[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                     THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE PIPELINE TO SMALL 
                               BUSINESSES

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                               BEFORE THE

                      SUBCOMMITTEE ON INNOVATION,
              ENTREPRENEURSHIP, AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

                                 OF THE

                      COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
                             UNITED STATES
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

                               __________

                              HEARING HELD
                            NOVEMBER 4, 2021

                               __________

[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT
                               

            Small Business Committee Document Number 117-040
             Available via the GPO Website: www.govinfo.gov
             
                              __________

                    U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE                    
45-997                      WASHINGTON : 2022                     
          
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------   
             
                   HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS

                 NYDIA VELAZQUEZ, New York, Chairwoman
                          JARED GOLDEN, Maine
                          JASON CROW, Colorado
                         SHARICE DAVIDS, Kansas
                         KWEISI MFUME, Maryland
                        DEAN PHILLIPS, Minnesota
                         MARIE NEWMAN, Illinois
                       CAROLYN BOURDEAUX, Georgia
                         TROY CARTER, Louisiana
                          JUDY CHU, California
                       DWIGHT EVANS, Pennsylvania
                       ANTONIO DELGADO, New York
                     CHRISSY HOULAHAN, Pennsylvania
                          ANDY KIM, New Jersey
                         ANGIE CRAIG, Minnesota
              BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri, Ranking Member
                         ROGER WILLIAMS, Texas
                        JIM HAGEDORN, Minnesota
                        PETE STAUBER, Minnesota
                        DAN MEUSER, Pennsylvania
                        CLAUDIA TENNEY, New York
                       ANDREW GARBARINO, New York
                         YOUNG KIM, California
                         BETH VAN DUYNE, Texas
                         BYRON DONALDS, Florida
                         MARIA SALAZAR, Florida
                      SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin

                 Melissa Jung, Majority Staff Director
            Ellen Harrington, Majority Deputy Staff Director
                     David Planning, Staff Director
                            
                            
                            C O N T E N T S

                           OPENING STATEMENTS

                                                                   Page
Hon. Jason Crow..................................................     1
Hon. Young Kim...................................................     2

                               WITNESSES

Dr. Anne M. Kress, PhD, President, Northern Virginia Community 
  College, Annandale, VA.........................................     5
Dr. Rebecca A. Corbin, Ed.D., President and Chief Executive 
  Officer, The National Association for Community College 
  Entrepreneurship (NACCE), Cary, NC.............................     7
Mr. Joe Garcia, Chancellor, Colorado Community College System, 
  Denver, CO.....................................................     9
Mr. Frank Boecker, Manager of Human Resources, Sunwest Electric 
  Inc., Anaheim, CA, testifying on behalf of Associated Builders 
  and Contractors................................................    10

                                APPENDIX

Prepared Statements:
    Dr. Anne M. Kress, PhD, President, Northern Virginia 
      Community College, Annandale, VA...........................    27
    Dr. Rebecca A. Corbin, Ed.D., President and Chief Executive 
      Officer, The National Association for Community College 
      Entrepreneurship (NACCE), Cary, NC.........................    32
    Mr. Joe Garcia, Chancellor, Colorado Community College 
      System, Denver, CO.........................................    38
    Mr. Frank Boecker, Manager of Human Resources, Sunwest 
      Electric Inc., Anaheim, CA, testifying on behalf of 
      Associated Builders and Contractors........................    42
Questions for the Record:
    None.
Answers for the Record:
    None.
Additional Material for the Record:
    None.

 
           THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE PIPELINE TO SMALL BUSINESSES

