Apr 2020-Oct 2020
Lorain County Community College (LCCC) is a mid-sized community college serving Lorain County, OH and its surrounding areas. LCCC was awarded a US Department of Labor “Scaling Apprenticeships” grant to develop 5,000 new manufacturing apprenticeships statewide. The Scaling Apprenticeships grant is co-led Ohio TechNet, which is a statewide consortium of 23 community colleges facilitated by LCCC. Key to the success of this project is attracting more women into the newly created apprenticeship opportunities. To do this, Ohio TechNet leadership developed a strategy to spread the evidence-based Women in Sustainable Employment (WISE) Pathways program across the state. New Growth was brought on board to assist with scaling WISE Pathways statewide.
New Growth worked closely with project staff to create an asset map of communities and partners statewide which would benefit from the WISE Pathways program; developed a communication and outreach strategy, including messaging and collateral materials, to bring new partners on board; and created resources for partners piloting WISE Pathways in their communities, such as outreach flyers, boilerplate language, and example asks to raise funds locally for their projects.
Ten communities across the state of Ohio agreed to pilot WISE Pathway programs. The first pilot sites will launch in the spring and summer of 2021 with additional sites launching in the fall of 2021. These programs are all locally informed and tailored to meet the needs of their communities.
