National Council for Workforce Education Conference Day 1

NCWE is back in person, with more than 400 attendees on hand today and tomorrow in Portland, Oregon, to attend the annual conference titled 'Building Bridges & Expanding Opportunities’. With full plenaries and dozens of sessions, attendees have the opportunity to learn from and engage with workforce professionals from across the country.  

One highlight of day one was the Connecting Community Colleges and Employers to Facilitate Student Employment afternoon session. Rita Karam and Charles Goldman of the RAND Corporation shared findings from a recent study, Career Services and College-Employer Partnership Practices in Community Colleges. The study focused on advisory committees for STEM-related programs.

Using material from more than 130 interviews, Karam and Goldman developed a framework for successful partnership and collaboration that prioritizes coordinated action, monetary incentives and mechanisms of accountability, all necessary to build program advisories that serve the needs of both colleges and businesses.

Karam and Goldman identified several promising practices, including one college that funded an office focused on partnerships, the allocation of resources to the most meaningful relationships with a focus on mutual benefit and a regional consortium that determined their industry focus based on economic patterns instead of state administrative divisions. 

Their recommendations focused on sharing a strategic vision, building broad capacity and a recognition that state support is critical.

NCWE continues tomorrow with dozens of sessions, including a presentation from the Centers of Excellence.