                              ----------                              


                       THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2021

              House of Representatives,    
               Committee on Small Business,
                        Subcommittee on Innovation,
               Entrepreneurship, and Workforce Development,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:01 a.m., in 
Room 2360, Rayburn House Office Building and via Zoom, Hon. 
Jason Crow [chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding.
    Present: Representatives Crow, Davids, Bourdeaux, Young 
Kim, Williams, Tenney, and Garbarino.
    Chairman CROW. Good morning. I call this hearing to order.
    Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare a 
recess at any time.
    I would like to begin by noting some important 
requirements. Let me begin by saying that standing House and 
Committee rules and practice will continue to apply during 
hybrid proceedings. All Members are reminded that they are 
expected to adhere to these standing rules including decorum.
    House regulations require Members to be visible through a 
video connection throughout the proceeding, so please keep your 
cameras on. Also, please remember to remain muted until you are 
recognized to minimize background noise. If you have to 
participate in another proceeding, please exit this one and log 
back in later.
    In the event a Member encounters technical issues that 
prevent them from being recognized for their questioning, I 
will move to the next available Member of the same party and I 
will recognize that Member at the next appropriate time slot 
provided they have returned to the proceeding.
    For those Members physically present in the Committee room, 
in accordance with the attending physician's most recent 
guidance, Members and staff who attend this hybrid hearing in 
person will be required to wear masks in the hearing. With that 
said, Members are allowed to briefly remove their masks if they 
are being recognized to speak.
    Thank you to all of our witnesses for being here today. It 
is great to be joined by representatives from community 
colleges across the country. I believe that America's community 
college system is one of the underappreciated strengths of our 
great education system.
    Our university system is widely regarded as the best 
globally, but a 4-year degree is not for everyone. At the same 
time, Americans must obtain the education they need to embark 
on good-paying careers that can support a family.
    So that is where community colleges come in. These 
institutions are pillars of their communities, helping to 
provide affordable and practical education that equip students 
with the skills needed to contribute to the modern economy. As 
the U.S. recovers from COVID, the role of community colleges 
has never been more critical. COVID has radically changed the 
nature of work in our country and the preferences and desires 
of the labor force.
    Nearly a third of U.S. workers under 40 years old have 
thought about changing their occupation or field since the 
start of COVID. We are seeing that right now as there is a 
massive realignment of the labor force and preferences as 
people go back to work but in different fields. This has led to 
high resignation rates and workers hungry for new skills to 
find different work. For many of those switching careers, 
community college might be the best place to obtain the skills 
needed to make that transition effectively.
    Community colleges offer many ``noncredit courses,'' 
focused solely on building skills applicable directly in the 
workplace. These efficient, affordable courses are often 
designed in consultation with local businesses and workforce 
boards. As a result, the curriculum is hyper-focused on 
training workers specifically for certain businesses or 
industries.
    In 2020, Americans started 4.3 million businesses, by far 
the highest in over 15 years. Community colleges can also help 
these entrepreneurs. Many have created entrepreneurship centers 
that offer a wide-range of training and technical assistance 
initiatives.
    From developing a business plan to conducting market 
analysis, these centers can guide students through all the 
different facets of launching an enterprise. These are just 
some of the significant benefits that community colleges 
provide.
    I hope that today's hearing allows us to explore how these 
institutions can help as we rebuild the American economy and 
retool the workforce.
    So I would now like to yield to the Ranking Member, Ms. 
