E-Blast August 2021
Many of our Far North County Offices of Ed are participating in the CS4NorCal project led by Sacramento County Office of Education. This effort is intended to jumpstart better computer science education pathways in our more rural communities.
Thankfully, this program has a strong interest in aligning K12 CS education pathways with our Community Colleges. I am so honored to be participating in CS4NorCal representing our Far North Community Colleges to help make K14 alignment stronger, our K12 pathway coordinators are also involved. Being a member of the new Far Northern CA Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) Chapter will also help us gain national support for our emerging CS pathways. There is strong evidence in regional programs producing high quality results and we look forward to the many successes this project will generate. As of now Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Shasta, and Siskiyou Counties are participating.
Submitted by Wendy Porter Regional Director of Employer Engagement ICT-DM Far North Region porterwe@butte.edu
Brought to you by the Los Rios ICT Sector
September 10th, 2021 from 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM
The last year and a half has accelerated unprecedented changes in the workplace. This advisory seeks to understand the evolution of work structures by examining survey results from the region’s employers to gain insight on the specifics of remote work.
Join us as we discuss the ever-changing dynamics of workforce structure such as recruitment, onboarding, staff interactions, and the adoption of virtual tools to augment productivity in:
- Communication and collaboration
- Virtual meeting platforms and interactive polling
- Document and information sharing
- Project management
Help inform curriculum to support the regional talent pipeline and ensure the success of California’s remote workforce!
Register Here to attend our virtual Remote Work Regional Advisory meeting on Friday, September 10th, 2021 from 9:00 – 11:00 AM, where we will highlight emerging trends and occupational demands related to remote work.
Contact Valley Vision Project Associate Danielle Susa (danielle.susa@valleyvision.org) with any questions or for more information.
Submitted by Cornelius Brown, Regional Director, Employer Engagement, ICT/DM, North brownc@crc.losrios.edu
Early Bird Sessions at the OMNI
Wednesday, September 29, 8:30 am – 11:30 am
Register for Fall 2021 In-Person and Book your room at the OMNI
We have two 3-hour early bird sessions and the attached flyer gives all the details.
CEO EducateX
Session Title:
Planning with Storyboards: Compression Planning and Virtual Tools
Arrive with frustration from meetings that go nowhere, and leave with a friendly method of bringing out the productive best in your groups.
Senior Project Manager WestEd
Session Title:
Data-Informed Practice Crash-Course: Leveraging the LaunchBoard to Lead Student-Centered Change on your Campus
Are you passionate about data but unsure of how to turn information into action? Are you looking for ways to engage colleagues in data-informed, student-centered problem-solving?
Register and Book your Room at Embassy Suites, Anaheim South
Leadership is Changing!
What are the skills and mindsets you need to master in order to lead in a post-COVID world? Whether you’re a current or future leader, Leadership Level 2.0 is a professional development event that you should attend. The community college system is becoming increasingly connected, which means every campus has the potential for expanding their reach.
Leaders need to understand and appreciate new cultures, actively seek out diverse teams, lead teams with different backgrounds, and know how to enter and succeed in collaborative endeavors. Community college leaders also need to know how to navigate, and successfully lead work, within a shared governance environment. Administrators need skills to build relationships with faculty leaders to build support and momentum around new ideas and navigate the politics on campus.
ITINERARY
The series will begin Tuesday, November 2 at 10:30 am and end Friday, November 5 at 12:00 pm at the Embassy Suites Anaheim South.
**Flyer is in progress and should be released very soon once committee review is complete.
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Soft skills” are, evidently, hard to find.
Nearly three in four employers say they have a hard time locating graduates with adequate soft skills – like leadership, communication and problem-solving – according to a Cengage survey. In Siskiyou County, that gap was particularly apparent:
“Our workforce really lacks the soft skills, and that was very clear when we were doing asset mapping from our industry partners,” says Marie Caldwell, Director of SiskiyouWorks. The organization has recently completed its years-long Siskiyou Occupational Advancement Roadmap (SOAR) in conjunction with local industry and educational partners, including the College of the Siskiyous and the region’s high schools.
The map pinpoints workforce and educational gaps within the county and aims to bridge them. Most prominent were the critical soft skills students need to be career-competitive. With the help of Strong Workforce funding, SOAR is taking flight in 2021, debuting a new curriculum in regional high schools known as “Ready for Work.” The program ensures that students master business essentials, covering everything from aptitude testing to resume-building and work-based learning.
“What business and industry have shared … is that they want K-16 students to have these basic skills so that they don’t have to spend time onboarding them,” explains Strong Workforce Program Coordinator Dr. Bright Nichols-Stock. She helped develop the new curriculum and now trains and supports the Career Technical Education advisors placed at each high school.
The Ready for Work curriculum starts with basic teamwork, work ethics and customer service skills. Students also practice searching for jobs, filling out employment applications, and performing mock interviews with actual industry leaders. There is even a personal finance module, where students learn the basics of calculating paychecks and taxes, with a budgeting section covering house and car payments.
Business and Entrepreneurship Sector
When Shasta College became the first school in California to earn a commercial timber license for its award-winning Heavy Equipment Logging Operations (HELO) program, it opened up possibilities in the lumber industry… and beyond.
This year, Shasta is saying “HELO” to business, inviting accounting students to handle the books for timber sales. This unique, cross-sector pollination is creating opportunities for both CTE and business students to bloom bigger than ever.
“The cross-discipline training being offered by Shasta College is unique and innovative,” shares industry partner Dr. Timothy Robards, Staff Chief of Forest Health, Wood Products and Bioenergy at CAL FIRE. According to the fire protection administrator, the accounting collaboration will have wide-sweeping implications for both business and ecology:
“Merging the two is critical to the success of a forest products business, and the success of forest products businesses are critical to the state of California in sustainably managing its forest lands.”
It’s an urgency echoed by Angela Cordell, Regional Director for Business and Entrepreneurship in the North Far North Region. From her perspective, the synergy represents an ideal way to expose accounting students to real-life work experience. “They will have a better understanding of the numbers,” says Cordell. “Then, they can make recommendations if they see an opportunity to save money.”
