California Community Colleges
Grant Number: / 1 / 3 / - / 1 / 5 / 0 / - / 0 / 0 / 7
Contact Page
District/College: / Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College DistrictAddress: / 8800 Grossmont College Drive
City: / El Cajon / State: / CA / Zip+4: / 92020-1799
District Superintendent/President (or authorized Designee)
Name: / Cindy Miles, Ph.D. / Title: / Chancellor
Phone: / 619-644-7659 / Date: / 3-14-13
Fax: / 619-644-7936 / Email Address: /
Responsible Administrator (Should not be the same as Project Director)
Name: / Sunita V. Cooke, Ph.D. / Title: / President, Grossmont College
Phone: / 619-644-7100 / Date: / 3-14-13
Fax: / 619-644-7964 / Email Address: /
Project Director (Person responsible for conducting the daily operation of the grant)
Name: / Mary Wylie / Title: / Regional Consortium Chair
Phone: / 619-957-5540 / Date: / 3-14-13
Fax: / 619-440-5540 / Email Address: /
Business Officer (or authorized Designee)
Name: / Sue Rearic / Title: / Vice-Chancellor, Business Services
Phone: / 619-644-7576 / Date: / 3-14-13
Fax: / 619-644-7924 / Email Address: /
Proposal Preparer
Name: / Mary Wylie / Title: / Regional Consortium Chair
Phone: / 619-957--5540 / Date: / 3-14-13
Fax: / 619-440-5540 / Email Address: /
RFAAppChklst-RegCons-CP (Rev. 1/28/13)2
4. Application Abstract
ObjectivesThe ultimate objective of San Diego and Imperial Counties Community CollegesAssociation (SDICCCA) Regional Consortium is to move student momentum points in a positive direction, supported by a well-functioning Regional Consortium that leverages resources, sustains sector partnerships, and enhances sound regional decisionmaking about workforce and economic development in San Diego and Imperial Counties.
The primary objectivesof the SDICCCA Regional Consortium for fiscal year 2013-14 are to:a) enhance regional capacity to support the growth and expansion of priority and emergent sectors and b) to create regional systems of data collection, knowledge development and action planning. The Regional Workplan will address each of the eleven objectives identified by the Chancellor’s Office and an additional objective related to special populations. The focus will be on the regional priority sectors of Health, Life Science/Biotech and Advanced Transportation and Renewables, and on the emergent sectors of Advanced Manufacturing and Communication Technologies/Digital Media. This work will be aided by the involvement of the identified regional “support sectors” of Small Business and International Trade and Logistics.
Process:To accomplish these objectives the Region willcollect data for gap analysis, by sector, for the regionutilizing:labor market, inventory of public and private educational program offerings, student enrollments and completions and, where available, employment statistics of students who completed programs. This information will be reviewed, analyzed and translated into knowledge and action plans by thefive Regional Industry Sector Advisory Committees, formed in the first year of the funding cycle. These groups will formulate action plans that will be reviewed and synthesized by the Workforce Development Council (composed of Designated Occupational Deans, sector leaders, counselors and interested faculty in the region) and shared with the nine regional CEOs in the region through SDICCCA for final input anddirection. Action plans will be implemented at both the college and regional levels.
Contribution or Impact:Using the above model, the Regional Consortium will have a fully functioning regional system in place to continuously monitor performance, address gaps and ultimately recommend development or modification of programs and instruction that improve performance on the Common Metrics of: Quality of Service, Curriculum Alignment to Labor Market Needs and Student Momentum Points.
Deliverables (products/services/outcomes):The region will create Regional Sector Advisory Committees and convene meetings for each of the five sectors. Action plans to address identified gaps for each sector will be created and communicated. The Regional website will be re-designed, with particular emphasis on the needs of business and industry.The Regional Consortium will provide professional development related to the state Chancellor’s Office LaunchBoard and to the involvement of special populations in the five sectors.