Young Kim, for her opening statement.
    Ms. YOUNG KIM. Thank you, Chairman Crow, for holding this 
very important hearing. And I would like to thank our witnesses 
for testifying today. At the same time, I would also like to 
thank my colleagues and Members who are joining us in person, 
as well as virtually.
    Our country's greatest asset is our workforce. The economy 
cannot survive or thrive without the skills, the knowledge, and 
innovation that the American worker contributes to their local 
communities.
    Unfortunately, our economy is facing a labor crisis that is 
impacting every small business owner and employee, while also 
threatening the nation's long-term economic prosperity.
    Employers across all industries are struggling to fill more 
than 10.4 million job openings to meet the current demand.
    And NFIB reports that 51 percent of small business owners 
have unfilled job openings. And this is the 48-year record high 
that contributes to be problematic for our nation's job 
creators and the history average is only 22.
    The pandemic has not only created a labor crisis but it has 
also accelerated the growing skills gap. The skills gap is the 
delta between the skills an employee has and the skills they 
actually need to perform a job.
    In September 2021, 67 percent of small businesses reported 
hiring or trying to hire employees and a staggering 92 percent 
of those employers reported few or no qualified applicants for 
the positions they were trying to fill.
    While the majority of employers are facing a talent 
shortage, training programs can address this crisis by 
preparing a pipeline of workers that have the academic, the 
technical, and the employability skills necessary to succeed in 
the workplace.
    Community colleges play a vital role in supporting their 
local workforce and regional economy by facilitating workforce 
development activities, such as the classroom segments of the 
apprenticeships, as well as general hands-on technical 
training. Not only are community colleges aware of the needs of 
the local firms but they can also train and educate students at 
a relatively low cost compared to that of a 4-year university. 
Additionally, career and technical education (CTE) and trade 
schools provide the technical skills, knowledge, and training 
necessary to succeed in the workforce. CTE prepares students 
for the world of work by introducing them to the workforce 
competences and making academic content accessible in a hands-
on context.
    The high school graduation rate for students who are 
enrolled in a CT program is approximately 90 percent. As a 
comparison, this is 15 percentage points higher than the 
national average.
    I have personally had the privilege of working with a 
career training program serving constituents in my district, in 
the 39th Congressional District in Southern California. The 
ReIGNITE Hope trains students for a career in welding and gets 
them certified in a system with job placement. They have 
trained over 700 students for a career in welding and have 100 
percent certification pass rate. The ReIGNITE Hope does a 
tremendous job in giving people a second chance and assisting 
them with job placement.
    As communities continue to recover from the COVID-19 
pandemic, small businesses can play an important role in 
providing viable pathways into the workforce and they are 
uniquely suited to help those, you know, and close the skills 
gap through the apprenticeships, CTE, and public-private 
educational partnerships. However, we need to allow our small 
businesses to prosper instead of hamstringing them with the 
threat of higher taxes and more regulations.
    As we hold this hearing today, small businesses across the 
country are facing labor shortages, inflation, and major supply 
chain disruptions. I look forward to hearing all of your 
testimonies today and I hope to work with my colleagues to find 
real solutions to support our small businesses and close that 
ever-growing workforce skills gap.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
    Chairman CROW. Thank you, Ms. Young Kim. The gentlelady 
yields back.
    I would like to take a moment to explain how this hearing 
will proceed. Each witness will have 5 minutes to provide a 
statement and each Committee Member will have 5 minutes for 
questions. Please ensure that your microphone is on when you 
begin speaking and that you return to mute when finished.
    With that, I would like to introduce our first witness.
    Our first witness is Dr. Anne Kress.
    Dr. Kress, am I pronouncing that correctly?
