Building college success for poverty-impacted Pierce County students | Opinion

Community colleges nationwide are developing new measures to better serve our students and our local communities. While historically our success has been demonstrated by being open to all students and our progress in helping them complete their education, transfer and find jobs, we need to do more.

Working with the national organization Achieving the Dream and 14 other colleges nationwide, Pierce College is introducing a new approach called community vibrancy. We are rethinking who we serve and seek not only to produce graduates but also to ensure that they will get jobs that pay a family-sustaining wage to support economic mobility and thriving communities.

Our starting point is reaching out to working adults who earn above the federal poverty level but not enough to make ends meet due to the costs of housing, childcare, transportation and other needs. This group — introduced to us by the United Way as the Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE) population — comprises about a quarter of residents in Pierce County and Washington state.

While many industries in western Washington have placed a strong emphasis on bringing new employees into the state, we need to invest in local workers who live paycheck to paycheck. They have much to offer and the most to gain from a community college education.

The jobs are there for local workers to find. Industries such as construction management; health care fields such as nursing, radiation technologists and dental hygienists; software development and engineering have unfilled jobs. About four in 10 (38%) of Washington employers say that a lack of qualified workers is one of the most important challenges facing their business today.

To better reach and serve ALICE households, Pierce College is:

• Partnering with community organizations, serving them to build trusting relationships and increase awareness and support for students and families
• Partnering with other colleges to provide easily digestible information about applying to and paying for college (including accessing free financial aid)
• Eliminating unnecessary administrative requirements wherever possible
• Providing training, resources and support for our staff to best serve and champion the success of all students and families

But we can’t do this alone. We need the state to fully fund community and technical colleges and to incentivize collaborations across sectors. For example, there is a student housing crisis. We can’t work in silos; rather we need to work with housing service providers and public housing authorities to develop systemic solutions. This approach should be extended to other challenges, including food access, child care, and other resources that will help students succeed in college and beyond.

We are asking employers to collaborate with us in helping their current employees gain needed skills and further education. For example, we partner with local health care employers to train current LPN’s to become RN’s. The employers agree to support the students’ class schedule and to provide clinical placements. Partnerships like this help create both consistency and stability for employers while reducing the need to recruit talent and risking high turnover.

We are asking local and state governments to recognize — and amplify — the importance of our role in meeting local workforce needs and ensuring that all communities we jointly serve can realize their fullest potential.

State policymakers and technical and community colleges want residents to have the education and skills to contribute to the workforce and their communities. Some residents have easy access to education; others have not had that. Prioritizing those who are being left behind is critical to the economic and social well-being of our communities and our state.