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Mike Realon: What you see in the United States today, you have
about 11 million unemployed folks, but you have 4 million
unfilled jobs because of a skills gap. And so we look at those
key industry sectors within our city, where there's a lot of
workforce needs, and we try to connect our pipeline from
Olympic—in our high school—on through post-secondary, and
on into college.
Dr. Dana McDonald: The Charlotte region is a fertile area for
advanced manufacturing, and for growing need around technical
careers, technical occupations. At Central Piedmont Community
College, we think it's critical to understand what industry needs
are, so that we're building that into our curriculum, to build
those math and science skills that are going to allow them to
pursue the technical careers that advanced manufacturing needs.
Pamela Howze: How do we create a talent pipeline of skilled
workers when technical trades are no longer taught in the high
schools? So we had to get really creative, and that's really why
we started our apprenticeship training program two years ago.
We partnered very quickly with Olympic High School. We also joined
a local area partnership called Apprenticeship 2000.
Mike: And so we've worked closely with them to kind of help us
help them, by better preparing our kids to those demands in the
real world.
Alex Bowles: Well, I work for Chiron, and I think that they saw
that, you know, I'm a very moldable student, I can learn really
well and apply it really well.
Joseph DeFreese: We learn it, we apply it. My math skills have
gone through the roof, reading, comprehension, science. Look at
the blueprint, look at the piece you have, and then I'll show you
the finished product, and you're like, "Wow, I know how it goes
from this, this, and here," so I can actually see the whole
process before I am doing it. And I can find ways, and just by
thinking about it, the process and make it more efficient.
Pamela: And it is absolutely remarkable to me how they respond
when they get out into an advanced manufacturing facility, highly
automated, robots, computers, lasers, and these kids are not
afraid of technology. Several of the kids are running
multi-million-dollar machines day to day by themselves, just
under the guidance of a mentor, so I think that's pretty
impressive.
Dana: When they complete the program, they have attained an
associate degree with no debt, because the company has paid all
of the expenses related to that education, so they're getting a
great start in their career.
Joseph: I was one of the kids in school who was like, "Oh, I'm
never going to use this at work," or "At what job am I going to use
trigonometry?" I do it every day.
Dana: What's critical is that industry and the public sector
are collaborating to create opportunities. Opportunities for
education, opportunities for employment. Because if you have
those strong salaries in the community, then that's money that's
reinvested in the community. And so that's what the
public-private collaboration is all about: it's creating
opportunities for all of us.