CAREER PATHWAYS
others across the country, when – over
the course of several decades – high
school and college graduates were
not being trained to step in for retiring
manufacturing workers.
EDUCATION
AND INDUSTRY
TEAM UP
TO SOLVE
“SKILLS GAP”
I
n 2014, the Workforce Innovation
and Opportunity Act (WIOA) put
forth by the U.S. Department of
Labor was signed into law by Congress.
Its goal: to help job seekers access
employment, education, training and
support services to succeed in the labor
market and to match employers with the
skilled workers they need to compete in
the global economy.
Partnerships between education and
industry – training students for the jobs
that employers are hiring for – became
key to the WIOA’s success. Vadnais
Heights Economic Development
Corporation (VHEDC) took a lead role
in connecting local manufacturers
with secondary and post-secondary
educational institutions, specifically to
address the “skills gap.” This disparity
had become a serious economic issue
for Vadnais Heights’ manufacturers and
36
Vadnais Heights Business Guide & Community Profile
The manufacturing industry
contributes $48.2 billion to the
state economy and accounts for
16 percent of Minnesota’s gross
domestic product. In 2016, workers
took home $20.3 billion in wages
from Minnesota manufacturing jobs,
the second highest amount among
the state’s business sectors. Vadnais
Heights has an estimated 1,940
manufacturing jobs city-wide –
approximately 24 percent of all jobs.
VHEDC Executive Director Ling Becker
says, “Manufacturing is kind of the bread
and butter of our community, and we
want to continue being a manufacturing
community. Our Board feels strongly
about our investment of time and money
in the workforce development initiatives
of the White Bear Lake Area School
District and Century College.”
THE CAREER PATHWAYS
PROGRAM IS BORN
In 2015, the VHEDC created a Workforce
Action Committee made up of key
players from businesses and schools;
the White Bear Lake Area School
District ISD 624 was awarded a $250,000
grant from United Way to create a
Manufacturing Pathway at South Campus
High School; funds were allotted for a
Career & Employment Navigator for the
students. The high school technology
instructor, the navigator and Du Fresne
Manufacturing in Vadnais Heights
created a job-shadowing program for
students. Students toured MME group,
SCHWING America, Structural Wood,
Herold Precision Metals, Innovize and
other companies.
Jim Stephan, Vice President of Sales &
Marketing at Du Fresne Manufacturing,
developed the job-shadowing
program with Technology Education
Instructor Delroy Nyren. According
to Stephan (when the program was
being developed in 2015), “Recent
statistics have shown – year after year
in Minnesota – approximately 60,000
students will graduate from high school
with 65 percent going on to some type
of post-secondary education. That
means roughly 20,000 high school
graduates will be looking for some type
of employment come June of each year.
Currently, there are over 6,000 open
manufacturing jobs in Minnesota that
our industry is struggling to fill due to
lack of experience, work ethic, behavioral
competencies and not knowing these
well-paying careers are available to
them.”
At the beginning of the 2015 – 16
school year, Nyren “broke out” the
new manufacturing equipment the
school district purchased with the grant
money for a two-semester course at
South Campus: Manufacturing and
Applied Engineering. In 2016 – 17 school
year, that course was offered at both
South and North campuses, and an
advanced yearlong course – Precision
Manufacturing – was offered at South
Campus. After completing the program,
students earn level-one and level-two
credentials from the National Institute for
Metalworking Skills.