This report describes the activities and strategies of a wide variety of partnerships between community colleges and workforce boards, with key takeaways that can assist other community colleges and workforce organizations to solidify their collaborations and further their mutual goals.
Such partnerships are an essential element of the U.S. Department of Labor grant program called Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT). This program provided nearly $2 billion over a seven-year period to help the nation’s community colleges deliver industry-aligned credentials for unemployed and underemployed adults.
Many of the examples in this report illustrate partnerships that emerged out of TAACCCT, while others are longstanding relationships that pre-dated the program. The first set of stories focuses on statewide and regional efforts to identify needs in the local labor market and to develop programs to meet them. The second set delves into the activities and lessons learned from serving “common customers”—individual students, employers, and jobseekers.
