The Senate Labor Committee on Monday advanced a package of bills, supported by NJBIA, that would codify the work of the New Jersey Career Pathways to Opportunities Initiative and strengthen the operation and impact of New Jersey’s community college system.
NJBIA Vice President of Government Affairs Althea D. Ford submitted written testimony in favor of both bills, A-5183/S-4009 and S-4012, which were unanimously released.
“The New Jersey Council of Community Colleges has done a remarkable job coordinating the efforts of our state’s 18 community colleges to streamline the implementation of workforce training and programmatic opportunities across our state,” Ford said. “This unified approach has led to significant investment, partnership and results.
“As partners with NJCCC on the New Jersey Pathways to Career Opportunities Initiative, NJBIA has witnessed first-hand the intentional planning, development and deployment of successful and innovative workforce development strategies,” Ford said.
“The projects supported by this initiative have inspired new collaborations, such as NJBioFutures, a new strategic private-public partnership addressing critical workforce concerns in the pharmaceutical and biomanufacturing industries,” Ford said.
Bill A-5183, sponsored by Assemblywoman Mitchelle Drulis (D-16) and bill S-4009, sponsored by Senator Andrew Zwicker (D-16), would direct the state Department of Labor & Workforce Development to maintain and update annually an industry-valued credentials list that is downloadable from the state DOL’s website.
These specific credentials – degrees, diplomas, certificates, or certifications – are the ones businesses are most interested in based on analysis of labor market data and feedback from employers in the state. The industry-valued credential list must be updated annually and made available in a downloadable format on the DOLWD’s website.
Ford said the industry-valued credentials list is a “common-sense strategy” to keep the state connected with job creators to understand their credentialing needs and to create an objective metric to determine if industry training needs are being met. The list would also help guide the state in making investments in future education and training programs.
NJBIA also supports S-4012 that would establish a pilot program to streamline the work of the county college system and workforce development boards and maximize workforce development investments, Ford said. That bill, also sponsored by Senator Zwicker, was released by a unanimous vote on Monday.
