Mainebiz

V O L . X X I V N O X X V I I I F uel provider Dead River Co. desperately needs drivers. At Central Maine Power, the need is for line workers. e Appalachian Mountain Club also needs trained workers for its hundreds of full-time and seasonal positions. ose businesses are among the many that are partnering with the Maine Community College System in a focus on short-term training in response to the state's workforce crisis. "We need full-time drivers for oil and propane deliveries, we need seasonal drivers," says Tracy ibodeaux, director of human resources at South Portland- based Dead River. "We also need trans- port drivers, to drive the big rigs." Dead River, which has long donated equipment and resources for training to the community college system, this year contributed six trucks for com- munity college training. e company also made it clear how much it needed drivers, says Dan Belyea, executive director of workforce training for the community college system. "[Belyea] came back and said, 'We're going to create a program,'" ibodeaux says. 'In our wheelhouse' Maine Quality Centers, a division of the community college system, matches its workforce training program to com- panies's needs. Since 1994, the program has since worked with 237 businesses — many multiple times — represent- ing 15,068 new jobs and $2.5 billion in private investment. In the past couple years that effort has gone into high gear. ere were 31 active programs in 2017 and 40 for 2018, says Helen Pelletier, director of public affairs for the commu- nity college system. Partnerships focus on precision machining, paramedicine, plumbing, hospitality, health care, information technology and more. "We're training people across the state," Belyea says. "We're not competing with groups providing existing services, we're amplifying it. We're doing what's in our wheelhouse." High-demand, high-wage jobs While the system hasn't lost focus on its one-year certificate and two-year degree programs, there's an energized focus on state residents who need better jobs and industries that need more workers immediately. "ere's a high demand for training for high-wage jobs," says Belyea. "We're not training people for minimum wage jobs." e state's workforce shortage — a unchanging pool of about 700,000 work- ers with many aging out and younger ones without needed skills — is coupled with the fact that 38% of Maine's high school graduates don't go on to, or com- plete, college or vocational training. "I think everyone understands what's going on around us," Belyea says. "Everyone needs workers. Everyone." High school graduates often get stuck in low-paying jobs, Pelletier adds. "ey can't get a foothold." While the cost or time commit- ment of getting a one-year certificate or two-year degree may seem out of reach, many of the system's new programs allow students to train quickly. Badging programs credit students for acquiring a skills they can use immediately or apply toward a certficate or degree. e program embraces low-income students, as well as new Americans, veterans and those getting out of prison. "ey're seeing opportunities they may not have seen in the past," Belyea says. e growing number of badging initiatives, along with other immedi- ate training programs that partner with businesses, include: Medical assistant, certified nursing assistant programs at Eastern Maine, Kennebec Valley and Southern Maine community colleges in part- nership with MaineHealth; Manufacturing programs with Pratt & Whitney (machine operator, York County CC), Bath Iron Works (welding/manufacturing tech- nology, SMCC), Cianbro (pipe welding/fitting, KVCC) and Saint Croix Tissue (certified production tech, Washington County CC); Information technology with HERE Engineering (software developer training SMCC/Brunswick) and IT short-term training centers for certi- fication, Central Maine CC, KVCC. Keeping the lights on Avangrid, parent company of Central Maine Power, contributed $250,000 toward the $1.39 million renovation of KVCC's Nutter Field House, which was outfitted as a training center for electric line workers. It opened in October. CMP has a pressing need for line workers. Graduates of the KVCC program come out with an education, skills and safety training — making them productive from Day One. Students in the program can earn scholarships. Following graduation, 91.3% are employed within six months, earning an average salary of $60,908. Wheels on the road e first graduates of the new commer- cial driver's license program at EMCC will hit the road in mid-December. It's the program that was created after Dead River talked to Belyea in the spring. Training is key to filling jobs Business, community colleges meeting workforce shortage head-on B y m a u R e e n m i l l i k e n H R / R E C R U I T M E N T F O C U S 18 P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y O F K E N N E B E C VA L L E Y C O M M U N I T Y C O L L E G E Students at Kennebec Valley Community College get training to prepare them to become line workers. Central Maine Power, which helped fund the program, has an ongoing demand for the skilled workers.

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