Action 2: Equip Workers with Skills for High-Wage, Innovation
Develop a 21st Century Workforce Action Plan for CCRI
Despite the current economic conditions, there are some companies that are growing and hiring in this economy — and even tell us they can’t fill those job openings. As RIEDC has long forecasted, these growth companies are largely knowledge-based industries that need highly skilled workers — the very companies that will lead us out of this recession. Rhode Island needs to prepare our workers for these high-paying jobs. We must take action now.
The logical place to turn is the Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI), whose mission is to prepare individuals for their first jobs, and retrain them for new jobs as skill requirements evolve. With 16,000 students and four campuses throughout the state, CCRI is a key feeder for Rhode Island’s economy, sending more than 80 percent of its graduates to jobs in Rhode Island companies. CCRI already is doing an exemplary job responding to the changing needs of our state’s employers – for example, establishing its PharmTech program to prepare students for jobs at CVS.
The CCRI Workforce Commission, recommended in the RIEDC’s 2008 Economic Growth Plan, will develop an action plan to realize CCRI’s central role in producing a 21st-century workforce in our state. The Workforce Strategy Center (WSC), a national leader in developing strategies to help students and workers succeed and regional economies grow, has been hired to staff and assist the CCRI Commission.
WSC is conducting an analysis of the gap between worker preparation and the needs of the high-wage knowledge-based industries, which have been identified by the RIEDC as requiring postsecondary credentials, and will conduct a series of discussions with commission members concerning CCRI policies, programs, and potential legislative issues. WSC’s final report will offer recommendations based on the results of the gap analysis and the commission’s deliberations.
The U.S. Department of Labor projects that two-thirds of all jobs in the future will require advanced education, bearing out a trend that RIEDC is already observing in our day-to-day work with Rhode Island companies. It is imperative that CCRI is positioned to play a key role in creating a 21st-century workforce in Rhode Island.
RIEDC will supplement its capacity-building measures at CCRI with three additional activities:
- RIEDC will work with the Governor’s Workforce Board to secure funding for workforce training at existing and new companies
- RIEDC will work with its contacts in the major economic sectors to identify and assess employment opportunities
- RIEDC will join with the Science and Technology Advisory Council in advancing STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education at all levels and in linking students with opportunities for innovation