5. Table of Contents
1. Face Sheet (to be submitted electronically, upon request) -
2. Cover Letter 1
3. Contact Page 2
4. Application Abstract3
5. Table of Contents4
6. Need5
Question 15
Question 26
Question 39
Question 49
7. Response to Need10
8. Annual Workplan19
9. Application Budget46
10. Project Management Plan48
1. Professional Experience49
2. Responsibilities and Time Allocation49
3. Mega Region: (not applicable)50
4. Outreach Plan50
Chart A. San Diego and Imperial Counties Community Colleges
Association (SDICCCA)Regional Consortium Leadership Structure52
Chart B. Workforce Development Council (WDC)53
Chart C. Roles of SDICCCA, Leadership Team and Workforce
Development Council54
Resume Regional Consortium Chair55
11. Dissemination58
12. Certification Regarding Lobbying, Debarment, etc.59
6. Need
Question1.Define the size, common characteristics…projected growth and prospect for positive outcomes in serving this region. Please identify and discuss supply and demand gaps in this region’s workforce.
Size and Labor Force:The San Diego and Imperial Counties region totals8,858 square miles making this single region larger than the state of New Jersey.The population density in each of the counties differs markedly; Imperial has 41.8 persons per square mile and San Diego has 735. The labor force for the two counties in the region totals close to 1.7 million workers; of these, about 149,900 (8.8%) are out of work. There are significant disparities in the unemployment rates of each County. As of December, 2012, the unemployment rate for Imperial County was 25.1% and for San Diego was 8.1%. (Source:
Employers:The region is home to major military facilities, an international airport, and majorinternational border crossing stations. It supports more than300,000firms, according to 2007 census data. Census findings indicate 10,129 firms located in Imperial and 291,124 in San Diego. Thus, employment opportunities vary greatly by county in the region. (Source: Employment projections, to 2014,estimate industry growth of 4%, or approximately 76,000 jobs. The largest gains are projected for professional scientific and technical services (13,700) and healthcare services (12,000 jobs). Manufacturing industries represent more than 107,000 jobs. (Source Doing What Matters, Regional Labor Market Profile, San Diego-Imperial Region,
Educational Partners:The SDIC region includes 9 California community colleges: Cuyamaca College, Grossmont College, Imperial Valley College, MiraCosta College, Palomar College, San Diego City College, San Diego Mesa College, San Diego Miramar College and Southwestern College. There is one WASC-accredited nonpublic 2-year institution. The region also includes two public 4-year colleges, 12 WASC-accredited non-public 4-year institutions and 29 state approved institutions. Additionally, there are six institutions exempt from state approval. (Source: California Postsecondary Education Commission, .)
San Diego County has 74 public comprehensive high schools and 28 public charter high schools, as well as 82 private K-12 high schools. Imperial Valley has eight comprehensive high schools, one private high school and eight K-12 private high schools. (Source: California Department of Education School Directory
The San Diego County Regional Occupational Program (ROP) provides career technical education instruction at 125 locations in18 high school districts and Juvenile Court and Community Schools.(Source: 2/10/13.)The Imperial Valley ROP currently provides 95 course sections at 10 school sites. (Source:
Growth and Gaps: The projected growth and prospect for positive outcomes in serving this region are detailed in the analyses below, concentrating on the five industry sectors selected by the Regional Consortium. The sector summaries below also identify the known supply and demand gaps in the regional workforce and outline the need for additional data and review in order to create a comprehensive analysis of supply and demand by sector for the region.
Question 2.Based on the region’s selected priority and emergent sectors, describe your efforts and focus for each sector…
The San Diego and Imperial Counties Regional Consortium selected, and received approval by CCCCO, to focus on the following sectors for 2013-14:
Priority SectorsHealth
Life Science/Biotech
Advanced Transportation & Renewables
Emergent Sectors Advanced Manufacturing
Communication Technologies (ICT)/Digital Media
In large part due to the strategic geographical location of theregion, each of these five sectors’ growth is linked,in a significant way, to success in small business development and expansion into international trade. For this reason, the Consortium also locally designated two support sectors: Small Business and International Trade/Logistics.
