospital property, which deteriorated for years north of downtown. Read more.