Meeting Regional STEMM Workforce Needs in the Wake of COVID-19 Proceedings of a Virtual Workshop Series (2021) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
6 Wichita, Kansas
6 Wichita, Kansas
Pages 91-106
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 91... ...
Wichita is unique among the five regions visited in this workshop series in that its economy is tightly connected to one specific sector that has been heavily affected by the pandemic. After reviewing the economic and workforce effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Wichita area, the workshop examined how the pandemic shifted Wichita's labor and workforce efforts and strategies, and how the region's higher education and other workforce training efforts responded to the unemployment crisis triggered by the pandemic.
|
From page 92... ...
Unemployment in the metro area spiked to 18.7 percent in April 2020, compared to 11.9 percent for the entire state, with almost 110,000 manufacturing employees filing initial claims as of October 10, 2020. They were joined by 48,000 retail trade employees, 34,000 people employed in other service sectors, 65,000 in hospitality and food services, and close to 50,000 in healthcare (Figure 6-3)
|
From page 93... ...
Ginther noted that during the week of September 26, 2020, almost four times as many workers in Kansas were on the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program as were receiving traditional unemployment benefits. Ginther noted that the Paycheck Protection Program has been a bright spot for the regional economy.
|
From page 94... ...
One unique feature of Wichita is that a greater percentage of households in the city have a broadband internet subscription than in the larger metro area, although a smaller percentage of metro area residents have no internet subscription or access the internet solely through a cellular data plan. A slightly higher percentage of households in the city earning less than $20,000 per year have an internet connection than those in the larger metro area.
|
From page 95... ...
STATE AND LOCAL POLICY RESPONSES The workshop's first panel discussed how the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted Wichita's labor and workforce development efforts and strategies. The three panelists were Amanda Duncan, vice president and chief business
|
From page 96... ...
Supporting the Predominant Regional Industry The Workforce Alliance of South Central Kansas, explained Duncan, serves as the local workforce development board for the six-county region surrounding Wichita. It operates the Wichita Workforce Center in the city as well as three auxiliary centers in surrounding counties and 10 additional access points.
|
From page 97... ...
That plan had focused on developing talent for advanced manufacturing as a key pillar, but when the pandemic struck, it became clear that broadband internet access for the small aviation supply chain businesses in the region was a real issue. As a result, ensuring that the state's companies had access to broadband internet and understood how to take advantage of a high-speed connection to improve their businesses became a second key pillar of the state's economic development plan.
|
From page 98... ...
It also worked with the Greater Wichita Partnership to establish a program for advertising the availability of public sector jobs, something that public agencies themselves are prohibited from doing. The Workforce Alliance will also continue its new efforts in retraining employees for information technology, automation, and healthcare jobs that includes an aggressive outreach effort to recruit people into those jobs.
|
From page 99... ...
RESPONSE OF WICHITA'S HIGHER EDUCATION WORKFORCE TRAINING EFFORTS TO THE COVID-19 CRISIS The workshop's second session highlighted changes in higher education workforce development programs in the Wichita region that were triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The four panelists were Susan Norton, director of adult learning at Wichita State University; Kimberly Moore, director for workforce, professional, and community education at Wichita State University; Christopher Stanyer, vice president of career services at Goodwill Industries of Kansas; and Deltha Colvin, associate vice president for special programs in the Office of Regional Engagement and Economic Development at Wichita State University.
|
From page 100... ...
The NextStep Alliance, Goodwill's adult education program, is a partnership with Wichita State. Its Learn IT Lab, funded by a three-year grant from Google, can provide digital skills to all Kansans throughout the state using a recreational vehicle as a mobile classroom complete with computers and internet access.
|
From page 101... ...
This, however, did not solve the access problem, because the price of connecting program participants on cellular data plans would have been astronomical. Stanyer is hoping that the state will pass upcoming legislation that would provide funds for extending broadband access into lower socio economic status neighborhoods.
|
From page 102... ...
Stanyer also wanted synergies through partnerships to help boost adult education in Kansas, particularly given that budgets will be tight for some time because of the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. RESPONSE OF WICHITA'S WORKFORCE TRAINING INFRASTRUCTURE TO THE COVID-19 CRISIS The workshop's final panel discussed post-COVID-19 policy responses and investments in workforce training programs, including the effect of the pandemic on workforce alignment and learner access.
|
From page 103... ...
As with Textron Aviation, Spirit AeroSystems has a workforce spanning highly trained craftspeople on the shop floor to highly educated engineers, plus the sales and administrative staff. Childers explained that Cox Machine, a family-owned company, is a supplier to the Textrons and Spirits of the world, as well as companies involved in the space industry, and, like them, it employs a wide range of skilled and educated workers.
|
From page 104... ...
This attitude has manifested itself in the way that companies that normally compete have banded together to help keep the region's workforce intact for when the aviation industry rebounds. The only way that happens, she continued, is to have strong relationships built throughout the community, and she implored those attending the workshop who might live elsewhere to start building those relationships now.
|
From page 105... ...
This, she noted, would not have happened when the local economy was booming and companies were working at full capacity to meet customer demand. However, expanding, diversifying, or pivoting to new product lines requires new skills among the local workforce, and local educational and workforce training programs have responded with numerous programs to provide that training, often in partnership with local companies.
|
From page 106... ...
106 REGIONAL STEMM WORKFORCE NEEDS IN THE WAKE OF COVID-19 need. In addition to addressing the digital skills gap, local programs are also coming online to provide training on "soft skills" such as teamwork, time management, and communication that local companies have said are lacking in some new employees.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.