| Owens joins baby boomer training |
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| Written by Sentinel-Tribune Staff | |
| Saturday, 18 August 2012 08:03 | |
The program is offered by the American Association of Community Colleges in cooperation with its member colleges and will ultimately comprise 100 colleges with special training programs for 50+ students. The Plus 50 Encore Completion Program is funded with a $3.2 million grant to AACC provided by Deerbrook Charitable Trust. The selected colleges are Arapahoe Community College (Littleton, Colo.), Black River Technical College (Pocahontas, Ark.), Broome Community College (Binghamton, N.Y.), John Wood Community College (Quincy, Ill.), Lansing Community College (Lansing, Mich.), Pitt Community College (Winterville, N.C.), San Jacinto Community College District (Pasadena, Texas), Southside Virginia Community College (Alberta, Va.), Waubonsee Community College (Aurora, Ill.), West Virginia University at Parkersburg (Parkersburg, W.Va.) and Owens Community College. In addition to grant funds, the participating colleges gain access to thousands of dollars in marketing materials such as toolkits and training webinars that will make the work of reaching out to students age 50 and over easier. They'll also benefit from the advice and support of staff at other community colleges that have successfully implemented programs for older learners and understand their needs. "Baby boomers are not like traditional college students. We find that colleges need to adapt how they operate to support their job training needs and educational success," said Mary Sue Vickers, director for the Plus 50 Initiative at AACC. Baby boomers have increasingly turned to community colleges for help training for new careers. Since 2007, adults age 50 and older have struggled in a job market plagued by record unemployment. Many find they must re-invent their careers and update their skills if they are going to get hired. Careers in healthcare, education and social service also appeal to baby boomers who often have an interest in civic engagement. Vickers said the program expects to add an additional 89 colleges in 2012 and early 2013 that will help it reach 10,000 baby boomer students by 2015. Grant funding applications for AACC member colleges are available now at www.aacc.nche.edu/plus50rfp. The 100 colleges involved with the Plus 50 Encore Completion Program will build on the success of AACC's Plus 50 Initiative. Since 2008, the initiative has focused its efforts on training programs to get unemployed older adults back on the job. An independent evaluation of AACC's Plus 50 Initiative found that 89 percent of students agreed that college work force training helped them acquire new job skills, and 72 percent attributed landing a job to such training. The Plus 50 Encore Completion program supports AACC's work to increase the number of students who finish degrees, certificates and other credentials. In April 2010, AACC committed alongside other higher education organizations, to promote the development and implementation of policies, practices and institutional cultures that will produce 50 percent more students with high quality degrees and certificates by 2020. |
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