Sierra College and Partners Lead Sierra Workforce Summit
Attendees Commit to Making Placer County the California Leader for Lifelong Learning and Career-long Success
Representatives of Placer County’s major employers and education providers came together on Tuesday, June 18 at the Sierra College Rocklin Campus to advance breakthrough strategies for preparing youth and working-age adults for good-paying jobs.
The Sierra Workforce Summit addressed the needs of employers faced with a growing economy, changing skill demands, hard to fill positions, and new technologies revolutionizing how work gets done.
Speakers and sessions at the Summit included:
- Opening keynote address by Lance Hastings, CEO of the California Manufacturers and Technology Association
- Futurist Keynote by Todd Trotter, Senior Vice President for Human Resources, Kaiser Permanente
- Employer focused sessions with major local employers, including Bosch, Trane, Placer County, and Kaiser Permanente
- Panel on the future of workforce development
- Roundtables of local education leaders on employer needs and aligning the workforce pathways
Working Together Towards Big Goals
Wrapping up the event, Sierra College Superintendent/President Willy Duncan challenged the attendees with, “Sharing of ideas is valuable but won’t move the needle on preparing our region for the workforce challenges of today and the future. I would like to offer a call to action, a big goal moving forward. This is a vision, a pathway of our own, and something that we can take from today’s Summit and begin to work on.”
Together, the attendees of the Sierra Workforce Summit agreed to work towards achieving the following goals by 2028:
- Placer learners of all ages are connected to promising careers and can work or intern in their field of interest while in school.
- More than 50 area employers actively engaged with local schools and business-serving organizations to anticipate and fill future workforce needs.
- All public and private education providers and community-based organizations in Placer County support career exploration and have created clear educational pathways for all students to access high-demand jobs.
- Educators, employers and civic organizations will have assisted more than 2,000 working-age adults to increase their skills to advance in their current job or transition to a new career.
- Business, education, government, tribes, and community groups function as one team, leveraging information, learnings, and approaches for preparing students for good paying jobs, making Placer County the leading place in California for lifelong learning and career-long success.
The Sierra Workforce Summit was powered by Sierra College and local business partners, including:
- Placer Business Alliance
- Rocklin Area Chamber of Commerce
- Roseville Area Chamber of Commerce
- Lincoln Area Chamber of Commerce
- Valley Vision
- Greater Sacramento Economic Council
- County of Placer
About Sierra College
Sierra College District is rising to the needs of our community. Sierra College serves 3,200 square miles of Northern California with campuses in Roseville, Rocklin, Grass Valley, and Truckee. With approximately 125 degree and certificate programs, Sierra graduates can be found in businesses and industries throughout the region. More information is at www.sierracollege.edu.