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Career Pathways Training Team: Dislocated Workers Program Portland Community College

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Many people lacking postsecondary education or an occupational credential find themselves unemployed or trapped in low-wage, low-skill jobs and slowly sliding into poverty. The changing global economy has resulted in the loss of high-wage manufacturing jobs over the past 20 years. Portland, Oregon has experienced a large number of layoffs in the manufacturing sector including the high-tech, heavy manufacturing, transportation, and garment industries. Layoffs of such large numbers of workers were the impetus for the creation of the Career Pathways Training Team at Portland Community College (PCC).

Project Goals

Low-skilled workers need to be retrained in occupations that lead to family-wage jobs. Most laid-off workers have approximately six months of unemployment insurance, allowing such workers to take at most only one or two terms of classes. Many traditional vocational programs have staggered course offerings in their schedules, or prerequisites that by themselves would take one or two terms of classes. These barriers make traditional academic college programs unattainable to the dislocated worker. In addition, there are few opportunities for limited-English speakers to gain vocational training. Immigrants in particular have been employed in the manufacturing industry in large numbers; they have been severely impacted by the loss of manufacturing jobs.

Career Pathways gives workers an opportunity to thrive in a new career field that has growth potential. Students develop both a career pathway and an educational pathway. They get a chance to see themselves in a career rather than a dead-end job. The program helps students who have never considered college, those with limited English proficiency, low or outdated skills, or minimum-wage job experiences. The program helps students define career goals, get training, and find jobs within industries that pay entry-level living wages and offer growth potential.

Partners and Financing

PCC’s Career Pathways Training Team includes a number of departments:

• Business and Government – Cascade Campus
• Business and Industrial Technology – Sylvania Campus
• Criminal Justice – Cascade Campus
• Institute for Health Professionals – Central Portland Workforce Training Center
• Medical Technology and Science – Cascade Campus

• Outreach to community organizations for recruitment;
• Cohort model that builds relationships and confidence with peers;
• Job readiness curriculum to prepare students for the world of work;
• Coursework grouped and scheduled into manageable chunks;
• Job placement, internship, and job retention services;
• Strong partnerships with employers and college academic departments; and
• Ongoing program development and evaluation tied to the labor market.

ESL Healthcare Program. A four-month intensive program designed to introduce non-native English speakers to entry-level jobs in the health care field. Jobs include medical records keeping, sterile processing, lab assisting, physical therapy assistance, and pharmacy packing.

ESL Food Service Program. A four-month intensive program designed to introduce non-native English speakers to entry-level jobs in food service within institutional settings. It concentrates on leveraging the employer relationships created and maintained for heath care training.

ESL Office Skills Program. A five-month intensive program designed to introduce non-native English speakers to entry-level office work in social services, health care, and government. Students develop updated computer and office skills.

ESL Nursing Assistant Program. A four-month intensive program designed in collaboration with PCC’s Institute of Health Professionals to prepare non-native English speakers for work as nursing assistants and for state certification process.

ESL Medical Terminology Class. A 10-week class that offers intensive medical terminology in an ESL format. This class is offered as a supplement to all the other trainings that offer careers in health care.

Accounting and Bookkeeping. Students attend classes five afternoons per week for 11 weeks as a cohort. Classes are scheduled so that prerequisites can be taken the first half of the term and the next classes the second half of the term. A job readiness class is part of this program. The jobs being trained for are entry-level jobs as account clerk. The course provides 14 credits of a 44-credit career pathway.

Criminal Justice and Corrections. Students attend classes four evenings a week in cohort. Classes are scheduled so that students gain the best mix of instruction. A job readiness class is part of this program one afternoon per week. Students may continue for an additional term and receive an internship in a local corrections facility. The program targets entry-level jobs within a corrections facility or community-based release program. It provides 12 credits of a 97-credit program.

Phlebotomy. Students attend classes four evenings a week, along with one afternoon of job readiness class. This program is a mix of credit and noncredit classes. Students spend over 120 clinical hours in a hospital or clinic at the end of the training. Jobs in these labs and clinics are targeted. This program exceeds the national standard for training phlebotomists.

CNC Operator. Students attend classes five days a week. A job readiness class is held each day during this 11-week program. Students work as a cohort, learning basic CNC machine operator skills. The program provides entry-level and midlevel training as a CNC operator. Students hold internships in a local machine shop at the end of instruction and earn 20 credits in the program

Employment Skills Training Certificate (EST). Credentialing is important to students seeking jobs as well as to employers seeking qualified workers. In summer 2002, PCC received approval for a new occupational skills credential from the Oregon Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development. The new state-sanctioned Employment Skills Training Certificate provides, for 12 to 44 credits, a recognized credential in a specific occupation. Employment Skills Training Certificates will be awarded to students completing the Accounting and Bookkeeping, Criminal Justice and Corrections, and CNC Operator Career Pathway trainings.