Employers need skilled and prepared workers. Students want good-paying jobs with a future. A new Community College of Allegheny County program launched with a $200,000 Citizens Bank workforce commitment grant aims to connect them and reach those goals.

The grant announced earlier this month will expand Citizens’ Community College Accelerator program with Education Design Lab to include a partnership with CCAC, according to a bank news release. Through Education Design Lab’s Community College Growth Engine, an education-to-career model, CCAC will launch a new class of credentials called “micro-pathways” that make learning more flexible, affordable and relevant for students, connecting them to in-demand jobs with salaries at or above the local median wage.

Based on industry research and insights, the initial micro-pathways will focus on preparing students for careers in IT/cybersecurity, doula/midwifery as a specialized nursing track, and mechatronics.

CCAC President Quintin Bullock, Ph.D., said this is the college’s first project with Education Design Lab, a national nonprofit organization that co-designs, prototypes and tests education-to-workforce models through a human-centered design process focused on understanding learners’ experiences, addressing equity gaps in higher education and connecting learners to economic mobility, according to its website. He said the organization understands learners’ experiences and addresses the equity gaps in education. CCAC selected the three initial areas, working with its business and industry partners.

Citizens has supported Education Design Lab’s innovative higher education model since 2021, Mark R. Rendulic, interim head of core banking and Western Pennsylvania Market president, consumer banking, Citizens, wrote in an email. “Over the past three years, we have provided $1.6 million to support the lab’s Community College Growth Engine — a catalytic investment in community colleges to demonstrate their potential position as drivers of innovation between education and employment. Through our funding, we have helped expand the programming to 10 community colleges across Boston, Providence, New York City, Philadelphia, Northern New Jersey and now Pittsburgh.” 

CCAC faculty and partner businesses and organizations are working collaboratively with it, Bullock said, and they share goals of strengthening the college’s noncredit classes and working on 21st-century skills that can offer students good-paying jobs. These micro-pathways classes can be “laddered.”

For example, students taking CCAC noncredit classes earn certificates and credentials that can lead to them taking credit classes and earning an associate’s degree. Then it can enable them to transfer if they choose to four-year colleges and universities, where they can earn bachelor’s and higher-level degrees.

Micro-pathway means short, Bullock explained. These programs enable students to complete training in less time and earn a credential that leads more quickly to jobs. To earn certificates and degrees in mechatronics, an existing program that CCAC developed with business and industry partners such as EOS Energy and U.S. Steel, it could take from one to five years, with some students completing EOS Energy apprenticeships, for example, meaning they will be working while taking classes. The IT/cybersecurity program could be completed in one or two semesters, driven by the students’ background; that is still being finalized. The doula/midwifery micro-pathway can take eight to 10 weeks. 

“It’s based on the minimum skills what these industries need for an employee,” Bullock explained. “Those competencies are what is taught in the training. They will provide the key competencies for individuals to be hired with the earned credential. What is important is the training is developed with business and industry. What is taught is agreed upon and supported by [CCAC] faculty and the industry. We are developing the credentials together.”

He said the programs are in progress and available for students to enroll in and prepare for training in the current academic year.

Each cohort will have about 18 to 20 students, Bullock said. That will allow, depending on the program selected, for CCAC to enroll at least three cohorts a year in each of those areas. Therefore it is possible, he said, for the micro-pathways to reach at least 120 to 150 students a year.

And all the micro-pathways are available to current and potential students. “It’s open to any student who sees this option as a viable pathway to secure meaningful work within a competitive workforce and the flexibility to continue to take additional training and our courses,” the president explained.

Mechatronics is CCAC’s signature automation systems program, where students learn the integrated skills of supply chain, process technology, robotics/artificial intelligence and electrical systems, according to its website. In this program, students acquire skills and knowledge in five major areas: computer programming, electrical systems, mechanical systems, robotics and additive manufacturing (3D printing). Training is relevant to several industries, including Marcellus Shale natural gas, energy and manufacturing as well as supply chain and logistics. Students benefit from a technical core set of courses that combine industry-recognized certification and a college education.

Student tuition for the micro-pathways will be covered through funds CCAC has secured through Partner4Work, a nonprofit Pittsburgh workforce development organization that links employers and adults and young job seekers, and any other funding that it can find from businesses and industry. Part of the Citizens’ grant will also offset student costs, Bullock said.

CCAC is also the second community college in Pennsylvania to secure funding from the Community College Growth Engine that defines these accelerators and how they can assist students and satisfy workforce needs. This “helps community colleges be more futuristic in regional talent and skills-based development,” Bullock said.

The micro-pathways courses will be offered at CCAC’s Center for Education, Innovation and Training, located at its Allegheny Campus on the North Side. Some classes and programs will be offered at its West Hills and Braddock Hills centers as the programs are finalized. Bullock said CCAC is exploring other hands-on experiences for students with its business and industry partners. Nothing will be offered online as the program launches but if it can be supported for the program students select, the president said, that is possible.

The grant announcement coincided with a panel discussion “Meeting the Workforce Needs of the Future” at CCAC’s Allegheny campus in which Bullock took part with Bruce Van Saun, chairman and CEO of Citizens Financial Group; Rob Cherry, Partner4Work president; and Bill Hughes, Education Design Lab president and CEO. Stefani Pashman, CEO of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, moderated.

Citizens does not have a designated internship or job placement program as part of this initiative with CCAC, Rendulic wrote. He noted that Citizens colleagues in Boston have volunteered to provide financial education, resume consulting and career advice to students going through the micro-pathway programs.  

Citizens colleagues have also served as curriculum advisers for community colleges in Philadelphia, Boston and New York. The goal is to find “similar engagement opportunities to provide training and assistance to the students and colleges in other markets to ensure that students are set up for success.”  This includes introducing them to corporate clients within the selected micro-pathways to ensure that the programs are industry-informed and to connect local employers to the talent emerging from these pathways, Rendulic wrote.

To prepare students and workers for careers in the financial industry, Rendulic wrote, “Citizens partners with several Pittsburgh nonprofits, including Partner4Work’s Bankwork$ successful program.” 

The bank is “committed to helping build the workforce of the future to meet the accelerating needs of the economy,” Van Saun wrote in an email. “Our partnership with Education Design Lab at CCAC will focus on equipping students with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in Pittsburgh’s high-demand industries, ensuring that local businesses have access to a pipeline of talent that is ready to meet the challenges of tomorrow.” 

Bullock sees this project continuing at CCAC. “I am very optimistic that this is just the beginning of other micro-pathways expanding into other areas of opportunities where workforce demands are great,” he said.

Helen is a copy editor at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but she’s currently on strike. Contact her at hfallon@unionprogress.com.