CORONADO, Calif. — Getting students through workforce programs and into high-wage jobs requires integrated supports.
And at Dallas College, it requires “barrier-busting,” says Carlos Cruz.
Cruz is the associate vice chancellor of the college, where the Career-Connected Learning (CCL) program provides access to skills training and connections to high-wage jobs for, mainly, unemployed and underemployed populations. He spoke about it this week during a session on student success strategies for social and economic mobility at the American Association of Community Colleges‘ annual Workforce Development Institute (WDI) in San Diego.
Dallas College installed several CCL Centers throughout the county to provide on-demand opportunities for in-demand jobs. There are 154 programs that lead to, or are embedded with, industry-recognized credentials. The programs are boosted by nearly 70 partnerships with business and industry.
More broadly, CCL Centers provide on-ramps to education and a job.
To best serve participants, the program includes the Parent Promise – a scholarship for parenting students – and comprehensive services designed to enhance English proficiency, cultivate career-related skills and improve academic aptitude and career readiness. Students also have access to food pantries, clothes closets and connections to social services.
“A comprehensive, integrated approach is vital,” Cruz said.
The centers are open not just to students, but to the whole community. That allows the college to pull more people into training. If someone comes in to use the food pantry, staff can talk to them about opportunities to gain new skills for a higher-paying job, Cruz said.
“We’re transforming lives,” he said.
Communicating the value
Providing on-ramps only works, though, if people believe they’ll work.
“We’re good at putting on programs, but we’re not good at communicating that,” Honolulu Community College (HCC) Chancellor Karen Lee said during the WDI session.
HCC, which serves all of Oahu, is good, though, at creating industry partnerships, and at asking those partners to provide internships and donate equipment – and to provide living-wage jobs for students entering the workforce.
So now the college can be stronger in its messaging about the value of education and workforce training.
Students have support to get that training, too. The Hawaii Promise scholarship offers eligible students at University of Hawaii Community Colleges financial assistance. There also are student-friendly academic programs, flexible course scheduling and basic needs supports.
As many students are English-language learners, English as a second language (ESL) classes are offered for both credit and non-credit students. And there’s talk of offering practical workforce-ready ESL classes, Lee said.
HCC also has made easier paths from non-credit to credit programs, though sometimes, students move in the opposite direction – from credit to non-credit – if they need contact hours to get a job. The lines between credit and non-credit are “blurring,” Lee said, and what matters is what’s best for the student.
Lifting people out of poverty
In Illinois, the statewide Workforce Equity Initiative (WEI) expands short-term training opportunities for people experiencing poverty, providing a pathway to jobs that pay at least 30% above the regional living wage.
Twenty colleges in the state are participating in WEI, which provides $18.7 million a year in state funding to the colleges to support students.
At Illinois Central College (ICC), the WEI focus is on targeted sectors: construction, healthcare, information technology, manufacturing, transportation and clean energy. These are areas where the college has built industry partnerships and can provide training for jobs that pay at least $52,000/year.
To ensure students succeed and get these high-paying jobs, ICC puts them in a “bubble,” said ICC President Sheila Quirk-Bailey.
“Nothing’s going to get in their way,” Quirk-Bailey said. That means their tuition and fees are covered, and students get help with transportation, childcare and more. They also get stipends for attendance, which Quirk-Bailey said are “critical.”
The state funding doesn’t cover all the expenses, so ICC has created an ecosystem of about two dozen organizations that can step in to help if, say, a student’s car breaks down or they have another financial emergency.
Statewide, 15,000 people have enrolled in WEI programs between 2020-2024, and 1,000 of those enrolled at ICC. The average completion rate is 70% and 68% of those completers are employed in high-wage jobs – though Quirk-Bailey said that, because of lagging labor market data, that number is likely higher.
The WEI cost-per-student is about $5,700, but the return on investment is high. The projected economic impact of the program for 2026 is $900 million.
WEI “grows the workforce, expands businesses, creates a more just and equitable community and makes the region more economically viable,” Quirk-Bailey said.
Haircuts and higher wages
At San Diego City College (SDCC), free haircuts are helping students not only persist in programs, but also get the mental health support they need.
The Fresh Cutz Barbershop launched recently on the SDCC campus with the overarching purpose of helping to retain Black and Latino males, explained SDCC President Ricky Shabazz during the WDI session.
To receive a free haircut, students have to complete the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), among other requirements.
Once they’re sitting in that barber chair, for 45 minutes they are a captive audience. That means they hear about services through the college, such as the food pantry and clothes closet. The barbers are from the community and are trained to be mental health advocates, so students also can receive mental health support – a service many males may be too intimidated to seek out elsewhere, Shabazz said.
The first student to receive a haircut was an unhoused veteran who was going on a job interview. He got the job.
In 2024, 78% of students served by Fresh Cutz in the spring were enrolled for the fall semester.
The college pays the barbers $50 for each haircut they give. State equity funds provided to the college help cover that cost.
This new service only adds to the supports offered throughout the San Diego Community College District (SDCCD), which has a focus on meeting students’ basic needs. Another way the district has ensured students can persist was by increasing student workers’ wages to $22/hour.
“They’re staying in school and completing degrees,” Shabazz said.
But the district isn’t only looking out for students. In its work to ensure students move into high-wage jobs, Chancellor Gregory Smith also wanted to ensure its employees were in high-wage jobs.
“We’re placing students in above-living-wage careers, and we have employees living below the poverty line,” Shabazz said.
Salaries went from $40,000/year to $63,000/year.
This investment in employees made sense because “these are the folks coming into contact with our students, helping them get high-paying jobs,” Shabazz said.