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At a joint meeting scheduled for Monday between the City Council and the Pasadena Unified School District, the two sides will discuss a pilot program that would provide job training for local residents as Pasadena begins to reenvision itself.
The Career Technical Education CTE Pilot Program and Partnership would train the future workforce and increase local hiring.
“There are more job openings in professional, technical, and skilled trades careers than people available to fill them,” according to a City staff report. “This trend has been and will continue to be exacerbated by a disproportionate share of retirements within these professional and technical trade careers and the lack of new recruits behind them.
“The future workforce will certainly be influenced by engineers, scientists, managers, and the like, but will also need to be supported and augmented by technicians and professionals to maintain our healthcare, research, social and build infrastructure.”
The seeds for the program were planted last summer when the Office of the Mayor convened a group of important local stakeholders to explore the possibility of expanding Career Technical Education (CTE) opportunities in Pasadena.
Stakeholders included Pasadena City College President Erika Endrijonas and PUSD Superintendent Brian McDonald.
Other members of group included Pasadena Unified School District Board President Michelle Richardson-Bailey, Superintendent Brian McDonald, Board Member Jennifer Hall Lee, and former Board President Elizabeth Pomeroy.
The group also contained representatives from the LA/OC Building Trades Council, the LA County Federation of Labor Director Rob Nothoff, Huntington Hospital, the Doheny Eye Institute and Rusnak Automotive Group.
Former City Manager Cynthia Kurtz and Councilmember John J. Kennedy and Councilmember Tyron Hampton, District 1 Field Representative, Cushon Bell, and community leader and volunteer Doug Kranwinkle were also part of the group.
“This is an exciting time in Pasadena and partnering with the Pasadena Unified School District, Pasadena City College and our private sector partners and employers to increase training and job opportunities for our community will benefit generations of individuals and families,” Gordo said. “Everyone deserves an opportunity to be a contributing and successful member of society and providing additional pathways to success that will compliment college opportunities is the right thing to do and that is the goal of this effort. Now let’s get to work and make it happen, together!”
Several Councilmembers including Tyron Hampton and Justin Jones have pushed for local hiring on local projects.
The City staff report recommends that the City formalize its participation and leadership in this effort and proceed to pursue available planning grants for this work together with Pasadena City College and the Pasadena Unified School District.
“With the assistance of these grants, this effort will lay out a framework and work plan which will expand professional, technical, healthcare, and skilled trades training opportunities at a location to be identified, one that is readily available to our respective and common constituencies,” the report reads. “The effort will also seek to ensure that there is a job opportunity at the commencement of the training.”
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