electtimprobst.com - Importance of Opportunity Grants by Tim Probst, Bob Knight

Importance of Opportunity Grants by Tim Probst, Bob Knight

The Importance of Opportunity Grants
Friday, April 27, 2007
TIM PROBST and BOB KNIGHT

Long-term economic growth in the modern world is driven by the skills, education, and hard work of each person in our society. No natural resource is more important today than what economists call "human capital" or "work force development." It is the education and skills of each person that will determine our economic future.

"This should come as no surprise to any American who remembers World War II," reflects state Rep. Deb Wallace, D-Vancouver and chair of the House Higher Education Committee. "The GI Bill sent thousands of people to college. For several decades, America had the best-educated population in the world, and our economy boomed."

But now, other nations are passing us by. In 1999, the United States produced twice as many college graduates as China. In 2005, only six years later, China produced twice as many college graduates as the United States.

"Skilled jobs at all levels are going unfilled," reports Lisa Nisenfeld, Executive Director of the Southwest Washington Workforce Development Council. "In fact, although the shortage of college degrees is large, Washington businesses report an even greater shortage of technicians, tradesmen, and tradeswomen."

This means two things: less productivity for our businesses, and fewer people gaining secure high-skilled jobs.

Our state is doing something about it. The Opportunity Grants bill has just passed the House and Senate in Olympia, and received funding of $23 million in the final state budget. Opportunity Grants allow low-income people to move into college, apprenticeships, and job skills training they could not otherwise afford, just as the GI Bill did for a generation of working-class soldiers six decades ago. The bill provides scholarships for post-secondary training for low income people, and develops strong business connections so that the training leads smoothly into a skilled job at a local employer.

But it is not a handout. It is only for people who will train in the high-demand fields that are driving our economy forward. Thousands of newly skilled workers in high-tech industries, health care, construction, biotechnology, and other critical fields will be produced. Thousands of families will be lifted out of the ranks of the working poor and solidly into the middle class. This will have generational impacts. After all, how many of us can trace our own college degrees back to that first family member who went to college on the GI Bill?

Part of the Opportunity Grants bill is based upon a proven model called In Demand Scholarships, which built business-labor alliances to connect students to local employers and add working-world relevance to their education. This pilot program was created by the Washington Workforce Association, the Association of Washington Business, and the Washington State Labor Council, and funded through federal seed money secured by Senator Patty Murray. The model worked. It served 144 students, more than double its original goal, and only one student has dropped out of their training program.

The Opportunity Grants bill has incorporated similar strategies to engage business and labor to ensure student success. It is carefully designed to skill up our work force, respond to the global economy, and bring more Washingtonians into stable and high-skilled careers.

Scot Walstra, local business development consultant, believes this bodes well for our future. "This is a promising development for our economy and our job base," he said. "It keeps Washington state on the leading edge of the global economy and syncs well with Governor Gregoire's The Next Washington economic plan."

Many people in Clark County are determined to make this one of the most skilled and best-educated regions of the world, so we will continue to create the best jobs in the global economy. Opportunity Grants will be a powerful new tool in our toolbox as we work to achieve that vision.

Tim Probst is CEO of the Vancouver-based Washington Workforce Association. Bob Knight is interim president of Clark College in Vancouver.

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