02/13/2025
From big-name businesses to small-town startups, employer partnerships are the catalyst for career education in the North Far North region. They’re helping innovate industries like automotive tech and AI, while filling critical skills gaps in fields like healthcare, green energy, and public safety.
These partnerships, molded by the efforts of individual colleges and programs, entail everything from research and data-sharing, internships to on-site instruction, and even direct, sponsored classroom-to-career pathways. It’s a win-win situation for students, who get unprecedented access to workforce experience, and employers, who can customize college programs to cater to a company’s specific labor needs.
“We forge a relationship with our industry partners to not only create training programs that fit their workforce needs but to ensure our citizens have education pathways which land them good jobs,” says Wendy Porter, Director of Employer Partnerships in the North Far North. “The bridge between employers and our community colleges is essential to business and family economic success.”
North Far North colleges have taken the business-boosting ball and run with it, prioritizing direct workforce outcomes and finding novel ways to shore up the regional job skills pipeline. Their innovative thinking is leading to projects like Butte College’s “Reimagined Hiring Event,” which turns the concept of a job fair on its head to create an all-access experience customized to the goals of both student and employer. The successful event depends on buy-in from employers and agencies throughout Butte County, including the City of Chico, Northern CA Regional Land Trust and Chicostart.
“Internship programs and customized hiring events are only a few of the ways we forge mutually beneficial relationships that enrich the employer, the student, and the community,” explains Porter.
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE:
https://nfnrc.org/successs_stories/stronger-together-northern-workforce-partnerships-close-old-skills-gaps-open-new-doors/
