LadderzUP: a strategic partnership with MCC for regional workforce development.

A Strategic Partnership for Regional Workforce Development.

2017 to 2019

OVERVIEW

LadderzUP, a public-public (PuP) partnership between Monroe Community College and Monroe County, New York’s Imagine Monroe, leverages flexible funding from the county to create and implement industry-focused job training and workforce education leading to certifications and other professional credentials. The funding provides an economic incentive for businesses who are in need of trained middle skilled workers, and supports students who might not otherwise be able to afford such training. The partnership has exceeded expectations: just over two years into the program, 807 individuals and 41 businesses have been impacted. Since its founding in 1961, Monroe Community College (MCC), a public institution within the State University of New York (SUNY) system, has earned a reputation as a leader in workforce education in the Upstate New York region. The college’s LadderzUP project, a public-public (PuP) Partnership between MCC’s Economic and Workforce Development Center and Monroe County (county seat for Rochester, N.Y.), offers workforce training that links county funding to college educational resources to address persistently difficult to fill positions in industry and provides access to short cycle and accelerated educational programs for individuals seeking a new career. Less common than public-private partnerships, a PuP collaboration is an agreement between two public authorities or organizations to create a positive impact that is beyond the scope of each organization by itself (Greasley, et al., 2008).

I nspired by the PuP model, the LadderzUP partnership provides a conceptual framework for rethinking how regional workforce development strategy can be achieved by leveraging flexible, unstructured financial assistance from the county, coupled with the college’s ability to build and administer both industry-focused academic and non-credit curricula to rapidly respond to the needs of local businesses.

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The result of the LadderzUP PuP partnership has been improved employment opportunities within Monroe County through financially accessible, job-oriented training for students who range from recent high school graduates to employed individuals seeking to upskill their professional education. The alignment of MCC and Monroe County through a PuP model ensures that the training programs available through this partnership are informed by an understanding of the economic development strategy of the region and the workforce needs of Upstate New York’s business community (Adair, Brown-Lonis & Oldham, 2019).

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HIGH-LEVEL RESULTS

LadderzUP Spend To Date

Total Training Costs $1,218,288

Total LadderzUP Support $600,269

Total Participants Served 807

LadderzUP Impact To Date

Individual Impact $306,348 297 participants

Incumbent Worker $293,921 510 participants Training Impact

2017-2018 LadderzUP Spend

Total Participants Served 653

Total LadderzUP Support $375,751

2018 Total Training Costs $632,163

2019 LadderzUP Spend

Total Participants Served 154

Total LadderzUP Support $224,518

2018 Total Training Costs $586,125

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CONTEXT: THE VOCATIONAL SKILLS CHALLENGE

“In an era in which education has never been more important to economic success, the U.S. has fallen behind many other nations in educational attainment and achievement. Within the U.S. economy, there is also growing evidence of a “skills gap” in which many young adults lack the skills and work ethic needed for many jobs that pay a middle-class wage.”

—Pathways to Prosperity: Meeting the Challenge of Preparing Young Americans for the 21st Century, Harvard Graduate School of Education, February 2011

Though now almost a decade old, the Harvard Graduate School of Education report authored by Ferguson, Schwartz & Symonds (2011) highlighted the increasing need for technical and middle-skilled workers in the national labor market and the challenge posed from an educational system favoring a four-year degree over career technical programs. Like many community colleges, MCC’s leadership were aware of this growing “middle-skills” gap in the Upstate Region and the need to upskill low skilled and semi-skilled workers that lacked the particular skills, competencies and credentials to succeed in the local middle-skilled economy. Middle skill jobs are those which require a high school diploma and supplemental training, but not a four-year college degree, and they make up approximately half of America’s labor market (Carnevale, Smith, & Strohl, 2010). MCC sought a way to alleviate this middle-skills gap. Monroe County was at one time home of “the Big Three”: Eastman Kodak Company, Xerox Corporation, and Bausch & Lomb. But residents could no longer rely on stable career-long positions as these older corporations downsized or moved to other regions. However, smaller, more nimble companies—many that were formed by former employees of the Big Three — continued in the advanced manufacturing sector, finding the region hospitable, despite their need to have access to a strong supply of skilled technicians.

