Educational leaders discuss how to partner with businesses on the third day of the Dream Conference.
“Community colleges need to build a more dynamic understanding of local labor markets, embed students’ relationships to work and career ambitions into academic support systems, rather than see our institutions as simply a throughway,” said Dr. Karen A. Stout, president and CEO of ATD. “Fundamental to all of this is the need to develop strategies born out of active and collaborative partnership, not merely looking within our own spheres.”
Educators from a variety of community colleges shared how student success and sense of belonging is vital to meeting their local workforce needs, and how their unique geographic locations, demographic growth, and regional needs have influenced how they connect with big industry and small to mid-sized businesses.
At Columbus State Community College (CSCC) in central Ohio, CSCC President Dr. David T. Harrison has connected with Intel, one of the world’s largest semiconductor chip manufacturers. Intel announced in 2022 they would build two chip factories just outside of Columbus. Harrison said that Intel has remained adamant that the 3,000 new jobs these factories will create are technical level, for those with associate degrees.
“Almost every Intel leader I meet is an associate degree graduate that started out as a technician. In addition to focusing on associate degree earners, they have an explicitly stated emphasis on diversity and equity,” said Harrison.
While Harrison said CSCC’s academic supports moved the needle on student success and completion, their progress plateaued until they began to build out non-academic supports, including the construction of a grocery store on campus and creating housing and transportation partnerships. CSCC has shared these lessons, along with student data, with employers. And they are listening, Harrison said.
“Employers are leaning in and learning about our students and their lifestyles. In the same way so many of us are adopting practices for holistic student support, those same supports are required in the workplace as well, and employers are starting to understand that,” said Harrison.
