Hearing Findings

Philadelphia continues to see strong job growth in certain industries and economic sectors.

In order to recover from the economic impacts of Covid-19, it is imperative that the City helps put people back to work and staves off future economic downturns by strategically building strong workforce pipelines into growing industries. During the initial lockdown, from March 16, 2020 until May 31, 2020, initial unemployment claims rose 1273% compared to the previous year.2 In addition, 50.8% of those who filed an initial unemployment claim during this period were 34 years old or younger.3 While many areas of the economy suffered, Pat Clancy, President and CEO of Philadelphia Works, testified that warehouse, computer and IT, mental health, and medical jobs are on the rise in Philadelphia.4 Philadelphia Works is capitalizing on the growth of some of these sectors. For example, they partnered with the Community College of Philadelphia (CCP) to begin construction on a new automotive and advanced manufacturing training facility in West Philadelphia.5 Investing in the industries identified in Philadelphia Works’ research can aid Philadelphia in improving career opportunities for residents and creating a skilled workforce that makes the City more attractive to employers.

More collaboration and partnerships with employers are needed to increase opportunities for School District of Philadelphia students.

The School District of Philadelphia (SDP) has a number of industry partners which they highlighted during their presentation (slide below). These partners offer workplace experience for students.

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We want to be sure that we’re providing students with the hands-on opportunities so that they have the work readiness and industry-specific skills. And so we are looking to get increased employer engagement through our partnerships that we’re hoping to build, and we definitely need students to be exposed into jobs in growing industries. So we need to continue to look at the data that’s coming out and the research and start identifying the shifts and making sure that we are making adjustments internally the best way that we can.

Ali Robinson-Rogers: Transcript. p.48

SDP expresses a great interest in partnerships and collaboration, but current partnerships are limited. Some of the listed partners only have programs with one school, such as the Philly Shipyard and PECO.7

Additionally, there are many potential partners that are absent completely from career and technical education partnerships. Dr. Pam Carter, the Dean for Business and Technology at the Community College of Philadelphia, further highlighted the need for greater collaboration between SDP and its partners.

While productive, there is room for expansion and greater proactive collaboration with the School District of Philadelphia, while concurrently making stronger connections with Philadelphia employers.

Dr. Pam Carter: Transcript pgs. 93-94.

Philadelphia Works believes SDP plays an important role in making young people aware of potential post-graduate career opportunities,8 and they are willing to assist SDP with aligning career and technical education programs with high-growth career pathways and to train SDP staff to provide better information to interested students. 9, 10

Career and technical education programs should train students to enter the fastest-growing industries.

Over the last few decades, Philadelphia has seen significant growth in warehousing, healthcare, and solar energy, all of which currently offer opportunities for job placement and are poised to see more growth in the future. Career and technical education programs need to adapt to give students the skills and certifications to fill a wide range of jobs in these fields. Laura Rigell, Solar Manager at the Philadelphia Energy Authority (PEA), spoke about Philadelphia’s solar market, and the successful training programs PEA supports.

Clean energy jobs, particularly those in solar energy, offer significant opportunity. For every 100 solar panels installed in Philadelphia, 15 living wage jobs are created.11

Beyond the Bright Solar Futures fellowship, PEA has partnered with SDP to bring the nation’s first solar career and technical education program to Frankford High School.12 As the solar industry grows, the City’s early investment in workforce training ensures we will be ready to meet the demand.

…The Philadelphia Energy Authority also supported PowerCorpsPHL to establish a new Bright Solar Futures fellowship in the Spring of this year to offer a parallel pathway for opportunity youth, young adults aged 18 to 30 who are un- or under-employed. 11 of the 12 graduates from this new Bright Solar Futures fellowship were placed into employment in the summer of this year despite COVID.

Laura Rigell: Transcript pgs. 95-96.

Ta’Sean McMullin, a graduate of the Philadelphia Opportunities Industrialization Center Workforce Academy’s smart energy training program, testified about the opportunities it created for him. 13

I graduated from the OIC (Philadelphia Opportunities Industrialization Center Workforce Academy) class in July 2020. This class taught me the basic steps of solar, which involved understanding the racking and electrical systems and what it takes to be involved in a solar company. It prepped me to know what to have tool wise and mentally to be productive and ready for a job in the field of solar. Beyond solar taught me how to be professional and focused in my work.

Ta’Sean McMullin: Written Testimony p. 1.

By making career programs in fast-growing industries available in secondary schools, students will be able to transition to the job market more quickly or to more advanced training and certification programs, helping increase their lifetime earnings.

Beyond the growing solar industry, many of the other fastest growing job sectors are not well represented in the current suite of career and technical education programs. There are currently no specific programs dedicated to warehouse jobs, one of the fastest growing job sectors in Philadelphia.14 Additionally, the Philly Shipyard recently announced a government contract to build “up to five vessels for the U.S. Maritime Administration.”15 The Philly Shipyard’s own website has a section for apprenticeship opportunities, but SDP has only developed a single school partnership between Philip Randolph Career Academy and Philly Shipyard, despite five schools offering welding programs.16

Career and technical education programs begin in the tenth grade, but research shows ninth grade is the most important year for students.

Core subjects are crucial to students’ lifelong learning and professional careers. Skills such as reading, writing, and math are central to career readiness, but not offering career and technical education programming to ninth graders means we are losing a year to engage students at a cricital time. A combination of attendance, behavior, and course performance in the ninth grade can provide insight into whether a student will continue their education or drop out.17 The current class schedule structure required by SDP starts career and technical education classes in tenth grade, while the ninth grade has block scheduling dedicated to core curriculum classes, such as English and Math.

13 Ta’Sean McMullin: Written Testimony p. 1. 14 High School Directory. School District of Philadelphia. https://www.philasd.org/cte/wp-content/uploads/sites/155/2020/09/HS-Directory-2021-for-web-2020-09-17.pdf. 15 Dunn, Catherine. “‘The sun is shining’ at Philly Shipyard as hundreds of jobs return this year, CEO says.” Philadelphia Inquirer, January 19, 2021. Accessed on February 7, 2021. https://www.inquirer.com/business/philly-shipyard-jobs-navy-yard-philadelphia-trump-toomey-schumer-20210119.html. 16 High School Directory. School District of Philadelphia. 17 Willens, Michele. Ninth Grade: The Most Important Year in High School. The Atlantic, November 1, 2013. Accessed on February 7, 2021. https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/11/ninth-grade-the-most-important-year-in-high-school/281056/.