Influenced by the Pathways to Prosperity report, as well as examples of historic public-public models like the Boston Compact, MCC approached Monroe County with a proposal for a joint program, funded partly with fluid county resources, to provide educational programming tailored specifically to the workforce needs of mid-sized and smaller businesses. The collaboration between the county and the college was intended to produce measurable outcomes that could not be achieved independently. With a focus on the needs of the adult learner, the alternative funding model of this public-public workforce partnership allows for more potential job seekers, as well as those wishing to advance in their careers, to be trained for skills and technically-based occupations and their associated career pathways. By placing a premium on non-credit short cycle and accelerated academic programs, LadderzUP has trained more than 800 participants, across 41 companies, since its inception in September 2017.

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EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS

Monroe County committed to supplying the three- year LadderzUP program with up to $1.5 million for the implementation and management of both academic and non-credit training programs; this provides approximately 75 percent of the funding needed to cover the costs of the program over the three-year pilot period. With access to this funding, MCC delivers program curriculum, educational space and equipment, instructors, tuition, fees, books, and tools as necessary to address the financial requirements of any given curriculum and its learners. representatives in September 2017, stipulated that the program would recruit, train, upskill and place 210 workers annually, for a total of 630 over the first three years of the program. Since the program was unlike anything the county and the college had ever undertaken before, the numbers were estimates arrived at by the MCC team—the program was considered an experiment in what could be possible with appropriate funding aligned with industry needs and the college’s substantial technical teaching resources. The courses have spanned in duration from short-term topics that are covered over several weeks of class time to multi-semester courses, apprenticeships, as well as sequences leading to certification or other job-related credentials. Classes are designed to be modular and stackable, allowing students to continue on toward a college degree or further certification. Areas of focus for LadderzUP training, determined through ongoing consultation with industry and the county, have included health care, information technology, construction, and a variety of advanced manufacturing and applied engineering technologies. The agreement for this pilot LadderzUP partnership, signed by MCC and county

The county’s financial support eliminates a major expansion obstacle for businesses. At the same time, it allows employees and job seekers to better position themselves for promotion-oriented positions, armed with certifications in areas ranging from project management to Lean Six Sigma.

As of November 2019, 807 participants have participated in one of the programs, well over the three-year goal. Forty-one companies have been supported in that time through the creation and implementation of thirty-four employer-focused programs. Two companies have cited the availability of LadderzUP training in their decision to relocate to Rochester.

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DATA-DRIVEN JOB DEVELOPMENT

The process of creating a LadderzUP training program begins in consultation with regional industry representatives. MCC recruitment and marketing staff connect with companies that are hiring, as well as the type of employee they are hiring or are having difficulties hiring, and review if there is an insufficient pool of potential workers presently in the market. The MCC team, with assistance from the Monroe County, seeks out companies that would benefit from targeted training, using formal business-to-business best practices. Using this approach, the college has developed and maintained an extensive database of local corporations with whom the college prospects and manages existing relationships. Maintenance of these college-industry partnerships is a high priority with more than 70 percent of the database containing companies with whom the college has worked previously. Another tool used by the MCC group to seek out potential business clients for LadderzUP training as well as provide vital information to both job seekers and industry is a website created by the college’s Economic and Workforce Development Center, mcclmi.com. This homegrown site provides a deep dive into supply and demand analyses for over 23 middle-skilled occupational groups monitoring over 108 technical occupations in the Upstate New York region. Although not specifically designed for LadderzUP, information from the site is leveraged to inform the analysis of career pathways and associated graduate wage progression for related programming.

