Mayor McGinn proclaimed October 5 as Community College Day in recognition of the education and job training that community colleges provide to prepare skilled workers for job openings today, and for the high-demand careers of tomorrow. To view the Mayor’s official proclamation of Community College Day, click here.
The proclamation coincides with President Obama’s Community College Summit, held at the White House the same day. An early report of the summit from McClatchy News said that the president “is looking to community colleges as a lifeline to escape a battered economy … at a time when there are signs that U.S. workers are not prepared for the technological advances driving the global economy.”
More information on the White House Summit can be found at whitehouse.gov/communitycollege.
Community Colleges factor heavily into the Mayor’s Job’s Plan; a majority of the jobs in our region will require associate degree-level education in the next 10 years, and the Mayor wants to ensure businesses can hire Seattle’s own residents to meet this job demand, rather than import people from outside the region. Currently Washington ranks second in importing college graduates according to a recent report by the Washington State Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB), featured on our Daily Digest and at Seattle Business Magazine online.
Seattle Community Colleges Chancellor Jill Wakefield held a news conference connecting the first-ever White House Summit on Community Colleges to Seattle. Seattle Community College Television covered the news conference as well as KOMO TV and KIRO TV.
Dr. Jill Biden, who taught at community colleges for more than 17 years, and Melinda Gates, are avid supporters of community colleges. They were together on the Today Show for an interview discussing the importance of the White House Summit on Community Colleges and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s $35 million grant to community-college education.
Additionally, Seattle Community Colleges held an Education Summit where strategic plans were sought out in order to create a robust and skilled workforce in the next 10 years. You can find that strategic plan here.
