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Craig Schroeder
Senior Fellow
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As I work with students and businesses across rural America, I hear the same theme repeated. The biggest concern expressed by students about staying or returning to their hometown is a lack of quality jobs and the greatest challenge I hear from employers is a lack of young people with communication and critical thinking skills.
An exciting opportunity is emerging to bridge this gap as educators evaluate options for enhancing workforce readiness through career and technical education (CTE). Two significant challenges that many school administrators face in this arena are funding to invest in CTE programming and staff shortages or teachers who do not have strong relationships with the business community. These are both areas where community leaders and economic development can be of significant help in preparing our youth for local career and business opportunities!
Now is an excellent time to map out your game plan for working with educators when school resumes in the fall. To help you get started, below are five suggestions for pursuing this opportunity in the upcoming school year:
- If you have not done so recently, schedule a meeting with school administrators before school resumes to discuss how they are planning to implement CTE and identify areas where the community may be of assistance.
- Provide a tour of local businesses for guidance counselors and educators who will be implementing CTE programs to build relationships with the business community and to learn about specific workforce skill needs of local employers.
- Utilize Business Retention and Expansion (BR&E) data collected recently or conduct interviews with local employers to define workforce skill needs and positions to be filled in the next 2 to 5 years.
- Share workforce information with the guidance counselors and educators supporting CTE, and support apprenticeships that can lead to relevant post-secondary education and career pathways for young people seeking to stay or return to your community.
- Incorporate entrepreneurship education with career pathways for students seeking to own their own business in the future, perhaps through downstream business succession planning with an apprentice's employer and mentor.
If you would like more information about how to implement these steps and support local career pathways for young people, please join me on a free conference call on August 3rd at 10 a.m. Central by calling (712) 775-7031, passcode: 420016#.
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