    Dr. Kress is the president of Northern Virginia Community 
College where she has served since January 2020. She has more 
than 25 years of experience in higher education having served 
as a tenured English professor, department chair, associate 
vice president, provost, and president of community colleges in 
Florida, New York, and now Virginia. She serves on the Board of 
the American Association of Community Colleges, the Executive 
Committee of the Task Force on Higher Education and 
Opportunity, Jobs of the Futures Policy Trust and Community 
College Workforce Consortium, alongside many more.
    Welcome, Dr. Kress. I look forward to your testimony.
    Our next witness is Dr. Rebeca Corbin, the president and 
CEO of the National Association of Community College 
Entrepreneurship (NACCE). By her leadership, NACCE has grown by 
leaps and bounds, serving a vibrant community of more than 300 
community colleges and historically Black colleges and 
universities alongside individual member faculty and 
administrators driving to ignite entrepreneurship in their 
colleges and communities. Prior to NACCE, she served as vice 
president of Institutional Advancement and as executive 
director of the BCC Foundation at Burlington Community College 
where she successfully launched a new workforce development 
initiative. She is also the co-author of the recently published 
Impact ED: How Community College Entrepreneurship Creates 
Equity and Prosperity.
    Thank you, Dr. Corbin, for being here today.
    Our next witness is Mr. Joe Garcia. Mr. Garcia is 
chancellor of the Colorado Community College System, the 
largest system of higher education in Colorado which serves 
over 125,000 students annually at 13 colleges and 35-plus 
locations across the state. He currently serves on the boards 
for the National Student Clearinghouse, the Mexican-American 
Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the Colorado Opportunity 
Scholarship Initiative. He is also the Chair of education and 
training for the Colorado Workforce Development Counsel. From 
2011 to 2016, Mr. Garcia served as the lieutenant governor of 
Colorado and as the executive director of the Colorado 
Department of Higher Education where he focused on increasing 
equity and educational outcomes for all students, particularly 
those from low-income backgrounds and communities of color.
    Thank you, Mr. Garcia. And, also, a close, personal friend 
of mine and somebody who I rely on to inform me on those 
issues. So I am really pleased you were able to join us today, 
Mr. Garcia.
    I will now yield to the Ranking Member, Ms. Young Kim, to 
introduce our final witness.
    Ms. YOUNG KIM. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Our fourth witness is Frank Boecker, the human resources 
manager for Sunwest Electric, who is testifying today on behalf 
of the Associated Builders and Contractors.
    Since 1985, Sunwest Electric has grown into one of the most 
respected merit shop electrical contractors in California with 
240 employees working on projects throughout Southern 
California. Mr. Boecker has worked in the electrical industry 
for over 40 years and he started as an electrical apprentice on 
commercial and industrial projects and later enlisted in the 
United States Coast Guard to finish his formal electrician 
training. And after serving 6 years as an electrician, Mr. 
Boecker left the military and continued working in the field as 
a journeyman electrician and foreman. Mr. Boecker has served in 
the role of human resources manager for over 20 years, 
recruiting all levels and trades in the construction industry. 
Mr. Boecker believes that providing a great craft and 
apprenticeship education impowers people to find careers in the 
construction industry. He has received many accolades for his 
efforts in helping veterans and employing local Native 
Americans, economically challenged people, and those deserving 
of a second chance. He served as the 2020 Chair of the 
Associated Builders and Contractors Southern California Chapter 
and has partnered with local universities to help them develop 
curriculum in construction management and provide career 
counseling for graduates. Mr. Boecker is an advocate for his 
local community and his real-world experience will be extremely 
beneficial to our hearing today.
    Thank you, Mr. Boecker, for your service and taking the 
time to testify before us today.
    And Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Chairman CROW. Thank you very much.
    Dr. Kress, you are now recognized for 5 minutes.

