Monroe Community College: Producing the 21st Century Worker

Producing the 21 st century worker.

A proposal to create The Finger Lakes Regional Workforce Development Center.

It’s time to take an energetic leap forward in meeting the needs of area employers. To create a dynamic engine that will produce skill-specific workers aligned with the Finger Lakes region’s major technology sectors. While providing a unique learning experience for career-oriented students — many drawn from traditionally overlooked groups. It is also an ongoing answer to a well-documented need for middle-skill workers, who make up over 37% of all tech- based jobs in our area. Many of which go unfilled each year.*

*MCC Rochester Area Skill Needs Assessment and Business Climate Survey, May 2014

The Center will have the flexibility to modify the skills taught to match those most in demand by our area’s key

technology clusters: energy, biomaterials,

functional films and photonics.

The Idea. (Big and Bold.) Monroe Community College (MCC) in partnership with Eastman Business Park (EBP) proposes to establish a 41,000-square-foot regional industrial training facility —a multi-faceted approach to creating a 21st century workforce in a 21st century workplace. The proposed Center will develop new, industry-driven training and promote career pathways that reduce persistently unfilled positions in Rochester and the region.

The Curricula. (Expansive and relevant.) The Finger Lakes Regional Workforce Development Center’s curricula are designed to be flexible to meet intermittent training needs, and will include mechatronic skills, precision tooling, hydrau- lics, computer applications, electrical and pipe trades and machining. Along with an Accelerated Precision Tooling Certificate program, we’re also in the process of creating a one-year certificate in mechatron- ics. This is a relatively new discipline that is a synergy of precision engineering, electronic control and mechanical systems. Other newprograms being planned for the Center include metrology, basic manufacturing skills, plastics, sheet metal, computer applications and database related programing and business. The Center’s collaborative environment will also enhance training in entrepreneurial skills, such as effective communication, teamwork and critical thinking.

This proposal, which is research-based, offers new thinking on curricula, instruction,

recruiting students and the educational environment itself.

Our region’s manufacturing sector has not disappeared, but it has gone high-tech, requiring more middle-skill technicians. The new Center will help close the “middle-skills gap.”

The Facility. (Unique to our region and the nation.) The East- man Business Park, previously known as “Kodak Park,” in northwest Rochester was once home to 30,000 advanced manufacturing and supply chain jobs. Today, the park employs more than 6,000 people including a variety of tech- and energy-centric startups and numerous mature companies. MCC will partner with EBP employers to create private-label training and degree programs. These companies—many small entrepreneurial ventures with a workforce between 5-30 employees and some large-scale manufacturing businesses with 250-800 workers—are all potential training partners.

The Gap. (A serious deficit.) Research conducted in 2014 indicates that employers in the Finger Lakes region are concerned that much of their highly skilled talent base is aging out of the workforce. Small companies cannot afford internal training programs, thus workforce development needs must be met by colleges like MCC. MCC is nationally recognized for the creation of specialized programs responding to the workforce needs of Western New York. According to the 2014 MCC Rochester Area Skill Needs Assessment and Business Climate Survey , 37 percent of all jobs in the Finger Lakes region are classified as middle-skills and 50 percent of available middle-skills jobs are considered chronically hard to fill. A recent analysis of regional program completions versus estimated annual open- ings in applied integrated technologies/mechatronics, tooling and machining and optical systems technology predicts a serious deficit. Each area will be addressed by the Center’s programs. The complete report, Measuring Middle-Skills Occupational Gaps Within the Finger Lakes Regional Economy , is available at www.workforceforward.com/reports .

APPLIED INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGIES/MECHATRONICS GAP ANALYSIS: REGIONAL PROGRAM COMPLETIONS VS. ESTIMATED ANNUAL OPENINGS This measurement aims to provide a high-level gap analysis, comparing the total estimated number of learners completing a relevant middle-skill training and education program against estimated industry demands for middle-skill workers by occupational grouping.

Middle-Skill Education Provider

2012 Estimated Annual Estimated Completions Job Openings Gap (∆)

Monroe Community College Rochester Institute of Technology

0

194 -166 **

18 10

Monroe 2 Orleans BOCES

TOTAL

28 *

Note: To address the skills gap in the AIT occupational group, Monroe Community College is developing a program in mechatronics which is scheduled to launch in Fall 2016. Completions from this new program will be reflected in future analyses.

* The 28 annual regional completions represent a supply of 14.4 % new AIT trained workers produced locally against an estimated annual demand of 194 openings.

10-year aging out projection: 22.4 % are approaching retirement age

2013 TOTAL WORKFORCE 8,159 AIT Workers

** This suggests that in this occupational group, about 85.6 % ofAIT-related jobs may go unfilled each year in the region due to an insufficient number of graduates produced locally.

Source: IPEDS and noncredit self-reported data from applicable education providers. © 2015 MCC

TOOLING & MACHINING GAP ANALYSIS: REGIONAL PROGRAM COMPLETIONS VS. ESTIMATED ANNUAL OPENINGS

This measurement aims to provide a high-level gap analysis, comparing the total estimated number of learners completing a relevant middle-skill training and education program against estimated industry demands for middle-skill workers by occupational grouping.

Middle-Skill Education Provider

2012 Estimated Annual Estimated Completions Job Openings Gap (∆)

Monroe Community College Monroe 2 Orleans BOCES Rochester Institute of Technology Finger Lakes Community College

36 10 11 15

231 -159 **

TOTAL

72 *

* The 72 annual regional completions represent a supply of 31.2 % new tooling and machining trained workers produced locally against an estimated annual demand of 231 openings.

** This suggests that in this occupational group, about 68.8 % of tooling and machining-related jobs may go unfilled each year in the region due to an insufficient number of graduates produced locally .

