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Small Business Human Resources Workforce Development Your Questions Answered Success Stories

April 2008 — Vol. 86, No. 3

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

Will you have the workforce
you need?

We’re working on it ...

 

The CBIA Education Foundation works on two fronts to increase the number of skilled workers in Connecticut: helping employers meet their current workforce needs and improving education to ensure a future pipeline of qualified workers.

The foundation helps employers by:

  • Securing grant funding to increase the quality and availability of work-related training, including retraining for dislocated workers and advanced manufacturing training in supply chain management, lean manufacturing, and CNC programming and operation.

  • Organizing job fairs to fill vacancies in retail, hospitality, insurance, financial services and manufacturing companies

  • Identifying, recruiting and prequalifying job candidates at schools, colleges and job banks in 37 towns in north-central Connecticut and providing referrals statewide.

The foundation’s education efforts include:

  • Project Opening Doors, which prepares students for the rigors of college and the demands of a sophisticated and changing workplace. Project Opening Doors aims to scale up the number of Advanced Placement courses in Connecticut schools and increase student enrollment in those courses.

  • Career expos to attract students to high-tech and high-demand occupations in manufacturing. The next event, Manufacture Your Future 2008, will be held June 3–5 at the Connecticut Expo Center in Hartford.

  • “Career Pathways,” a series of multimedia classroom materials introducing students to careers in engineering, health and biosciences, finance, insurance, and real estate.

  • Redesign of Hartford Public High School into smaller learning communities, including a new Academy of Engineering and Green Technologies.

  • Vanguard Schools, an initiative that identifies Connecticut schools that have successfully raised student achievement. Vanguard Schools serve as models and mentors for other schools that can adopt their evidence-based tools and practical strategies.

  • Summer externships, which place educators in engineering and manufacturing work environments. By developing a firsthand understanding of today’s job expectations in high-demand fields, instructors design appropriate curricula to prepare their students for Connecticut’s job market.