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FEATURED ARTICLE: Community College Workforce Cooperative Workforce solutions for Hampton Roads: Three Colleges, One Mission

Community College Workforce Cooperative

Workforce solutions for Hampton Roads: Three Colleges, One Mission

 

The Community College Workforce Cooperative (CCWC) is an exciting new collaboration between Camp, Thomas Nelson, and Tidewater community colleges designed to meet the large-scale job training needs in Hampton Roads. The impetus for this new effort is quite simple. The partners recognize that by combining their efforts they can better serve Hampton Roads employers through the delivery of truly innovative workforce programs. By Coordinating program development and delivery across the entire region, the partners can produce workforce solutions at the speed, efficiency, and scale not previously possible while working independently.

 

The CCWC also creates a single point of contact for employers to access the workforce training resources of all three community colleges which together serve 11 cities and four counties through 10 college locations. According to Virginia Community College System Chancellor Glen DuBois, “This innovation will move our community colleges beyond our traditional workforce training role. It will position us as a dependable partner in advancing the region’s economic development priorities, filling workforce gaps, and making us more accessible than ever to large employers.” Fortunately, the partner community colleges have a long history of serving their individual communities and well-established employer relationships from which to build upon and no other relationship is more important than the one with shipbuilding and ship repair.

 

CCWC seeks to provide even greater focus on the workforce solutions needed by the shipbuilding and ship repair industry and expand upon the vital partnership with the Virginia Ship Repair Association (VSRA). As the VSRA membership knows, the Marine Trades Training (MTT) program is a great example of what can be accomplished through a successful partnership and this program offers a solid foundation for both current and future work. VSRA and the CCWC partner colleges have served nearly 2000 MTT participants since 2017. Participants have completed one of six available trade programs with 90% of the completers hired directly into the shipbuilding and ship repair industry. The MTT program will certainly serve as a cornerstone for future work whether it be to expand program offerings or develop new programs to meet emerging or growing needs. The CCWC is committed to being a valued partner to VSRA and its member companies and will offer unmatched opportunities to leverage the public resources available through Virginia’s community colleges.

 

We are all fortunate that the energy, enthusiasm, and resources needed to support and expand workforce development in Virginia have significantly increased in recent years and, as a result, we have an incredible opportunity to better direct this energy and align these resources in Hampton Roads. The challenge will be in developing and sustaining the partnerships needed to capture the opportunity while tapping into the expertise, leadership, and great work already underway. Establishing the CCWC demonstrates Virginia’s community colleges commitment to better aligning our own efforts and we are committed to working with our other regional partners, like VSRA, to support, sustain, and help grow the skilled workforce. Through the CCWC, our community colleges will engage the region with one voice to achieve one mission. We will make it even easier to access workforce programs through our local community colleges and create the comprehensive solutions needed by our valued employer partners. If you would like to connect with the CCWC to learn more and explore opportunities, please connect with Todd Estes, Executive Director, at mestes@ccwc.vccs.edu or (757)645-5159.  


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