Community Colleges Growing Providers of TBED Programs and Services

Announced last week, Ivy Tech Community College will receive a $3.18 million grant for training individuals from a 14-county region in North Central Indiana in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. The grant, a component of the $15 million Indiana Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, will establish the New Pathways to STEM-based Careers program. The New Pathways program will be concentrated into three distinct areas:

• Emerging workers – For individuals who have not yet entered the workforce, providing educational and site visit opportunities for pre-college and college students. Middle and high school students will be able to utilize dual credit opportunities for high school and college courses, respectively.
• Existing workers – Geared towards helping individuals change career paths and acquire skill advancement, especially in the manufacturing and industrial technology fields. Both the Lafayette and Kokomo regions with North Central Indiana will serve up to 1,000 people.
• New programs – Will create new academic programs for emerging and rapidly growing fields, including the development of economic opportunities in sustainable energy.

New Pathways to STEM-based Careers is expected to train 44,000 people in the region over the next five years. The statewide Ivy Tech Community College network intends to use this program as a pilot to be extended to other regions across the state, if successful.

 

While many community colleges are taking an active role in workforce training and technical education, they also are taking on additional TBED roles for the community they serve including business incubation, equity financing, cluster development and distance learning.

 

On Tuesday of this week, for example, the Lorain County Community College (LCCC) hosted a rollout of the TechLift program, a new initiative led by NorTech in collaboration with the state-sponsored business incubators in Northeast Ohio and a handful of equity investment funds. TechLift is focused on “supporting, coaching, and nurturing” technology-based entrepreneurial companies by providing services that include capital formation and fundraising, business coaching, grant funding assistance, and staffing assistance.

 

Additionally, TechLift will provide funds to support an Entrepreneurial Expert to assist the Great Lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise, a technology incubator located on the campus of Lorain County Community College. Funding for the TechLift program was also provided by the LCCC Foundation Innovation Fund, which in addition to supporting entrepreneurial education initiatives, provides grants to support technology firms in the region. Besides yesterday’s rollout, TechLift has held or will hold similar sessions in Youngstown, Cleveland, Akron and Mansfield in Northeast Ohio.

 

More information about the LCCC Foundation Innovation Fund can be accessed at:

http://www.lorainccc.edu/About+Us/LCCC+Foundation/Innovation+Fund.htm

 

Details about the TechLift initiative are available at www.techlift.org/.

 

The website for the North Central Indiana WIRED program is www.indiana-wired.net/.

 

Participants at SSTI’s 11th Annual Conference will get to explore the emerging roles of Community Colleges in TBED more closely in a dedicated breakout session on this very topic. The presenters include:

• Erik Pages, President, EntreWorks Consulting
• Greg Rutherford, President, York County Technical College
• Stuart Schulman, Executive Director, Center for Economic and Workforce Development, Kingsborough Community College

More information on the conference is available at www.ssticonference.org.



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