What Biden’s Investing in America Initiative Means for Community Colleges

What do “federal grants for postsecondary institutions” bring to mind? Perhaps funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) or National Institute of Health (NIH) supporting biomedical research at a state flagship? Maybe a splashy research lab of national importance, like the NASA-supported, Caltech-housed Jet Propulsion Lab? Most likely, your first thought wasn’t of community colleges and workforce development.

That might be changing. A few weeks ago, the Biden administration announced the Roadmap To Support Good Jobs and three initiatives to “invest in America.” Together, the announcements bundle a variety of existing plans and programs, largely funded by a huge cash infusion for workforce development from the American Rescue Plan, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act. Community colleges are named explicitly as partners in executing these plans and as potential recipients of new grant opportunities.

To some extent, the inclusion of community college is no surprise; community colleges have always played a large role in workforce development. Still, community colleges deserve federal recognition for their expertise in creating and delivering workforce training programs, and they have not always received it. Now, community colleges are explicitly woven into the administration’s framework for expanding good jobs.

Increased Federal Funding for Workforce Preparation

These laws aim to grow jobs in clean energy, semiconductor manufacturing, construction, and more. As Paul Fain noted in a recent newsletter, many of these jobs will go to workers without bachelor’s degrees. Intel, for example, plans to create around 7,000 jobs at new semiconductor manufacturing facilities in Arizona and Ohio. About two-thirds of these employees will be technicians and other skilled workers who do not need bachelor’s degrees.

These workers will still need training, and new federal money is coming on line to support that. The Department of Energy, for example, is expanding its Industrial Assessment Centers, which train workers for clean energy and manufacturing jobs, via a new grant opportunity open to community colleges. The Department of Labor released several skills training grants, including one to expand nursing pathways and another to grow registered apprenticeships. The newly formed Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships directorate at the NSF might fund the development and expansion of community college programs in emerging technology and energy.

Regional Approaches to Workforce Development

Two of the three newly announced federal initiatives focus on growing a skilled workforce in particular regions: five “workforce hubs” in Augusta, GA; Baltimore, MD; Columbus, OH; Phoenix, AZ; and Pittsburgh, PA; and 33 other cities joining the Good Jobs, Great Cities Academy and Learning Network.

Community colleges sit at the nexus of their communities. They should be part of regionally focused initiatives and contribute to conversations about local workforce needs and training. They can serve as the conveners of the diverse network of other organizations like school districts, employers, workforce development organizations, chambers of commerce, and unions that will need to be involved in these initiatives.

Regional approaches will require community colleges to consider how their workforce training programs connect with the needs of those other regional actors. One focus across the region, for example, might be preparing young people for in-demand and emerging jobs. That might lead colleges to partner more closely with local high schools and school districts to build earlier pathways to programs and careers or to expand youth apprenticeships in growing fields.

In highly populated metropolitan regions, a community college is one of several training providers. Those providers should come together to ensure they aren’t needlessly duplicating programs or to find creative ways to co-deliver programs across the region. They also should work to ensure their courses transfer from one institution to another, as students might take courses at multiple institutions or may want to re-enroll at a later date to earn a higher credential.

Guaranteeing Graduates Access Good Jobs

After community colleges have built the training programs that prepare students for these emerging jobs, it doesn’t help people if those jobs do not pay them a living wage, lack benefits like paid leave and health care, or require them to work in unsafe or hostile conditions.

The administration is providing some incentives to ensure the jobs created from these acts are high quality. The Department of Commerce, for example, is requiring businesses seeking $150 million or more in CHIPS awards to provide affordable child care for the construction workers building new semiconductor plants and the employees who will eventually staff them. There’s also the Department of Labor’s Good Jobs Initiative, a collection of resources to monitor and improve job quality.

The administration’s focus on job quality is an opportunity for community colleges to expand this push with their employer partners, who may be more receptive to conversations about raising wages and diversifying their workforces when the president is making the same demands. If ever colleges can make these appeals successfully, it’s now.

To do so, colleges can reference federal and external resources to assess job quality and create criteria for forging new employer partnerships and evaluating existing ones. They can use labor market data to confirm that they’re preparing enough workers to meet local demand and to push back on employers who blame high turnover rates on workers’ lack of preparation, rather than on low compensation or unsupportive company policies. If necessary, colleges can refuse to partner with companies that won’t provide graduates with quality jobs, and they can sunset the programs that lead students to those jobs. Colleges can also set the right example by providing their own employees with sufficient compensation and benefits and fostering supportive workplace cultures.

Training the electricians, semiconductor and battery manufacturers, wind farm technicians, and other workers we need won’t happen overnight. But putting more funding toward training programs and trying to improve the quality of these jobs is a step in the right direction, and one that community colleges are primed to support.

Enjoy what you read? Subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates on what’s new in Education Policy!