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SUCCESSFUL PROGRAMS

The most popular LadderzUP program to date focused on problem solving and decision making for process improvement. It was created at the request of a global maker of lab supplies. MCC worked with staff at the company’s Rochester headquarters to create a targeted 16-hour training program with nine sections of instruction delivered at the company site by MCC faculty. LadderzUP funded all books and materials for the 113 students. Other sample programs, though with less participants, have met the demonstrated needs of MCC’s industry partners:

• Mechanical and electrical apprenticeship programs featuring four semesters of instruction were developed in conjunction with two large advanced manufacturers. Financial support from LadderzUP resulted in 25 students receiving credit and non-credit training specifically designed to allow them to assume growth-oriented positions. • At the request of an industrial heating solutions supplier, a sheet metal fabricator, and a medical equipment manufacturer, MCC created and implemented a project management program with eighty-three individuals graduating from the program. • Several pre-existing CTE programs, including a 22-week, accelerated 32-credit precision machining certificate and a medical office assistant certificate, received LadderzUP funding to support the cost of books, tools, and fees for students in need. Some program

graduates, including ten percent of the LadderzUP precision tooling students, continue their education in pursuit of an associate’s degree.

• A certified nursing assistant program created in conjunction with local health care institutions including Monroe Community Hospital and several facilities for the aging. This program was developed, filled, and launched in 2 ½ months in response to the strong need for these workers in the local economy. Seven cohorts have completed since then. LadderzUP covered program launch costs, including lab and development fees, making the program more accessible to a larger pool of workers. The program has achieved a 95 percent completion rate and 95 percent pass rate on the New York State certified CNA exam. Of the 109 individuals who have completed this training, 95 percent now have jobs in their field.

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WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

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PROGRAM CATEGORY SPEND

$300,000

$293,921 510 Participants

$250,000

$200,000

$150,000

$100,000

$90,198 49 Participants

$81,615 109 Participants

$64,878 33 Participants

$50,000

$30,607 5 Participants

$26,250 17 Participants

$12,800 84

$0.00

Accelerated Precision Tooling & Machining

MCC Middle Skills Bridge Program

Certified Nursing Assistant

MCC Medical Office

Plastics Consortium

Property Maintenance

Incumbent Worker Training

Technology Certificate

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THE FUTURE

Funded through 2021, the MCC team is exploring ways to expand LadderzUP in a number of areas. There is room for expansion in the health care cluster, and the college is exploring an accelerated first semester HVAC program to create a stackable pathway into the two-year HVAC degree. Program development is in process for tracks in cloud computing and training to address a variety of Industry 4.0 technologies like robotics, augmented reality and a variety of “smart” technologies. Broadening the worker base, MCC is also exploring how funding can be used to create more skill-based options to support re-entry training for incarcerated individuals in partnership with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department. As the college finalizes plans to build a new Finger Lakes Workforce Development Center, a 50,000 square foot facility located in downtown Rochester, the success of the LadderzUP PuP model is shaping how MCC plans to design, deliver and fund new programming aimed at accelerated, cohort, and stackable

curriculum models to a wide range of potential workers, including building a direct pipeline to local area high schools. As a case study, the LadderzUP program has clearly demonstrated a market for targeted middle level skills training in Upstate New York. Although it is too early to fully envision the long-term results of LadderzUP, the interim success of the program merits continued attention as a funding model for future initiatives involving robust offerings of non-credit industry programming. It also offers strong evidence to suggest that the tripartite cooperation of local or regional government, industry, and higher education is a winning one, and worth exploring in other regions. Considering that the three-year program exceeded its goal of training a total of 630 workers within its second year, it seems likely that this demonstrated success will make such PuP models a priority for both college and local government in developing a more dynamic and responsive regional workforce system.

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APPENDIX Table 1: Local Companies Partnering with LadderzUP

Company Contribution + =

LadderzUP Contribution

Total Program Cost

Number of Participants

Company

AJL Manufacturing

$3,000

$1,000

$4,000

14

Ambrell Corporation

$6,638

$2,212

$8,850

52

Bausch & Lomb

$6,957

$2,319

$8,850

55

Calvary Robotics

$50,354

$16,785

$67,139

14

Century Mold

$2,550

$850

$3,400

5

CSI Solutions

$8,250

$2,750

$11,000

2

D3 Engineering

$11,663

$3,888

$15,551

51

Datto, Inc.