STATEMENTS OF ANNE M. KRESS, PHD, PRESIDENT, NORTHERN VIRGINIA 
  COMMUNITY COLLEGE; REBECCA A. CORBIN, ED.D., PRESIDENT AND 
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR COMMUNITY 
  COLLEGE ENTREPRENEURSHIP; JOE GARCIA, CHANCELLOR, COLORADO 
   COMMUNITY COLLEGE SYSTEM; FRANK BOECKER, MANAGER OF HUMAN 
               RESOURCES, SUNWEST ELECTRIC, INC.

                   STATEMENT OF ANNE M. KRESS

    Ms. KRESS. Good morning. I am Anne Kress. I am the 
president of Northern Virginia Community College and I 
sincerely want to thank you, Chairman Crow, and Ranking Member 
Young Kim, and all Members of this Committee for really turning 
attention to America's community colleges.
    As you noted, we are probably one of the most unsung 
secrets in higher education and our connection with small 
businesses has never been more important. Community colleges 
across the country skill, reskill, and upskill America's 
workforce on an ongoing basis and our relationships with the 
local businesses in our community help our regional economies 
thrive and individuals prosper.
    Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) serves more than 
80,000 in credit and non-credit programs. We are the largest 
public higher education institution in the Commonwealth of 
Virginia and our impact across the state is unequaled. One out 
of every three individuals in a community college in Virginia 
attends NOVA.
    Ninety-one percent of our students come from our region and 
60 percent of our students are students of color reflecting the 
diversity that you will see in Northern Virginia. These are 
students who go to college locally, who want to stay locally, 
who want to work locally. This is the message I want to share 
with you today. This partnership between community colleges and 
small businesses, medium businesses, large businesses has never 
been more important than it is during what we refer to as the 
Great Resignation.
    NOVA strengthens the Northern Virginia talent pool every 
single year with thousands of career path graduates in 
associate and certificate programs. These range from automotive 
tech to accounting, cybersecurity to contract management, HVAC 
to horticulture. Such programs reflect the diversity of the 
businesses in our community and the close partnership that we 
have with local employees. Fifty percent of the individuals 
serving on our program advisory councils at NOVA come from 
small businesses.
    And the results of that partnership are striking. In just 
the past 12 months, NOVA has connected almost 600 small 
businesses to our graduates and current students.
    On the noncredit side, Virginia funds the Fast Forward 
Program. It is an initiative focused on accelerating programs 
that lead to in-demand industry certifications. Fast Forward 
students pay only a third of the cost of their programs with 
the remaining 2/3 picked up by the state in a performance-based 
model. Because these credentials are tied to real workforce 
demands in the localities that the colleges reside, they are 
tied to real wage gains and real jobs that folks can walk into 
today. On average, Fast Forward programs produce a 24 percent 
gain in income and an even greater return, 28 percent for those 
in low-income zip codes.
    One of our recent Fast Forward graduates at NOVA was a 35-
year-old woman, Arona. Arona came to the U.S. just before the 
pandemic and the only job she could find was as a nanny. But 
folks in her church told her that she should try NOVA. They 
told her that the training at NOVA would be very job specific, 
it would be fast, and it would connect her to a brand new 
career. So she gave it a try. She saved up her money and she 
began the Fast Forward program. She took courses online. She 
did her labs on the weekends. And 4 months later, Arona earned 
her medical assistant credential and is working in a 
pediatrician's office. This is the story about connecting 
individuals who have hopes and dreams and aspirations to 
training that connects them to real employment that helps grow 
our small businesses.
    As we come out of the pandemic, this combination of short-
term timelines, real wage returns, and jobs in our local 
communities have made Fast Forward programs more impactful and 
popular than ever. In just the past year, Fast Forward 
enrollment at NOVA has grown by over 55 percent, with 
enrollment by Hispanic students increasing by 80 percent and by 
Black students growing by a remarkable 233 percent. These are 
individuals who can see the connection between Fast Forward 
training, the certificates and credentials they earn, and the 
jobs they can find within a very short period of time because 
students enroll in workforce programs for a very simple 
reason--they are looking for jobs and they want jobs that lead 
to sustaining careers.
    And we can do more to connect learning and earning. 
Apprenticeships are one way to do that. Students are employees 
from day one and it is a unique model that we will hear about 
clearly more later. But NOVA launched our first apprenticeships 
in the tech sector with Amazon web services. We have now 
expanded those and have served more than 400 different 
apprentices.
    Earlier this year, NOVA joined the Greater Washington 
Apprentice Network, recognizing that small businesses often 
lack the capacity to add these apprentice programs and this 
will leverage that skillset.
    One thing I will just end with is what has already been 
mentioned. Our recent survey with the Workforce Index with 
Northern Virginia Chamber has found that a third of all 
employers have having difficulty finding employees who meet the 
education and experience. When we see that, we also know that 
2/3 of them are looking to expand hiring. NOVA and community 
colleges across the country offer that opportunity to build 
that short-term training pathway, those apprentices, and to 
leverage what we know to help small businesses grow.
    I look forward to answering your questions.
    Chairman CROW. Thank you, Dr. Kress.
    Dr. Corbin, you are now recognized for 5 minutes.

