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

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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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