Common Data Set

July 9, 2015

Facts about SkillsUSA

  • SkillsUSA is an IRS-designated 501(c)(3) not-for-profit association of 300,000 member students and educators partnering with business and industryto ensure that America has a well-prepared skilled workforce.
  • SkillsUSA’s Mission: To empower our members to become world-class workers, leaders and responsible American citizens.
  • Founded in 1965 as the Vocational Industrial Clubs of America (“VICA”). Rebranded as SkillsUSA–VICA in 1999 and as SkillsUSA in 2004.
  • SkillsUSA’s Program of Work is delivered through more than 17,000 SkillsUSA member sections (classrooms) in 4,000 public schools (chapters) in all 50 states, DC and three U.S. territories. These schools are comprehensive high schools with career and technical curricula, regional career and technical education centers, and two-year colleges. Recently, SkillsUSA also has begun to develop chapters in workforce development agencies outside of traditional schools.
  • One hundred thirty (130) trade, technical and skilled service occupational titles are represented in the curricula of SkillsUSA member students, covering the construction, manufacturing, transportation, health sciences, information technology, communications, personal services, hospitality, public safety and engineering technology industries.
  • In the 2014-15 academic year, SkillsUSA’s membership was composed of
  • 264,703 high school students
  • 14,330 professionals (educators) from the High School Division
  • 29,958 college/postsecondary students
  • 402 middle school students + 21 professionals
  • 2,980 professionals (educators) from the C/PS Division
  • 48,340 registered Alumni
  • 294,733 total students
  • 17,331 total professionals
  • 360,404 TOTAL MEMBERS (including registered Alumni)

In 2014-15,SkillsUSA had at least a thousand member students in 14 of the 16 Career Clusters defined by the State Directors of Career and Technical Education.

  • Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources = 2,231
  • Architecture & Construction = 60,535
  • Arts, A/V Technology & Communication = 25,266
  • Business, Management & Administration = 2,184
  • Education & Training = 3,985
  • Finance = 0
  • Government & Public Administration = 0
  • Health Science = 20,661
  • Hospitality & Tourism = 17,456
  • Human Services = 27,206
  • Information Technology = 12,816
  • Law, Public Safety, Corrections & Security = 16,125
  • Manufacturing = 14,022
  • Marketing= 1,522
  • Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics = 13,243
  • Transportation, Distribution & Logistics = 45,414

SkillsUSA had 17,614 sections (member classrooms) across 3,998 member chapters (schools) in 2013–14.

Student Gender2014-15Student Ethnicity 2011-12

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  • 67% male
  • 33% female

  • 64%White
  • 18% Hispanic/Latino
  • 14% Black
  • 1%American Indian
  • 1% Asian
  • 2% Other

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SkillsUSA has had 12 million annual members since its founding in 1965.

The SkillsUSA Leadership Center is located eight miles north of Leesburg in rural Northern Virginia, about 50 miles northwest of downtown Washington, DC, and about 30minutes’ drivefrom Dulles International Airport. SkillsUSA employs 30 staff.

Organization

There are three basic levels of organization within SkillsUSA: local, state and national.

  • At local chapters, elected student officers organize and member students carry out the Program of Work under the guidance of a teacher-advisor. The Program of Work includes employability and leadership skills development, competitions, community service, occupationally-related employment while in school, chapter fund raising, social activities, and public relations.
  • State association directors, usually a state Education department employee or state contract employee, provide chapter membership development and state student officer leadership training, oversee the local chapters within his or her state and conduct the state-level leadership conferences and SkillsUSA Championships.
  • The SkillsUSA National Office provides
  • Management of the National Leadership and Skills Conference and its highlight event, the SkillsUSA Championships;
  • Leadership and employability skills curriculum development and training;
  • Publications and member communication vehicles such as Champions magazine and the national website (
  • Fund raising and program delivery for national mission-related projects;
  • Service to SkillsUSA’s state associations;
  • Legislative awareness and response;
  • Training and management of student National Officers; and
  • Selection and development of the SkillsUSA WorldTeam; which competes in the biennial WorldSkills Competition.

SkillsUSA’s volunteer board of directors is composed of

  • five appointed representatives from SkillsUSA business and industry partner organizations
  • five elected education officials representing each of SkillsUSA’s regions
  • ex-officio membersrepresenting the
  • Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE)
  • SkillsUSA State Directors Association
  • SkillsUSA Foundation chairperson (a business/industry representative)
  • The National Assn of State Directors of Career and Technical Education consortium (NASDCTEc)
  • The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC)
  • the SkillsUSA executive director

Chairman of the Board: Brent Kindred (WI Department of Public Instruction and SkillsUSA Wisconsin state director - HS)

Executive Director: Timothy Lawrence

Chairman of the SkillsUSA Foundation: Laurie Hackett (Air Products, Inc.)

Fund Raising

The SkillsUSA Foundation, a separate 501(c)(3) organization also under the board of directors of SkillsUSA, Inc., accepts all financial and in-kind donations supporting the national mission-related events, programs and projects of SkillsUSA. Senior representatives from SkillsUSA’s key business and industry partners serve an advisory role on the SkillsUSA Foundation Committee, stewarding their own company’s relationship to SkillsUSA, providing counsel on and networking to other prospective SkillsUSA partners and occasionally making recommendations on partner policy.

In FY14, the SkillsUSA Foundation raised $3.4 million in unrestricted and restricted financial donations for SkillsUSA’s national mission delivery. The SkillsUSA Championships attracts a conservatively estimated $35 million in in-kind donations of volunteer labor and expertise, contest equipment and supplies and contest prizes.

Ninety-four percent (94%) of SkillsUSA’s FY14operating expenses were spent on program services for member students and educators.

National Leadership and Skills Conference

The capstone event of the SkillsUSA annual calendar is the weeklong National Leadership and Skills Conference in late June, attended by more than 14,000 students, friends and family, educators, volunteers and VIPs from business, education and government. The NLSC features leadership training for state and chapter officers and advisors, SkillsUSA University seminars, commercial and educational exhibits, Opening and Awards ceremonies, Delegate sessions and student national officer elections,meetings and social events and a community service project.

The highlight event of the NLSC is the two-day SkillsUSA Championships. The 2015 SkillsUSA Championships will feature 6,000 student competitors, all state-level winners, competing in 100 leadership and hands-on occupational skills contests, occupying more thanone million square feet of contest spaceat the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville. Two thousand (2,000) volunteers from SkillsUSA’s business, industry and labor partners will serve as contest judges or as technical committee members that design and manage the contests.

The SkillsUSA Championships is the preeminent showcase of public technical education in the U.S.

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