                 STATEMENT OF REBECCA A. CORBIN

    Ms. CORBIN. Good morning. Thank you for inviting me. It is 
a pleasure to be here, Chairman Crow and Ranking Member Young 
Kim. I am pleased to offer a national perspective on 
entrepreneurship in community colleges.
    Community colleges, as you know and as you stated, are a 
lifeline for small business. And what we know from looking at 
the data is that out of the approximately 1,200 community 
colleges, approximately 75 percent have an entrepreneurship 
training or support program of some kind. Twenty percent have a 
small business development center on their campus. And in the 
State of North Carolina where NACCE is located, every one of 
the 58 community colleges has a small business center called an 
SBDTC on the community college campus which offers somewhat of 
a national model for other states to take a look at.
    One of the things that NACCE prides itself in is really 
leveraging the talent and the leadership and the enthusiasm of 
community colleges which puts us in a unique perspective. This 
year there has been since June, 440,000 new businesses started 
in this country. While they are suffering from the pandemic and 
much loss, that is a tremendous opportunity.
    One of the things that we do know though from the data from 
the Kauffman Foundation and Department of Labor is that within 
the first year, 20 percent of those businesses will fail. By 
year 5, almost half of them will fail. But it does not have to 
be that way. We can expand the level of support, the resources, 
and these new businesses themselves will serve existing larger 
businesses and help both rural, suburban, and urban 
communities.
    I want to speak briefly about how community colleges 
support business creation and also startups, things that people 
may not be readily aware of.
    One way are venture labs. Venture labs introduce, inspire, 
and encourage technical and creative entrepreneurship. 
Sometimes they are called feasibility labs. What we have seen 
through the NACCE network in the last couple of years is the 
introduction of the Everyday Entrepreneur Venture Fund which is 
a seed fund started by a husband and wife philanthropists, 
provides seed grants of $5,000 to $6,000 where everyday 
entrepreneurs, women, immigrants, people of color, people 
without access to capital can get training and support through 
the community college and just a little bit of funding to buy 
tools, to buy something to really realize that American dream.
    Hillsborough Community College in Florida through the InLab 
is an exceptional example. We write about this in the book that 
you mentioned, Mr. Crow, in your introduction, Impact Ed: How 
Community Colleges can promote prosperity and equity for all.
    Further, incubators, which have been around for a while, 
also provide a coworking space, dedicated space. Maricopa 
Community College District in Arizona has an excellent example 
that we write about in one of our other books that really shows 
how a Discovery Triangle, a simple business Lean Canvas can 
really open up the door for opportunity for people.
    Likewise, makerspaces where people can create, these are 
often diverse communities where they have 3D printers and laser 
cutters, can really experience the abilities and skills of 
everyone, those who are gifted and those who struggle to create 
new things, new opportunities, new inventions, and hope for our 
communities.
    And finally, as Dr. Kress so well stated, entrepreneurship 
exists in academic and noncredit programs in excellent 
institutions like hers and many others around the country.
    I want to spend the last minute though talking about a 
couple of case examples in our home state of North Carolina. 
First was opened up to us by North Carolina State 
Representative James Roberson through our connection at Wake 
Tech. He introduced us to a man by the name of Darrell Tennie, 
who prides himself in hiring Wake Tech students right out of 
the gate and he specifically looks for students of color, 
immigrants, people who do not have traditional opportunities, 
and he invests in them. He gives them titles. He mentors them. 
His career is flourishing. He is getting ready to open up an 
office in Las Vegas to expand his accounting practice. This 
could be scaled widely throughout the United States.
    A second case example is another small business in North 
Carolina called Chapel Hill Tire. NACCE had an opportunity with 
some community college support to conduct a design thinking 
session for Chapel Hill Tire. They wanted to transition to a 
paperless system and they could not figure out how to do it. So 
they came to the community college and to NACCE and said, would 
you facilitate this? Help our employees learn how they can use 
everyday tools to become more efficient. It was so successful 
that Chapel Hill Tire made a donation which allowed NACCE to 
bring on two historically Black colleges and universities on to 
our membership.
    I would just like to close with thanking you all for having 
this hearing. Everyone who is tuning in around the country. I 
believe and my colleagues believe that entrepreneurship and 
community colleges are really the gateway. And thank you for 
allowing us to have a seat at the table. We stand ready to 
support you in your work. Thank you very much.
    Chairman CROW. Thank you, Dr. Corbin.
    Mr. Garcia, you are now recognized for 5 minutes.
    Mr. Garcia, I think you are muted.

