Fresno Good Jobs Challenge: The Continuum of Training
On July 22, 2021, the Economic Development Administration at the U.S. Department of Commerce announced $3 billion in funding from the American Rescue Plan through a series of competitions to support economic and workforce development programs in regions across the country.
The Manufacturing Institute has been working with the San Joaquin Valley Manufacturing Alliance (SJVMA) as sub-recipients of the Good Jobs Challenge grant awarded to the Fresno County Economic Development Corporation (EDC). As part of the broader project, Fresno EDC is taking the lead in bolstering and diversifying their local economy by training and placing residents into high-quality jobs in three other growth industries as well as manufacturing; financial services; building and construction; and transportation, distribution and logistics.
The Challenge: Historically, community colleges and training providers have struggled to support employer’s workforce needs because they were disaggregated, one-off requests from individual companies without the demand for trainees to sustain the training program in a way that makes economic sense for the training provider. Leaving employers without training for the skills they need (resulting in poaching each other’s talent), community colleges without industry engagement for their career and technical education programs, and students and employees without adequate training. This is not a sustainable model for developing talent and certainly not a challenge unique to Fresno.
How We’re Addressing It: SJVMA, the MI, and the Fresno County EDC have been touring local manufacturing companies to aggregate the positions and related skills these companies need to fill that are unique to their region. Our collective goal is to work with these companies to build an industry sector partnership that can develop a sustainable pipeline of skilled employees for various positions.
Why it matters: By developing an industry sector partnership and aggregating the skills and occupational needs of each company, manufacturers in the San Joaquin Valley are recognizing that they have a similar demand for most of the skills and positions they need to fill. On-the-job training will address each companies unique training needs.
- By working together, the local manufacturers have established enough collective demand for trainees to host multiple training programs.
- To date, this group has partnered with two local community colleges to start short term, four to six-week training programs aimed at solving these companies’ entry-level operator and assembler needs.
- For more advanced technical training, the cohort of employers are now working on launching a multi-skilled earn and learn apprentice style program.
The point: By working together as part of an industry sector partnership, instead of competing for talent companies can collectively develop training programs to meet all of their shared workforce needs while placing individuals into good jobs.
Do you have operations in the region? Learn more by reaching out to us at [email protected] or get in touch with our partners at the San Joaquin Valley Manufacturing Alliance or Fresno County Economic Development Corporation.
- Aimee McFarland, Program Director, San Joaquin Valley Manufacturing Alliance. Email: [email protected]
- Chris Zeitz, Vice President, Workforce Development, Fresno Country Economic Development Corporation. Email: [email protected]
