The business landscape has changed, a turn of the century has taken place. Mass layoffs, company closings, record unemployment, that was Orange County’s economic history as it was for the country and the world. Well here we are. With the continued success of the vaccines and the reopening of the state, we are all focused on Orange County’s economic recovery.
Orange County has a secret weapon (or rather nine) to catalyze the economy to below 3% unemployment, the highest median income, and the highest GRP per capita in Southern California that Orange County is used to. These are our adult education centers. With nearly 300,000 students per semester, Orange County’s community colleges are the largest higher education providers in the region. To put it in perspective, Orange County has the highest college rate in California, with 76% of high school graduates completing post-secondary education, and of all of those high school graduates, over half attend community colleges.
Additionally, community colleges are more than just a pit stop for teenagers on their way to bachelor’s degrees. In fact, over half of Orange County’s community college students are over 25 years old. They are your current employees and colleagues who want to improve their economic prospects, and most likely those of their families, by going back to school. With so many residents, young and old going through the community college system, colleges are and must remain the backbone of our workforce development as so many people are still unemployed or inactive.
Community colleges are uniquely positioned to lead the county’s economic recovery as a leader in vocational education and certification that enables a more direct and hands-on learning experience than a typical classroom. The ability to quickly and cheaply create marketable skills for the workforce will be critical to not only getting people back on their feet, but also enabling them to get higher skills and better paid jobs. It is this maneuverability that is not only critical to the region’s recovery, but overcoming this recession with an even more talented workforce than we started it.
Community colleges have already built career paths in Orange County’s largest or fastest growing sectors such as healthcare, hospitality and tourism, information and communication technology, construction, advanced transportation, advanced manufacturing, biotechnology, and business and entrepreneurship; These aren’t just the shop classes of yore.
The innovative courses in 3D printing, cloud computing, medical sonography, robotics, and much more connect students directly to careers that pay the wages required to live comfortably in this country.
So what can we do to maximize this incredible resource? Now more than ever, all employers need to invest and work with community colleges so that they can quickly turn the unemployed and underemployed into skilled applicants.
Business partnerships with community colleges can play a transformative role in education and, ultimately, the economy by creating an educational system where career readiness is central, rather than a minor trait. Working with companies will build an education system that provides practical training, not just theoretical knowledge through lectures. The collaboration between companies can provide scenarios and simulations to this educational system so that future workers can improve their “soft skills” such as flow of ideas, deductive and inductive thinking, teamwork and communication, which are crucial in this rapidly changing 21st century economy are.
If you are a business owner or manager and have a specific hiring need, contact your local community college. Advise the departments on what positions you are hiring for, work with the teachers on what skills in your field must be taught in order to be employable, offer learning opportunities in your company. You have a direct pipeline of motivated and talented future employees who better prepare Orange County for economic recovery. Community colleges have been Orange County’s secret weapon for too long, it’s time to star, a secret no longer. For more information, contact us at ocbc.org.
Lucy Dunn is President and CEO of the Orange County Business Council.
source https://collegeeducationnewsllc.com/ocs-community-colleges-offer-competitive-advantage-for-economic-recovery-orange-county-register/
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