Workforce Development

OWENSBORO COMMUNITY AND TECHNICAL COLLEGE

A leader in Greater Owensboro’s workforce development

written by Jodi Keen

Through its variations since its inception, Owensboro Community & Technical College has remained a premier vocational school and grown to meet the area’s industry demands. And its efforts to develop its students into highly-skilled members of the community workforce have produced resounding success.

Whether helping high schoolers earn dual credits, training students through apprenticeships, helping employers recruit skilled workers through job placements or strengthening the business acumen of area workers, OCTC’s programs bolster Greater Owensboro’s skilled workforce in spades.

EARLY COLLEGE

OCTC’s commitment to quality education begins with high schoolers through its Early College program, a collaborative partnership with area high schools. Participants use their junior and senior years to earn dual credit at their school and OCTC. Upon completion of the program, graduates earn an Associate of Arts or Science degree in addition to their high school diploma — saving students and their families tens of thousands of dollars in tuition and related education costs.

“It’s a safe environment to earn college credit,” Amanda Jerome, the college and career readiness coordinator for Daviess County Public Schools, said in December 2019. School officials have also noticed a positive change in students once they begin taking courses on OCTC’s campuses.

“It amplifies their confidence that they can handle college-level material,” she said. “They know what to expect. It improves their confidence, and they typically do go on to some type of post-secondary education afterward.” MANUFACTURING

Manufacturing remains a staple in Greater Owensboro, and area employers are increasingly looking for prospective workers with a solid industry acumen. OCTC has stepped up to help fill the gap by offering manufacturing, logistics, welding, construction technology and robotics programs to put area students on the cuttingedge of industry standards and within reach of well-paid jobs. On-the-job training, job placements with local manufacturers and partnerships through GO FAME — the Greater Owensboro chapter of the Kentucky Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education, which sets up apprenticeship-style training programs to develop a highly skilled workforce — have both strengthened and expanded the program to include business administration and medical assisting in addition to manufacturing.

GO CAREERS

An offshoot of GO FAME, GO CAREERS provides a work-and-learn opportunity benefitting both employers and their workers; employees get to hone their skills and invest in their careers, while employers can cultivate more engaged workers who lead by example.

In its first three years, GO CAREERS held a 96% retention rate among students who completed the program. For area employers, that statistic holds especially impactful weight.

“GO CAREERS blends the job success and development with the educational knowledge and experience to build our leaders right here in Owensboro,” says David Little, executive vice president of consumer banking & business operations at U.S. Bank.

“OCTC was the first in the state to expand this model beyond manufacturing, and we knew it had great potential, but even we were surprised at how successful this program has been,” Cindy Fiorella, vice president of OCTC Workforce Solutions division, said in 2020. “Not only do we offer concierge-style support throughout, but the cohort model creates a dynamic and supportive learning environment for the participating students.”

E3@OCTC INITIATIVE

To strengthen the workforce development offerings, OCTC announced in August 2020 its new E3@OCTC initiative, which bolsters the program’s hands-on learning.

“We are going to provide more active, experiential project-based learning across our entire curriculum,” OCTC President Scott Williams said. “We are going to increase the number of co-ops, practicums, internships and similar programs, as well as implementing more service and civic-based learning opportunities and injecting more active and project-based learning in our curriculum.”

Given that a high volume of OCTC graduates remain in Greater Owensboro, the idea of developing a well-rounded workforce is attractive to area officials. The initiative found support from the City of Owensboro and Daviess County Fiscal Court, which are each investing $25,000 to help get the program started. With assistance through a three-year, $2 million Title III grant, the program aims to use the endowment and matches to provide a foundation to the program, build it through partnerships and donations, and by the end of the three-year federal grant, be self-sufficient.

“The great thing is that it helps the students and provides instruction to the faculty to better train these students as they partner with and expand workforce development to create a highly-qualified workforce through intensifying and broadening the scope of learning,” Owensboro Mayor Tom Watson said upon the initiative’s announcement, with Daviess County Judge-Executive Al Mattingly adding, “The aid of the county and the city is simply continuing our commitment to education and a well-educated workforce.”