Page 49 - Innovation Delaware 2021

‘We’re Always Ready to Respond to Needs’
Training funded through the CARES Act had to be completed by the end of March. However, Turney says, the Department of Labor was prepared to continue these programs in some form, either through funds from the $1.9 trillion stimulus legislation approved in March or through the department’s regular mix of state and federal funds.
“We’re always ready to respond to needs. [If programs are renewed or extended] we have the capacity to do the same thing again,” says PAUL MORRIS, Delaware Tech’s associate vice president for workforce development.
While it may be too soon to say whether Forward Delaware will continue after this first cohort leaves class behind, Potter said he plans on taking the lessons learned from the experience and applying them forward for the next iteration of the state’s workforce placement program.
One thing he hopes the business community takes away from the experience is the camaraderie without the competition. In the past, training contractors would get cutthroat to land state contracts, but through Forward Delaware, he saw other contractors recommending rivals to help make the program hit the needed criteria.
“Just watching the providers work together blew me away. People who run businesses, they’re competitive, because they want to win. And for this, they chose to leave their self-interest behind them for the common good of Delaware,” he says.
Programming funded through the CARES Act is essentially an expansion of what Tech Impact has been doing all along, says PATRICK CALLIHAN, the nonprofit’s executive director. He points to the 18-year-old organization’s signature program, IT Works, which prepares unemployed individuals ages 18-26 who lack college degrees for entry-level jobs, placing 85% of its graduates in jobs in the field.
IT training through the CARES Act drew about 250 participants, prepping them for support jobs that pay $35,000 to $40,000 a year, Callihan says. “We’re looking for interest, desire. The rest is teachable.... The number one qualification is grit. You have to be willing to try, willing to fail and try again.”
Delaware State University was also a naturalpartnerwithTechImpactontheIT training because the two organizations are
already collaborating on a separate federally funded $9.2 million four-year program to increase the number of people of color in the IT industry, according to Darren Blackson, the university’s executive director of adult education.
Programs Based on In-Demand Occupations
At the state’s higher education institutions, the pandemic has generally triggered increased interest in certificate programs — groupings of four or five courses to build competency in a specific subject area without having to satisfy the general education requirements for an associate’s or bachelor’s degree.
“The idea behind most of the programs is that they’re based on in-demand occupations. This is about lifelong learning,” says PATRICE GILLIAM JOHNSON, Delaware State’s dean of graduate studies and adult education.
Delaware State’s certificate offerings cover a broad spectrum from IT and health care (from nursing assistant to medical billing and coding) to teacher’s aide, paralegal studies and project management.
The University of Delaware serves 2,000 to 2,200 students a year through 126 non-credit programs, says George Irvine, associate vive provost for professional and continuing studies. The pandemic has created a surge in interest in a highly relevant topic: Advanced Telehealth, which shows health care professionals how to use today’s technology to practice telemedicine. “Pre-pandemic, we used to get 10 to 12 participants per class. Now it fills up at 30,” he says.
Wilmington University, which was not
PATRICK CALLIHAN
involved in any CARES Act training, does offer 85 certificate programs, according to Jim Wilson, vice president for academic affairs. “Post-pandemic, we’re putting our emphasis on three areas — analytics, technology and health,” he says.
Analytics offerings include marketing, data analysis and health information technology. Technology topics include artificial intelligence and E-learning design and technology. An increasingly popular health offering, Wilson says, is a certificate in trauma-informed approaches, studying the impact of trauma on individuals, families and communities.
Wilmington University’s certificate programs are considered “dual-credit,” meaning that completed classes not only counttowardthecertificatebutalsotoward a degree from the school, Wilson says.
Goldey-Beacom College also offers several certificates that are designed to enhance employability, such as Business Essentials and Microsoft Office Suite Plus.
Because of the pandemic, schools have moved most of their certificate offerings into virtual or hybrid formats.
Some changes have been made in classes where lab work is required. “You can’t have 12 people working around a mannequin at once” in a health care lab, Morris says. “We’ve had to set up more labs, work in smaller groups and do more physical spacing.”
The pandemic has made schools increasingly aware of the importance of flexibility in both subject content and instructional format as they strive to accommodate students’ varied needs. “We’re meeting students where they want to be met,” Irvine says.
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