Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to attend one of Dr. Jill Biden’s Community College to Career stops at the South Seattle Community College Hangar. Throughout the year, Dr. Biden has been traveling to community colleges and businesses around the country to see firsthand how community colleges are designing programs to give people the skills they need to compete in the global economy.
Before Dr. Biden arrived, I spoke with several aviation students and one of their instructors who told me he had graduated from the same program more than 30 years ago. The instructor said he was confident his students would also build long and rewarding careers in aviation. The students told me that they were looking forward to jobs at Boeing, Lockheed, and at commercial airlines throughout the country.
As a community college teacher herself, Dr. Biden knows that community colleges, in partnership with business and the public workforce system, are producing skilled workers, ready to fill jobs now and in the future. The U.S. Department of Labor has invested funding in colleges, through direct grants and funding from Workforce Investment Boards, that are clearly meeting the needs of businesses. And based on what we heard from students, these grants, and the work of the colleges, are turning lives around.
Dr. Biden participates in a Community College to Career roundtable discussion on successful industry partnerships at South Seattle Community College Hangar. Photo by Glenn Gauthier, South Seattle Community College.
Fonte: White House