Mt. San Antonio College leads Noncredit Career Pathways, a Strong Workforce Program (SWP) project in the Los Angeles region since 2017 and a project of the Los Angeles Regional Consortium. The only fully noncredit SWP project in the region, Noncredit Career Pathways supports and provides technical assistance to noncredit programs in high-demand career fields and prepares students for college. The importance of Noncredit Career Pathways – and noncredit CTE programs overall – has come to the forefront due to the pandemic and its impact on California’s economy. Noncredit plays a critical role in responding to employers’ workforce training needs and providing students with a pathway to credit programs to ensure California workers reskill or upskill into well-paying stable jobs and employers have the workforce they need. The project’s main goals are to:
• Develop free, short-term, competency-based noncredit training and career pathways
• Support regional economic recovery and growth by training essential workers
• Establish and increase capacity for colleges to offer noncredit distance education
• Provide essential training and college pathways to underrepresented populations
All 19 colleges in the Los Angeles region are active participants in this project and have worked together to build a community of practice among faculty across the region. Noncredit practitioners at the region’s colleges have drawn on their expertise to help create more than 300 new noncredit Career Development and College Preparation (CDCP) Certificates. The certificate programs are intended to help boost college enrolment and equip students with the knowledge and skills needed to quickly secure a job in a high-demand field.
Noncredit programs have historically provided transformative learning environments for underrepresented adults. Noncredit Career Pathways serves the high-need population of students outside of the traditional career technical education (CTE) student. Noncredit training and education is:
• Free
• Short-term
• Competency-based
• Accessible to all students
• Flexibly scheduled
• A pathway to work or college
• Taken on a pass-no pass basis (courses do not count toward a degree)
• Responsive to employers
Noncredit Career Pathways continues to be flexible and responsive to community, business, and economic needs. Noncredit plays a critical role in California’s economy, and this project directly responds to policy and regional labor needs. Noncredit Career Pathways has:
• Increased and strengthened the capacity of noncredit programs across the region
• Increased collaboration between credit and noncredit faculty
• Increased noncredit CTE certificates and enrollment
• Provided noncredit technical support to all partner colleges
• Engaged with businesses and regional and local workforce development agencies