Partnership with counties gets kids ready for local job market
Career Readiness West Virginia recently wrapped up the first phases of its work with 21 counties on ways for educators and businesses to partner on the future’s workforce.
But there’s still work to be done, the company believes.
Forge Business Solutions developed and manages Career Readiness. The program was funded entirely by a grant from Mountain State Educational Services Cooperative and was free to counties.
Using surveys and meetings with business leaders and educators, the group prepared a report for each county, summarizing where jobs are now, where they will be in the future and what education workers need to fill them.
Preston and Monongalia are among the 21 counties.
The final summary after 16 months of work was issued recently.
The summary says, “developing relationships between education and industry will catalyze West Virginia’s workforce. It is imperative for educators to acquire a deep knowledge of career and industry opportunities to prepare students for the local job market.”
It goes on to mention as a factor that “future economic development strategies must include a focus on improving health outcomes, lowering drug abuse and advancing education and vocational training opportunities in the state to make West Virginia’s workforce appealing to current and potential businesses.”
And “understanding the current state of West Virginia’s economy is crucial to developing a plan for an improved future for West Virginia students.”
Frank Vitale, president and CEO of Forge Business Solutions, said, “The health of our state is a critical element.”
That’s not just the opioid crisis, but also smoking, diabetes and other health issues that contribute to only about half the state’s population working.
What’s next?
Vitale doesn’t know if there will be any follow up work, but he hopes so. That could be either through more grant funding to build on the Career Readiness project as it is or individual counties could contract with the company to develop a plan to take this to the next level.
He’s awaiting word from the state on whether it is interested in funding more of Career Readiness. Forge is also willing to work with individual counties to find funding for those counties.
More grants could also allow other counties to join the program.
Vitale sees the state’s community and technical colleges playing a critical role in the next couple decades for West Virginia’s workforce.
“If we are going to mobilize and grow our workforce, it’s going to really be partnering with technical education in a way like we’ve never done before,” Vitale said.
He also has concerns about who, if anyone, counseled those in the Class of 2020 who wanted to enter the workforce directly. Who will work with the Class of 2021, as classes go from in the classroom to remote learning and back?
Career Readiness recommends ways to connect students with employers, including job site tours, job shadowing and job fairs.
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