As the Permian Basin area of West Texas experiences economic growth and employees are in high demand, specialized training is required in high-demand fields. Community colleges can develop and respond quickly to local workforce needs and create credit and non-credit programs. Community colleges provide opportunities through a variety of short programs and flexible schedules at low costs. Taking advantage of local partnerships to train students allows job training experience with the possibility of seamless placement after training. The community college acts as a pathway to provide comprehensive and relevant training that is streamlined to lead to current job placement in the community. This chapter explores this phenomenon.
TopWorkforce And Economic Development
The community college provides training for students in specialized areas of the workforce to support business and industry demands. This practice dates back to 1957, as junior colleges identified the vocational-technical needs to fulfill society’s workforce shortages (Cohen et al., 2014). As society demands specialized skills and knowledge for employees seeking jobs, community colleges are adapting to changing demands of the workforce and providing a range of diverse programs (Cohen et al., 2014). Many of these positions are high paying, resulting in higher personal income of the country’s citizens, contributing to the overall good of the economy (Cohen et al., 2014).
Workforce development focuses on economic development to boost a region’s economic stability and prosperity focusing on individuals. It is also described as the ability to sustain a workforce that can support current and future business and industry. Workforce and technical programs provide training in specialized fields to educate and prepare students to enter the workforce (Hodges, 2012). Keeping in mind, business and industry require trained employees, and employees need business and industry to create a sustainable lifestyle. Also, needed in this mix are the decision-makers with knowledge and skills to lead their company and employees in a sustainable prosperous direction. This chapter explores workforce development with focus on their relationship with community colleges and higher education.