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WATERLOO — Hawkeye Community College announced Monday that it is joining a new national effort to create a more racially inclusive future for manufacturing.
The Industry and Inclusion Cohort involves Hawkeye and 12 other community colleges across the country selected through a competitive process. Participants will strategize solutions and develop credential-based training programs to boost diversity in manufacturing. They also hope to help deepen relationships between employers and communities in the process.
It’s a project led by The Century Foundation, the Urban Manufacturing Alliance and eight urban workforce development organizations concentrated in the Midwest. The Indianapolis-based Lumina Foundation, a national philanthropy focused on equity and educational attainment, is funding the effort.
“We are thrilled to be selected as a part of this national effort,” HCC President Todd Holcomb said in a news release. “As demand for skilled manufacturing workers grows in the Cedar Valley and in the state, it is imperative to be more inclusive in our recruitment, training, and employment processes. We are eager to share our expertise from our credential programs that connect students directly to manufacturing jobs, learn from our fellow cohort members, and ensure a more racially equitable future for the manufacturing industry.”
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Pre-pandemic estimates indicated the United States needed an additional 2.4 million manufacturing workers over the next decade, according to the news release. In Iowa, manufacturing employs more than 17% of the workforce and accounts for more than 17% of gross domestic product.
Dave Grunklee, Hawkeye’s dean of applied technologies, noted that Cedar Valley industries with well-paying and sustainable jobs are in need of employees. The college would like to help ensure that such jobs are accessible to all – including people of color, who have long faced employment barriers related to racism.
“One of the things with Waterloo and our surrounding area is a very diverse population,” Grunklee said in an interview. With manufacturing programs, “we don’t see that same diversity reflected in our students.”
The college will need to figure out “if we do have to change the way we’re doing training to be more engaged with the underserved population,” he added. “Right now, this is an area (where) most of these community college’s are struggling.”
Increasing the participation of racial minorities in manufacturing programs, he said, “leads to a more diverse workforce that’s beneficial to everybody.”
A three-person team at Hawkeye will meet with mentors every month from the community colleges that were part of the first cohort to go through this process. There will also be peer education opportunities with the current cohort members.
“Most of the work will be done in 12 months, but there will part of it that will take up to 18 (months),” said Grunklee. He said a minimal amount of funding is available to offset costs and implement strategies that the group comes up with.
Other cohort members include: Bishop State Community College, Mobile, Ala.; Pima Community College, Tucson, Ariz.; Sierra College, Rocklin, Calif.; Norco (Calif.) College; Community College of Denver, Colo.; College of Lake County, Grayslake, Ill.; Ivy Tech Community College, Indianapolis; Baton Rouge (La.) Community College; Forsyth Tech Community College,Winston-Salem, N.C.; Lorain County Community College, Elyria, Ohio; Houston (Texas) Community College; and Milwaukee Area Technical College.
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