2024 Year in Review
As we welcome 2025, we are excited to reflect on and share the incredible work the COE accomplished in 2024! Our reports examined equity gaps in priority jobs and programs, labor market opportunities for adult education, employer needs in senior care, student support services’ impact on academic success, and apprenticeships across our region. In case you missed it, check out the reports and news stories that we shared throughout the year.
- Faculty Institute: The San Diego & Imperial Community Colleges Regional Consortium and COE kicked off its third Strong Workforce Faculty Institute in 2024. This professional development program empowers faculty to examine their course data, reflect on practices that impact students, and develop data-informed action plans. Since its inception in 2020, the Institute will have served 500 full-time and part-time faculty by May 2025.
- Adult Education Study: The Opportunities for Adult Education to Close Entry-Level Job Gaps report highlights the current landscape of Career Education (CE) in adult education, and explores program opportunities for high-demand, high wage entry-level jobs. This report also reviews entry-level roles that could benefit from adult education training programs.
- Senior Care Study: In an effort to support the rapidly increasing need for senior care services and workers in the region, the Senior Care Workforce Needs Study summarizes survey responses from 342 current and former senior care workers. This report identifies difficult-to-hire positions, attributes that attract workers to the industry, and opportunities for collaborations.
- Student Support Services Experiences Study: The Student Support Services Experiences Study analyzes survey responses from 292 regional community college students to explore awareness and utilization of student support services on their campuses. This report identifies the most used student support services, students’ experiences with them, and key employment outcomes.
- California Jobs First Project: The COE and San Diego Regional Policy & Innovation Center (PIC) drafted a regional plan that secured $14 million from California Jobs First for the Southern Border Region. The regional plan supports the California Jobs First Southern Border Coalition’s mission in using the funds equitably with extensive community engagement.
Opportunities for Apprenticeships Study: The Opportunities for Apprenticeships in San Diego & Imperial Counties report aimed to support the region’s goal of registering 45,000 apprentices by 2029— at the time of the study, the region had only achieved approximately 33% of that goal. The report features a list of “apprenticeable occupations” to develop new and expand existing programs, summarizes equity gaps, and highlights recommendations to improve regional collaborations.