Preparation for Aviation Career Employment System

Wichita

, Kansas

In the summer of 2001, Wichita was one of five cities that took part in the Clusters of Innovation Initiative conducted by the Council on Competitiveness. The final report revealed the region needed a comprehensive workforce development strategy. In response partially to these findings, but primarily driven by the demand for skilled workers, key business, government, education, and citizen groups have come together to improve how the region attracts, retains, accesses, and trains its workforce.

In the first effort of this group, Sedgwick County and employers from the aviation industry joined forces to create the National Center for Aviation Training, which will open in 2010. Also, the direct engagement of major employers was a key element in the creation of the new Aerostructures Training Certificate program, a short-term certificate course to provide basic skills for entry-level workers in a manufacturing environment. Yet despite aviation jobs and training opportunities, thousands of workers continue to toil in low-skill, low-paying jobs with little to no opportunity for career advancement.

The Preparation for Aviation Career Employment System is a sustainable, long-term strategy for improving the skills of low-income and under-employed workers. PACES is an effort to maintain and expand the strength of the regional economy by moving a large number of low-wage and low-skill workers into high-wage and high-demand jobs.

Funding Collaborative

The Wichita field office of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation leads the funding collaborative. The Workforce Alliance of South Central Kansas coordinates and leads the workforce partnerships.

The PACES Leadership Team provides accountability and oversight for the project. Each of the local funders of PACES appoints a member to serve on the Team. Its functions include, but are not limited to:

Providing oversight and governance for PACES;
Leading efforts to expand local funding collaboratives;
Creating and implementing an outreach/marketing plan for PACES;
Recruiting employers to become part of a PACES Network to help with job placements and retention strategies; and
Determining staffing needs for PACES.

The PACES Leadership Team also creates and monitors the process by which workforce partnership members propose projects that fall within the PACES budget categories and goals.

Key Strategies and Interventions

PACES funds will be available to assist the workforce partnerships with technical assistance, marketing, research, and outreach. Funds will be available to pilot promising practices and resolve barriers for individuals moving along the pathway to employment in the aviation sector.

United Way of the Plains and its statewide information and referral system, 2-1-1, is partnering with PACES to create an inventory of the existing employment and training resources available to low-income adults and youth in the regional labor market. Based the inventory, PACES will partner with employers, government agencies, and community-based organizations to realign those community resources to deliver services that better match job seekers with existing opportunities.

The PACES collaborative also builds the capacity of workforce partnerships by providing professional development opportunities for the members. The Certified Workforce Development Professional program, developed by the National Association of Workforce Professionals, will be provided to members of the PACES workforce partnership.

As a policy strategy, the PACES Leadership Committee takes advantage of opportunities to inform, educate, and influence policymakers on the importance of reducing or eliminating statutory or policy barriers to designing programs to serve low-skilled job seekers.

Labor Market Analysis

The following powerpoint provides an analysis of the Wichita regional labor market. The analysis is intended to provide a picture into overall employment conditions and structural changes in this local economy, focusing on the period from 2001-2007. Though this data does not capture changes associated with the recent 2008 recession, it should still provide useful insights into medium-term demographic and employment changes.

The data analyzed here comes from two major sources: The American Community Survey 2007 (and 1990 & 2000 Decennial Census for some charts) from the U.S. Census Bureau; and the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

For a full guide to the data content, structure, and how it might be used, please listen to the June 16, 2009, recorded webinar available here.