                    STATEMENT OF JOE GARCIA

    Mr. GARCIA. Thank you, Representative Crow. Mr. Chair, I 
appreciate the opportunity to be here. And sorry for that 
temporary glitch. I really appreciate the opportunity to be 
with all of you and to talk about the work of our community 
colleges.
    As you noted earlier, our 13 community colleges are the 
state's largest provider of higher education and career 
training in the state and we serve about 125,000 students 
annually at over 35 locations around the state. And our mission 
is to provide accessible, affordable, supportive and 
transformative post-secondary education and workforce training 
to help our students build better lives and stronger 
communities.
    Post-secondary educational institutions, I think we all 
know, will be key to our recovery from the pandemic by helping 
us develop a competitive workforce, and it is community 
colleges in particular that are most accessible to workers and 
responsive to business and industry needs.
    Now, this past year we targeted, enrolled, trained, and 
supported displaced workers and nontraditional adult students, 
helping them to reskill or upskill and obtain industry 
recognized credentials that align with in-demand high wage 
occupations and in the end lead to meaningful employment. And 
our colleges have committed to reimagining how best to serve 
today's adult learner, redefining what success means for this 
particular group of students and putting less emphasis on 
traditional degree completion and more emphasis on the 
development of entrepreneurial skills tied to career-aligned 
programs that provide family sustaining wages.
    And we have deliberately redesigned the time, place, and 
manner in which we offer our programs to meet the needs of 
adult learners--increasing the number of courses we offer in 
the evenings, on weekends, and to online and hybrid delivery. 
We have even added mobile learning labs that feature portable 
classrooms with professional grade trainers and instruction 
stations and customized training tools in areas like welding, 
machining, and materials testing. And these are labs that can 
be driven to a worksite so that instruction can be delivered 
anywhere in the state.
    Now, as industries automate and evolve, we know individuals 
will pursue opportunities in new sectors so our colleges work 
in partnership with industry to develop curriculum in short-
term programs that allow individuals with varying levels of 
academic readiness an opportunity to quickly shift into new 
roles based on their actual skills and experiences.
    Now, we also deploy customized corporate training in 
noncredit offerings that allow for lower cost, shorter programs 
that are aligned with industry standards. For example, we know 
apprenticeships have proven successful for decades in the 
skilled trade sector and we now support opportunities in 
nontraditional sectors like information technology, financial 
services, and even healthcare. And that helps students further 
reduce the cost of their education and decrease time to 
credential attainment, we have been at the forefront of 
providing opportunities to earn post-secondary credit from past 
work experience, from time in the military, demonstrated 
knowledge, skills, and abilities through what we call prior 
learning assessment.
    Now, these are just a few examples of the ways our colleges 
provide relevant, cost-effective workforce education and 
training. And employers know the value of a well-educated 
employee and they know our programs produce more productive and 
valuable employees in part because those employees help us 
design and offer the training.
    Now, while our colleges continue to stand at the ready to 
support the workforce of the future, it is critical that we 
ensure equitable access for all students, and noncredit and 
short-term programs are often not financial aid eligible, which 
results in a debt load to the student and sometimes limits 
enrollment to those who can afford to pay. Financially, 
adaptations like short-term Pell could dramatically increase 
enrollment specifically for low-income, marginalized adult 
students who are most in need of training.
    Additionally, our workforce programs, while innovative and 
responsive, are frankly, expensive to develop and require more 
costly equipment and instructors than traditional academic 
programs. So, for example, programs in information technology, 
healthcare, in advanced manufacturing are in great demand but 
are also among the most expensive programs to offer. And in 
order to maintain our roles as leading providers of workforce 
training and to maintain affordability for students, it is 
critical that we make meaningful investments in career and 
technical education infrastructure at our colleges.
    So in conclusion, community colleges--we all recognize--are 
the key to our nation's economic future and its civic and 
cultural vitality. We serve the fastest growing student 
populations, those with limited economic resources, those who 
are ethnic and racial minorities, those who are refugees, 
veterans, working parents, and many others who are not well-
served in more traditional and more expensive 4-year 
institutions. So, as our economy relies more and more on those 
with higher education and skills training, we are the colleges 
that will equip students for success in the future.
    I look forward to answering any questions you have. Thank 
you very much.
    Chairman CROW. Thank you, Mr. Garcia.
    Mr. Boecker, you are now recognized for 5 minutes.

