Pueblo Community College tailoring programs to address local workforce needs
Pueblo’s unemployment rate saw improvement in November when it dropped to 5.1%, but with more than 4,000 job openings at that time and at least that many Puebloans reporting they’re unemployed, city leaders and local institutions understand more can be done to supplement the city’s workforce.
“We’re training people in the wrong jobs,” said Dennis Flores, a city councilor who spearheaded an initiative to introduce an economic dashboard that produces monthly data on the city’s economics. “That’s called a skills gap. This (local labor market) information is so important to Pueblo Community College (PCC) and CSU Pueblo.
"As they start making decisions, they need to say, ‘Why is it that we’re not training people for the jobs that are available?’”
PCC has taken notice and took action to supplement some of its top programs, including auto technology, nursing and industrial maintenance, among others. The college offers more than 75 programs.
PCC President Patty Erjavec said the college's investment in its teaching and learning center for its nursing and allied health programs could help reduce the number of unfilled job listings for registered nurses in Pueblo, which as of November 2022 stood at 295. There are more job openings for registered nurses than any other profession in Pueblo, according to data listed in the city's dashboard.
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The college has introduced a solar and energy renewal component to its industrial maintenance program and added electric vehicle elements to its auto technology program. PCC is hopeful the latter can help supplement the demand for heavy- and tractor-trailer truck drivers, which is the third highest category on the city's list, with 83 job openings.
PCC also offers a variety of noncredit courses. The college has seen an uptick in student interest for its construction and construction management trades, Erjavec said. Last semester, enrollment in those programs was up 8.5%.
“Pueblo Community College is the secret sauce for Pueblo in helping workforce development and filling the skills gap to move the community forward,” Erjavec said.
PCC recently finalized a partnership with Life Center Academy, a child care center, that will allow the former to open a satellite location called Life Center Academy PCC at its St. Mary Corwin Hospital campus this spring.
Access to day care is a barrier students encounter, Erjavec said, and is important to consider because it allows people with children to pursue an education.
More than 35% of people age 25 and over have some college or an associate degree in Pueblo County, according to 2021 data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Nearly 27% age 25 and over have a bachelor’s degree.
Any resources PCC receives — things like grants, contributions or partnerships — are directed toward top-priority programs, Erjavec said, stressing that “every program is important.” Directing resources to its most important programs is consistent with the institution's thinking, and the data from the economic dashboard supports it, she said.
“Higher education is at a very critical crossroad,” Erjavec said. “We cannot continue to do business as we’ve done for the last 100 years. We have to be more flexible, responsive and nimble. If we’re not, we are not going to be sustainable.”
PCC’s decision last year to cut its culinary arts program following a decline in the program’s enrollment drew mixed reactions from the community. The program had been active since 1984 and produced talented graduates who went on to work at restaurants throughout Pueblo and beyond. Ben Bedard, executive chef at NBC Universal Studios Hollywood and former lead chef instructor at PCC, said the program “gave the community pride and somebody from Pueblo to cheer for.”
The program was given one year to “reinvent themselves,” Erjavec said, but it “couldn’t come up with the right combination,” leading to its demise.
“Sometimes it’s necessary to make those hard decisions,” Erjavec said.
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At the moment, PCC isn’t looking to emulate Community College of Aurora, which announced in October it was cutting more than 30 programs. The school wants to better connect its students to the job market, according to President Mordecai Brownlee.
Erjavec said during an economic forum in November that PCC had begun to contemplate whether it needs to offer at least 75 programs, noting that about one-third of them might not lead to a job with a livable wage.
However, there are no other programs that PCC is looking to close at the moment, according to Erjavec.
PCC did place a hold on its pharmacy tech program due to low demand. The college monitors its programs closely and weighs the cost of a program against the return on investment students will receive once they graduate.
“You don’t want to have a student spend two or three years here and incur debt, and then leave here only to not get a job or a job that does not produce a livable wage,” Erajvec said. “That doesn’t help anybody.”
According to data from the second quarter of 2022, Pueblo’s annual average wage was $50,544, which was 23.9% lower than the United States average and 28.6% lower than Colorado’s.
However, if local institutions can produce more job seekers in fields with demand, Flores believes that average will increase and help Pueblo retain residents before they seek work elsewhere.
“We need to start bringing in businesses that provide a living wage to people to get that (annual average wage up),” Flores said. “We need to start letting people in charge of educating individuals in Pueblo know that they should start focusing in the right direction.”
Chieftain reporter Josue Perez can be reached at JHPerez@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @josuepwrites.
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo Community College tailoring programs to address skills gap
