Workforce development in Chittenden County, The Chamber's role

Vermont Business Magazine, Mar 01, 2003 by Hersh, Melissa

One of the ways the Chamber meets the needs of our membership is to focus its efforts on workforce development. All businesses, large and small, require educated and skilled employees in order to thrive. For over ten years the Chamber's Education and Training Division has developed partnerships between the business and education communities to provide youth and adults with opportunities to gain skills, prepare for the ever-changing workplace, and to support employers by growing a highly skilled workforce in our region.

The Education and Training Division of the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce is staffed by Melissa Hersh, Director of Education and Training. The operating board for this division is the Lake Champlain Workforce Investment Board (LCWIB). The LCWIB is a community leadership board comprised of employers, K12 educators, technical and post-secondary educators, labor, state agencies, non-profit providers, a municipal representative, and school board members. The chair of the LCWIB is John W. Davis, a small businessman and owner of John Davis and Associates, CPAs.

The LCWIB's vision is that our region will be characterized by vibrant economic development and high quality of life, supported by a collaborative network of world class, knowledge-based employees, responsive and proactive educational providers, and employers who are invested in workforce development. The LCWIB's mission is to provide leadership and support for a workforce development system that involves the collaboration of three partners: employers, educators, and employees. With major workforce development priorities including Adult Basic Education and Training, Technical Education, and Youth Education, the LCWIB fulfills its mission and addresses these major priorities by leading the way for. and partnering on many community initiatives.

In the realm of Adult Basic Education and Training, the LCWIB hosts the regional Adult Education Council, which is comprised of education and training providers, state agency representatives, and employers. The council meets monthly to examine better ways to collaborate and coordinate adult services through a regional adult education plan. This plan, updated regularly, includes demographic information and statistics on literacy, employment, and poverty, and a specific action plan that addresses strategies for assisting adults in overcoming a variety of barriers to employment. The Council sponsors an annual Career Awareness Conference and Disabilities Forum to assist in developing these strategies. Future plans include an employertraining seminar to help employers learn more about hiring and retaining adults with dis abilities.

The Chamber's LCWIB spearheaded the three-year Technical Education Pilot project sponsored by the Vermont Department of Education. In March 2001, an independent planning committee, the Regional Technical Academy Committee, was formed representing the LCWIB and the two local host school boards in Essex and Burlington, to complete the work of the pilot and make final recommendations on the establishment of a stand-alone four-year technical high school in Chittenden County. This school will offer an integrated academic and technical curriculum leading to a high school diploma and will be organized into four career academies: health, human and public service; business and information technology; applied science; and applied art. The school will consolidate the two existing technical centers, Burlington Technical Center and the Center for Technology at Essex and offer expanded programs and greater access to technical education for more students. Plans are underway to phase in this project and offer programs in grades 11 and 12 (with a limited grade 10 program) as early as the fall of 2005. Soon after, it is anticipated that this school will offer programs for grades 9-12. A site for the school has been selected on Kellogg Road in Essex and will be a re-development project converting the former Tensolite and Champion Jogbra buildings into an educational campus. Additionally, new construction attached to the buildings will house a northern campus for the Vermont Technical College and the Community College of Vermont. This co-location of secondary and postsecondary schools will provide additional education and training opportunities for youth and adults and create a workforce development one-stop destination in our region.

The LCWIB's Technical Education Committee serves as the Regional Advisory Board for the Burlington Technical Center and Center for Technology at Essex. In this capacity, the LCWIB recommends technical education budgets, to the local host school boards; recommends and approves any new programs or changes to existing programs based on market research, workplace trends and student interest; provides assistance in securing funding to support programs, personnel and equipment; and other advisory functions.

For developing a regional plan that outlines workforce needs in the community and strategies to address those needs, the LCWIB calls on its Executive & Long Range Planning Committee. The purpose of the regional needs plan is to provide alignment and identify any workforce development gaps. This plan is reviewed and approved by the entire LCWIB annually.