2013 TOTAL WORKFORCE 9,181 Tooling and Machining Workers

10-year aging out projection: 23.2 % are approaching retirement age

Source: IPEDS and noncredit self-reported data from applicable education providers. © 2015 MCC

OPTICAL SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY GAP ANALYSIS: REGIONAL PROGRAM COMPLETIONS VS. ESTIMATED ANNUAL OPENINGS This measurement aims to provide a high-level gap analysis, comparing the total estimated number of learners completing a relevant middle-skill training and education program against estimated industry demands for middle-skill workers by occupational grouping.

Middle-Skill Education Provider

2012 Estimated Annual Estimated Completions Job Openings Gap (∆)

Monroe Community College Finger Lakes Community College Rochester Institute of Technology Genesee Community College

4 9 9 6

115 -87 **

TOTAL

28 *

* The 28 annual regional completions represent a supply of 24.3 % new OST trained workers produced locally against an estimated annual demand of 115 openings.

10-year aging out projection: 20 % are approaching retirement age

** This suggests that in this occupational group, about 75.7 % of OST-related jobs may go unfilled each year in the region due to an insufficient number of graduates produced locally.

2013 TOTAL WORKFORCE 7,720 OST Workers

Source: IPEDS © 2015 MCC

Cohorts of the MCC Accelerated Precision

Tooling Certificate program have achieved an amazing 75 percent completion rate and 90 percent job placement.

The Cohort. (Effective.) The Cohort-based instructional mod- el is designed to produce a greater supply of workers with specific skill sets. Students begin and end their training as a group, adhering to a pre-designed curriculum. Upon completion, they are then better prepared to take immediate employment in their field of study. For exam- ple, in its first year, the Accelerated Precision Tooling Certificate program has achieved a 75 percent completion rate for two cohorts of grad- uates and a 90 percent job placement rate. A third cohort is presently in progress with a fourth planned to begin in spring 2015.

The Bridge. (Narrowing the middle-skills deficit.) MCC proposes to develop a Middle Skills Bridge Program (MSBP) for students who are not academically ready for college-level course work. This will prepare career-oriented students to successfully participate in an MCC accelerated degree certificate program. Students will be recruited from often overlooked groups such as: veterans; dislocated workers; the underemployed; residents participating in various City of Rochester remedial programs; recent GED graduates and incumbent workers.

The Middle Skills Bridge Program will encourage participation from a more diverse group of students.

The Impact. (Large and lasting.) The dollars generated by program completion stands at more than $40 million by the end of the five-year start-up period. Far beyond the dollar value generated by the Finger Lakes Regional Workforce Development Center is its potential to spark an inflow of new and established businesses eager to engage our workforce. Also, according to the Greater Rochester Enterprise, the availability of a highly trained workforce, including technicians and skilled trades, is one of the top two criterion site selectors evaluate for project locations. That means, this project is critical to EBP in securing $20-$100 million projects. Few industrial revitalizations have occurred without a force like the proposed center. Which will be the region’s first coordinated attempt at establishing an educational pipeline to high-demand technical manufacturing jobs. Initially, EBP employers will benefit from an enthusiastic, well-educated talent pool. And, over the longer term, our region will retain jobs that might otherwise have located out of our area. The Finger Lakes Regional Workforce Development Center will provide 222 workers with non- degree training in the first year of operation—with incremental increases over the first five-year cycle totaling 2,303 workers trained (includes degree and non-degree training).

ECONOMIC IMPACT REQUIRES SKILL

Electrical Engineering Technology

Tooling and Machining

Applied Integrated Technology/ Mechatronics

IT Related Occupations

(credit-based cohorts)

TOTAL

Marginal Annual Impact per Completer (compared to full-time high school educated worker)

$209,100

$75,500

$45,600

$126,700

N/A

Year 1 Completions Annual Economic Impact Year 2 Completions Annual Economic Impact Year 3 Completions Annual Economic Impact Year 4 Completions Annual Economic Impact Year 5 Completions Annual Economic Impact

0

30

30

0

60

-

$2,265,000 $1,368,000

-

$3,633,000

15

30

50

0

95

$3,136,500 $4,530,000 $3,648,000

-

$11,314,500

15

30

50

15

110

$6,273,000 $6,795,000 $5,928,000 1,900,500 $20,896,500

15

30

50

15

110

$9,409,500 $9,060,000 $8,208,000 3,801,000 $30,478,500

15

30

50

15

110

$12,546,000 $11,325,000 $10,488,000 5,701,500 $40,060,500

TOTAL CREDIT COMPLETERS OVER 5 YEARS

485

Source: MCC Program Based Economic Impact Analysis, January 2015

The Investment. (An ongoing return.) The need is for $25 million in capital funding for the build-out or retrofit of a 41,000-square-foot space at the Eastman Business Park industrial campus on West Ridge Road in Rochester. This will support construc- tion of four trade-specific labs, one open industrial and one specialty lab, five classrooms, three offices and storage. The projected return: more than $100 million over five years. The investment will leverage the private resources of corpo- rate donors to advance opportunities in optics technologies and provide Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) scholarships. MCC’s partner, Eastman Business Park, will leverage the infrastructure through its tenant affiliations. Additional funding opportunities for the Center include support for ongoing operational and personnel costs, facility maintenance, and expenses associated with the purchase/upkeep of state-of-the-art equipment.

The center will provide 282 workers with training in the first year increasing annually to a projected 2,303 workers

trained over 5 years (includes degree and non-degree training).

Contact: Todd Oldham Vice President toldham@monroecc.edu or 585.292.3791

F inger Lakes A dvanced M anufacturers’ E nterprise Building Minds that Make It