$52,500

$17,500

$70,000

36

Delphi Technologies

$3,513

$1,171

$4,684

7

Durst Imaging Technologies

$6,915

$2,305

$9,220

41

EG Industries

$18,876

$6,292

$25,168

5

Harris Corporation

$15,921

$5,307

$21,228

20

McAlpin Industries

$2,400

$800

$3,200

14

Ortho Clinical Diagnostics

$6,225

$2,075

$8,300

28

Pfaudler, Inc.

$6,169

$2,056

$8,225

10

Quality Vision International Ruby Gordon Furniture

$30,001

$10,000

$40,001

15

$7,088

$2,363

$9,451

13

Spectracom

$13,125

$4,375

$13,125

15

Thermo Fisher Scientific

$41,776

$13,376

$55,152

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Table 2: Consortia Developed by LadderzUP Program

Company Contribution + =

LadderzUP Contribution

Total Program Cost

Number of Participants

Consortium

Plastics (11 participating com- panies): • Empire Precision Plastics • Alliance Precision Plastics

$26,250

$3,250

$29,500

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• Ontario Plastics, Inc. • Rochling Advent Tool & Mold

• Nordon, Inc. • Century Mold • Harbec Plastics

• Thermo Fisher Scientific • Fortew North America, Inc. • EG Industries • IMCO, Inc. Property Maintenance (4 participating companies): • Buckingham Properties

$30,607

$0

$30,607

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• Gallina Development • More Management • The Cabot Group

Table 3: MCC Certificate Programs that Partnered with LadderzUP

Outside Contribution + =

LadderzUP Contribution

Total Program Cost

Number of Participants

MCC Certificate Program

Certified Nurse Assistant LadderzUP funded the initial program set-up. Outside contributions includes funding support from employers training incumbent workers. Accelerated Precision Tooling and Machining LadderzUP provided finanacial support to students for tuition, tools and/or books. Outside contributions came from student financial contributions, and additional scholarships. Medical Office Technology LadderzUP provided financial support to students for tuition, tools and/or books. Outside contributions came from student financial contributions, and additional scholarships. Middle Skills Bridge Program LadderzUP funded this program in full.

$81,615

$158,185

$239,800

109

$90,198

$214,620

$304,818

49

$64,878

$144,540

$209,418

33

$12,800

$0

$12,800

84

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Economic & Workforce Development Center MONR O E C OMMUN I T Y C O L L E G E

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CITATIONS Adair, J., Brown-Lonis, K. & Oldham, T. (2019, October). Partners for Workforce Transformation . Presented at the fall conference of the New York Association of Training & Education Professionals (NYATEP) in Rochester, NY. Carnevale, A., Smith, N., Strohl, J. (2010). Help wanted: projections of jobs and education require- ments through 2018. Retrieved from Georgetown University, Center on Education and the Workforce website: http://cew.georgetown.edu/jobs2018/ Ferguson R., Schwartz, R.B., & Symonds, W.C. (2011). Pathways to Prosperity: Meeting the Chal- lenge of Preparing Young Americans for the 21st Century . Report issued by the Pathways to Prosperi- ty Project, Harvard Graduate School of Education. Greasley, K., Watson, P. and Patel, S. (2008), “The formation of public‐public partnerships: A case study examination of collaboration on a “back to work” initiative”, International Journal of Public Sector Management , Vol. 21 No. 3, pp. 305-313. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513550810863204

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Economic & Workforce Development Center MONR O E C OMMUN I T Y C O L L E G E

MCC Downtown Campus 321 State Street, 7th Floor Rochester, NY 14608

Project Leader Todd M. Oldham

Vice President, Economic Development, Workforce and Career Technical Education (e) toldham@monroecc.edu (p) 585.685.6192 MCC LadderzUP Team Kelly Brown Lonis Director, Corporate Relations

Lisa Dahl Manager, Grants

Jim Gertner Director, Projects and Operations

Eboni Henderson Project Manager

Carly Rooney Coordinator, Marketing Operations

Kristin Sine-Kinz Chief of Staff