Advisory Board to Support Learn and Earn Partnerships to Build Future Talent Pool

Chattanooga, Tenn. October 25, 2011 – College President James Catanzaro has announced that Chattanooga State Community College will join Corporate Voices for Working Families’ Community College Advisory Board to inform national-level business leaders on the needs of higher education institutions in order to successfully build strategic partnerships between the two sectors. Corporate Voices launched this Advisory Board on Sunday, October 2, at the STEMtech conference in Indianapolis, organized by the League for Innovation in the Community College.

The Community College Advisory Board will be a forum where higher education and national business leaders can interact, learn and share best practices on scalable solutions that provide working learners with the skills and education needed to succeed in the 21st century. Corporate Voices created the Community College Advisory Board as part of its Learn and Earn initiative, which seeks to identify, promote and encourage innovative partnerships between employers and higher education institutions to help today’s working learners complete their postsecondary education while working.

“Learn and Earn models like the ones created here at Chattanooga State are increasingly necessary to prepare today’s working learners for the jobs of the future,” said Dr. Elaine Swafford, vice president for student affairs who will represent Chattanooga State on the advisory board. “Today, there is a national economic imperative for higher education and industry to collaborate to better prepare workers with skills that have labor market value. The Community College Advisory Board will play a valuable role in sustaining and growing these partnerships.”

Learn and Earn partnerships that promote student success help to enhance the competitiveness of the U.S. workforce, close the national skills gap and put workers on meaningful educational and career pathways. A series of Learn and Earn micro-business cases published as part of this initiative is available online at: http://www.corporatevoices.org/our-work/pse/micro_cases.

For a complete listing of the Community College Advisory Boards, please visit: http://www.corporatevoices.org/our-work/pse/leadership

​ About Corporate Voices for Working Families

Corporate Voices for Working Families is the leading national business membership organization shaping conversations and collaborations on public and corporate policy issues involving working families. A nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, we create and advance innovative policy solutions that reflect a commonality of interests among the private sector both global and domestic, government and other stakeholders.

We are a unique voice, and we provide leading and best-practice employers a forum to improve the lives of working families, while strengthening our nation’s economy and enhancing the vitality of our communities.

Publications, research studies and toolkits on a host of workforce readiness, workplace flexibility, family economic stability and work and family balance issues are available online at www.corporatevoices.org.

Chattanooga State Community College is a comprehensive, regionally-accredited community college, governed by the policies and guidelines as set forth by the Tennessee Board of Regents. Chattanooga State’s mission is to transform the lives of individuals and to develop the capacities of the business and industrial communities through technical and postsecondary education. Founded in 1965, the college serves a six-county area in Southeast Tennessee and offers more than 50 educational programs.