PROVIDENCE – The Community College of Rhode Island and R.I. Economic Development Corporation today joined in announcing legislation to create a CCRI 21st Century Workforce Commission.
“The commission’s recommendations will be vital to CCRI’s evolution as an institution and central to our mission to prepare all Rhode Islanders to enter our economy and get good jobs,” said CCRI President Ray M. Di Pasquale.
The panel – first suggested in the EDC’s 2008 Economic Growth Plan – would recommend specific actions by which the college could improve its own position, and the state’s, in the blossoming knowledge economy.
“Creating a 21st century work force with the experience and skills to participate in a high-wage knowledge economy is imperative to Rhode Island’s future,” Saul Kaplan, the EDC’s executive director, said in a statement this morning. “We must create opportunities at every wage level and introduce knowledge-economy skill sets across all sectors and occupations in Rhode Island, if our citizens are to participate in the new global economy.”
With the U.S. Department of Labor projecting that two-thirds of future jobs will require advanced education, “CCRI is a lynchpin in our work-force development system,” Kaplan added. “Producing a qualified and prepared work force will require the alignment of public policies and programs across economic development, work-force development and education agencies. “The creation of the CCRI commission is an important part of our overall economic growth plan.”
With four campuses and more than 16,000 students, CCRI is a key feeder of the Rhode Island work force, the college and the EDC noted. It plays a key role both in preparing workers for their first jobs and in retraining them to meet new requirements.
“More than 80 percent of CCRI’s graduates are employed by Rhode Island companies,” Di Pasquale said. “Making sure that our graduates have the skills they need to participate in a knowledge-based economy is one of the most important things we can do to promote economic growth and improve the quality of life for our citizens.”
The legislation to establish the panel – filed in the R.I. General Assembly as bills S2450 and H7889 – was sponsored by Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Paiva-Weed and House Majority Leader Gordon Fox.
“As our economy changes, Rhode Island workers will need access to programs that will help in their preparation to enter the work force, and programs that help them adapt to workplace changes,” Paiva-Weed said. “CCRI is one of the state’s best platforms for providing these programs.”
“The commission will help us understand what is working, what is not and what we can do – short- and long-term – to strengthen CCRI’s ability to educate and train Rhode Island’s workers,” Fox added.
The 11-member commission is to include three members named by the governor; two named by the Senate president; two by the speaker of the House; two by the president of CCRI; and one each by the chairs of the R.I. Board of Governors of Higher Education and R.I. Board of Governors of Elementary and Secondary Education.
The legislation calls for the panel to begin with a study of CCRI’s current ability to support the state’s work-force needs, preparing a report that would be due to the governor and the Assembly by July 1, 2010.
“Strengthening CCRI is a natural place for Rhode Island to increase its work-force development capacity,” said Jack Warner, the state commissioner of higher education. The college “is an under-leveraged asset in our efforts to train and up-skill our workers and prepare our citizenry to participate in a changing economy.
“We are united in recognizing the importance of this endeavor.”
The R.I. Economic Development Corporation is a quasi-public agency established to promote business development, preservation and expansion in the state and undertake port projects in Rhode Island. Its 2008 Economic Growth Plan is available online at www.riedc.com.
News and information from the R.I. General Assembly, including listings of measures introduced each day, is available at rilin.state.ri.us.
