The job market has been lean and mean for the past couple of years, but the Southwest Skill Center (SWSC) at Estrella Mountain Community College (EMCC) sees the demand for skilled workers coming down the pipeline.
The SWSC has been preparing students for careers requiring specific skill- and job-training for more than twenty years, focused on serving the Southwest Valley alongside EMCC. The Center has been known and heralded for their excellent healthcare programs, such as Nursing, Phlebotomy, EMT, Medical and Nursing Assistants, Medical Billing and Coding, Pharmacy Technician, Dental Assisting, Veterinary Assistant, to name a few. Many of these programs can be completed in less than one year, so it’s a popular fast-track method to careers in the healthcare industry, which continues to offer employment opportunities. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the healthcare and social assistance sectors are projected to gain the most jobs (5.6 million) through 2020, and U.S. News and World Report’s “Best Jobs of 2012” stated that healthcare has now become the core industry in the country.
Recently, one of their allied health programs has become increasingly popular with students and in-demand by employers. The Spanish Medical Interpreter program is starting to draw some interest and attention with prospective students, local employers, and now by national certification organizations. In February, the SWSC at EMCC became the only testing center in Arizona to offer the national certification exam for Health Care Interpreters in the languages of Spanish, Mandarin Chinese and Arabic through the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCHI.)
Beyond their bread-and-butter healthcare programs, the SWSC has been expanding its manufacturing and industrial programming. Responding to recent reports, and national trends and data, jobs requiring hard skills such as electronics, maintenance, industrial, distribution, and energy, are starting to gear up for another generation of well-trained technicians. Many of these industries have a looming horizon of retired workers, leaving a large gap of qualified, younger workers to fill their shoes. So, the SWSC has started developing educational programs to respond to these market demands.
The new Industrial Electronics Technician program is currently seeking students to fill their first class which begins June 4, with an initial capacity of 10-15 students, and an applications requested by May 21. The seven-month program is a unique hybrid of various electro-mechanical and operational skills training, preparing successful completers for jobs in areas such as organizational maintenance, manufacturing, aeronautics, water treatment, public utilities. In additional to the students’ SWSC Certificate of Completion, the program as ascertained the national certification status of the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER). Looking ahead, the SWSC is looking to include a Precision Machinery program by next spring.
Last year, EMCC and the SWSC were brought to the table by local energy industries to help plan and prepare for their eminent workforce attrition. Now, added to the roster of skilled training programs at EMCC is the “Get into Energy” program which is designed to train and prepare students to work in the field of “clean” energy, specifically at Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in Tonopah, Arizona. Through a partnership with SRP and APS, students will be in a national certification pipeline that could make them eligible for coveted apprenticeship positions at the plant, poised to rise through the ranks and take the reins from the senior staff who are grooming themselves for retirement.
Together, EMCC and SWSC continue to build alliances and partnerships with state and municipal agencies, West-MEC, Workforce Connections, SRP, APS, local businesses and manufacturers, ACYR, and others, helping to forecast future employment trends, responding to those dynamic needs, and supplying them with educational solutions for a prepared workforce.
Estrella Mountain Community College offers transfer-ready academic courses and job-specific occupational training to approximately 15,000 students annually. The flagship campus is located on Thomas and Dysart Roads in Avondale and is home to the Southwest Skill Center. The satellite campus, EMCC’s Buckeye Educational Center, is located in downtown Buckeye. Estrella Mountain is part of the Maricopa County Community College District, one of the largest community college districts in the nation. www.estrellamountain.edu or www.maricopa.edu .
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