The most recent data on the labor force participation rate of individuals who identify as being blind or having vision loss in the United States indicate it is approximately 44%. In 2014, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs promulgated regulations pertaining to Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to address the continued…

This chapter describes how Clark State Community College used its TAACCCT grant in manufacturing to help drive organizational changes in the college to better serve local workforce needs.

Something unprecedented is happening in Ohio. The state's economy and workforce needs are surging in what can be described as a growing COVID-endemic economy. As local, national, and global economies begin to rebound, it would be remiss not to ask whether preK-12 student success, as supported by excellent, innovative teaching and learning, is…

Ohio's decision to let community colleges award four-year degrees is part of a growing national trend. When this article went to press, more than 90 community colleges across 19 states offered active four-year degree programs. Counting New York's Fashion Institute of Technology, which technically is a community college, but offers degrees as high…

A picture is worth a thousand words! Extension professionals are often looking for the picture that best captures an event and tells its story. Look beneath the surface, though, and a picture is worth much more. Developing a 4-H press corps results in a collection of useful photos but has the added benefit of providing 4-H members with an…

BHEF has achieved particular success in operationalizing its National Higher Education and Workforce Initiative (HEWI) through regional initiatives in data science and analytics (DSA). Leveraging its membership of corporate CEOs, university presidents and government agency leaders, BHEF seeded new undergraduate pathways in DSA at Case Western…

Recent media reporting and research suggest that regional comprehensive universities (RCUs) and other postsecondary institutions may play an integral role in the welfare of rural regions, yet empirical research on the regional service of rural postsecondary institutions is limited. The purpose of this study was to examine how a single RCU serves…

John Pulley begins this article by sharing the story of Richard Quiroga, a shining example of what can happen when an at-risk student in an economically disadvantaged region gets the right training at the right time. As a young man, Quiroga was living on his own and at risk of getting sucked into the whirlpool of poverty and despair that often…

This article describes how out-of-work miners are engaged in the Empowering Education Initiative, a unique alliance between Country Music Television (CMT) and community colleges in Appalachia. The initiative, which includes a website and a series of country music concerts, is changing the conversation in the Appalachian region, giving hope to…

This article describes how a relatively small southwest Ohio career and technical education (CTE) school is making a big impression on students, their future employees, and the industry with its near 100 percent passage rate of the Ohio Board of Cosmetology exam every year and a matching placement rate. With a mission to prepare youths and adults…

In a recent skills gap report, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) noted some disturbing trends in the gap between the demand for highly skilled manufacturing workers and the potential supply. The NAM report notes that smaller manufacturers rank finding qualified workers ahead of energy costs, taxes and government regulations on the…

When NetJets, a private aviation company, announced it would keep and expand its operational headquarters in Ohio, Richard T. Santulli, chairman and chief executive, didn't give credit to tax breaks or any of the other incentives states and cities typically use to woo or retain corporations. Instead, he said the critical factor was the state's…

After nearly three years of planning, Ohio's higher-education officials are finalizing an ambitious program to grant college credit for some technical courses offered at the state's adult-education centers. The program, called the Career-Technical Credit Transfer, is the latest in a string of state efforts to more closely link work-force training…

This essay presents a case study of the modes used in training employees at a munitions plant in Ohio between 1940 and 1945. Theories of multimodal discourse and learning advanced by The New London Group (1996), Gunther Kress and Theo Van Leeuwen (2001) and Richard Mayer (2001) inform this analysis. With an unskilled labor force and many workers…

It was the year 2002. Ohio was reeling from a decline in the manufacturing sector, which left thousands of northwestern Ohio workers unemployed. When the U.S. economy suffers from a recession, states like Ohio that rely heavily upon employment in manufacturing experience the impact first, according to Neal Eiber of Apollo Career Center Adult…