The San Diego and Imperial CountiesRegion has benefited from the leadership and expertise of EWD-funded Centers in all but one of the five designated sectors. As the Consortium developed its plan for 2013-14, the region utilized the excellent research available;is aware of the partnerships already in existence; has some understanding of the obstacles; and is poised to move to stronger regional collaboration in support of sector growth, job creation, and increased student success.
Health Sector: As a major employer, healthcare services employment exceedsmore than 67,000 people in San Diego-Imperial Counties. Through 2014, jobs are projected to increase for physicians’ offices, hospitals, home healthcare services and elder care facilities. The region’s nine community colleges all offer an array of healthcare programs and certificates, each often with their separate advisory committees. Where curriculum or required certification/testing is regulated by external boards/the state , the curriculum is relatively consistent. To benefit the region, the EWD Health Workforce Initiative Center, for example, has offered workshops on creative teaching strategies, conducted many DACUM job analyses and developed 19 cultural competence curriculum modules, all of which are available on their website.
There are many private for-profit providers in the region competing for students. Challenges include lack of clinical placements which are critical to program completion and employment; community colleges are not seen as the industry trainer for short-term certificates and continuing professional development; and clear articulation/career pathways from high school/ROP/adult school programs need improvement. An environmental scan for Allied Health Occupations was completed in April 2009, but no plan of action to close gaps was implemented.
Life Sciences/Biotech: TheBiotechnology Sector spans a number of industries that include pharmaceuticals, bioscience-related distribution/sales, medical devices and equipment, and research testing and laboratories. Biotech employs more than 25,000 people in the region and experienced growth even during the economic downturn. Four colleges in the region offer certificate programs in Biotech, but these vary greatly in depth and scope. There are some articulated programs with local high school programs, but they vary widely in effectiveness. Community College biotech students who transfer to a four-year university find their biotech coursework is treated only as elective credit.
The EWD-funded Biotechnology Center at Miramar College recently conducted an informal skills assessment for Biotech Lab Technicians through its regional employer advisory committee. Results include a list of hard and soft skills needed for entry-level employment. Advisory Committee members conclude there is a need to develop an assessment that could become a basic certification test for employment.
Advanced Transportation & Renewables: The Advanced Transportation component of the sector includesall technologies involved in moving goods and services, as well as people, within and outside of the region. This ranges from automobiles, to buses, to trucks, to ships and all associated fuels and fueling systems. The Renewable Energy component includes solar, thermal, photovoltaic, wind technologies and the grid interconnection systems associated with them; and such transportation technologies as electric vehicle charging systems.
Within the region, historical relationships with automotive manufacturers have produced key quality technical training programs; however, the consistent delivery of technical training amongst all college and high school programs to address industry needs has been variable and highly dependent upon personal connections between faculty and industry representatives. Industry-level workforce training occurs intermittently.Both solar-renewable energy programs and electric-vehicle infrastructure programs are offered through multiple colleges for credit, not-for-credit, and as workforce training programs.
This sector experiences constant change in the various technologies and/or their related system applications, attributable to an ongoing need to seek alternatives to petroleum fuels; the requirement to reduce harmful smog and greenhouse gas related emissions; the necessity to continually provide a cost-effective and efficient use of energy resources; and ever-changing government regulations.While most programs within thissector have developed partnerships with specific companies like Ford or Toyota, missing is the consistent integration at the regional level to provide formal links across all programs and position the colleges to respond well to these constant changes in technology. Articulation with local high school programs also needs improvement.
Advanced Manufacturing: Most of the region’s manufacturing is hightech in contrast to the more traditional industrial manufacturing, and employs more than 104,000 individuals with significant defense-industry contracting. One of its more unique regional economies is the Maritime industry with more than 1,400 companies producing over $14 billion of direct sales and with a workforce of almost 46,000.
One reason manufacturing has rebounded is due to growth in exports. Between 2009 and 2011, manufactured exports jumped 36%. Another measure of increased competitiveness is productivity. According to the U.S. Department of Labor,manufacturing productivity increased 15% over the past three years.
The manufacturing industry is experiencing an incredible turnaround and is now adding jobs at a faster rate than the currently available workforce can meet. Employers report employee skill gaps. The shortage of qualified workers is expected to increase as new technologies require higher skills, and will be further exacerbated by the retirement of skilled workers in the next several years.
There is a move away from outsourcing to local or insourcing. Employers in the sector want community colleges to better partner with their local manufacturing businesses, to develop more short-term programs and solutions to the industry’s workforce development needs.
The regional EWDCenter for Applied Competitive Technologies (CACT-SD) has provided consultation, technical assistance, training and career pathway support to the manufacturing industry in San Diego County for many years. In the last two years CACT-SD has been inundated with requests for help in identifying and preparing both the future workforce and the incumbent worker for emerging jobs in this industry. With the reemergence of the manufacturing field, machining and manufacturing/engineering-related programs are returning to the local high schools. This calls for increases in articulation agreements between high schools and colleges.
Information & Communication Technologies/Digital Media: This sector encompasses computer, software, networking, telecommunications, internet, programming and information system technologies, and includes three industry clusters: hardware, software, and services. In the San Diego-Imperial Counties region, there are approximately 64,000 jobs in ICT, with annual revenues ranging between $7 to $12 billion dollars, makingthisregion the third largest hub for jobs in the state.
A 2009 environmental scan for ICT for California suggested some certificate program gaps in this rapidly changing field, but the data is four years old and not specific to the region. While each college has an advisory committee, there is a need to partner at the regional level with industry to determine the need for development of a core skills set inventory, matched with an inventory of certificates/programs serving the sector, and then to commit to a plan together to resolve any gaps. The formation of a regional skills panel, where industry communicates their expectations to the colleges,would begin a worthwhile partnership. In addition, these skills panels could focus on leveraging resources to create a regional internship and job placement hub.
In addition to the full program offerings, many of the region’s colleges specialize in certificate programs such as Adobe, Cisco, Microsoft, CompTIA, TIA, and CIW, which culminate in industry-standard certification exams.
The region continues to participate in the SD4C group - whose membership includes ICT faculty and administrators from the nine colleges, San Diego State University, and National University - to discuss and refine curriculum articulation to facilitate student transfers between these organizations. Articulation/career pathways with high school and adult programs exist with specific colleges and are in need of further collaboration.
Question 3. Discuss the inventory of organizations, bodies, advisories, hubs, centers, collaboratives, and other entities inside and outside of the community college system…Identify the gaps, overlaps, and opportunities for improvement and discuss plans to leverage, partner or navigate them and to transition assets into the current structure.
The SDIC region is home to a myriad of economic-development organizations, trade associations, workforce-development entities, industry-specific collaboratives, and education-sponsored initiatives. EWD funded centers within the region include: Advanced Transportation, Technology and Energy, Applied Competitive Technologies, Environmental Training Center, Health Workforce Initiative (formerly RHORC), International Trade Development, Small Business Development, Southern California Biotechnology Center and the Workplace Learning Resource Center. The region is also supported by the Centers for Excellence at Chaffey College. Each of the nine colleges hosts Perkins advisories.
The challenge is to coordinate these activities and share information across the region. There are overlaps with advisory committees in the same occupation that meet in different areas of the region and may not share the same information or resources. A coherent process to coordinate these efforts for each of the five sectors, across the region, would amplify impact, streamline communication, and eliminate duplication of effort. The alignment with SDICCCA and focus upon identified sectors will enable the region to address these challenges and leverage resources and partnerships.