                   STATEMENT OF FRANK BOECKER

    Mr. BOECKER. Chairman Crow, Ranking Member Young Kim and 
Members of the U.S. House Committee on Small Business, thank 
you for the invitation to discuss the indispensable role that 
community colleges, trade schools and career and technical 
education programs play in the construction industry, which 
currently employs 7.4 million craftworkers throughout our 
country.
    My name is Frank Boecker, and I am the human resources 
manager for Sunwest Electric, a business established in 
Southern California in 1984 with the goal of providing our 
customers with a competitive, high-quality, turnkey product. 
Since founding, Sunwest has grown to be one of the most 
respected merit shop electrical contractors in California, with 
240 field electricians currently working on projects throughout 
Southern California. I am testifying today on behalf of 
Associated Builders and Contractors, a national construction 
industry trade association established in 1950 that represents 
more than 21,000 Member companies across our country.
    Sunwest is a Member of the ABC Southern California chapter 
founded in 1993. ABC SoCal has become one of the first nonunion 
apprenticeship programs to be certified in California.
    The subject of this hearing is very important to me as I 
believe a path to a successful career begins in the classroom. 
Sunwest Electric is proud to offer every employee the 
opportunity to participate in the many educational 
opportunities at ABC SoCal or our own programs at Sunwest 
Electric. As part of our Sunwest in-house educational programs, 
we offer hands-on experience, computer education, safety 
courses and construction management classes to help our 
employees to continue to progress quickly in their careers as 
electricians. Our company currently has more than 100 employees 
attending a 4-year workforce development program, with Sunwest 
paying 100 percent of the cost. These dedicated employees will 
spend at least 120 hours each year in a classroom and more than 
8,000 hours on the job throughout their 4-1/2 year program, 
gaining the experience needed to succeed in the industry.
    It is important to note that most of these individuals will 
start at about $19 per hour, and it will grow throughout their 
time in the program. Once they have completed the free 4-1/2 
year education and successfully passed the state's 
certification program, they are nearly guaranteed to double 
their salary.
    What I have found throughout my time as an apprentice, a 
journey-level worker and in human resources is that the 
opportunities available in the construction industry cannot be 
met through just one talent pipeline. To fill the approximately 
430,000 construction craft professionals needed in 2021 alone, 
the federal government should promote all effective programs 
and pathways that lead to fulfilling jobs in the construction 
industry.
    The workforce shortage facing construction and many other 
industries across the country is one that we must continue to 
address head on. I appreciate the Committee drawing attention 
to these critical opportunities available to America's workers. 
For too long, the definition of success messaged to young 
Americans was that a college degree was a necessary requirement 
for a good career, ignoring the value and benefits of community 
college programs, apprenticeship programs and trade schools. We 
must continue to spotlight the opportunities for young people 
and individuals looking for a career through more affordable 
options, and in our case, a free, earn-while-you-learn 4-year 
education that provide the skills needed for financial 
independence and a rewarding career.
    With more than 40 years in the electrical industry, I have 
been able to help others gain the necessary trade knowledge and 
experience to be successful electricians. For 15 of those 40 
years, I have taught apprenticeship classes at night while 
working on projects during the day with some of these students 
and provide them with the hands-on experience in the field. 
Part of my promise to my employees, I will dedicate my time 
after work to help them prepare for the journey-level 
electrical certification test.
    Of particular relevance to this hearing, I have also 
partnered with local universities to help develop curriculum in 
construction management and provide career counseling to their 
graduates.
    In 2020, I served as the Chair of the ABC Southern 
California Chapter Board of Directors and I continue to serve 
on the Board of Directors today. Throughout my service on the 
ABC Board of Directors and in many years in construction, I am 
proud to be a part of the solution to the workforce shortage 
issue throughout the industry. Perhaps my proudest moments, 
however, comes from the individual success stories that can be 
found in each Sunwest employee or the ABC SoCal apprenticeship 
program graduates. It is with their testimonies in mind that I 
address you. I have included some success stories with my full 
written testimony, which should inform the committee of the 
impact of the construction industry's educational capacity.
    In conclusion, a career in construction has limitless 
possibilities and now is an ideal time to get into the 
industry. Congress must continue promoting the benefits of 
alternate education pathways for successful careers and 
encourage more of the great partnerships among companies like 
Sunwest and the organizations and community colleges that help 
bridge the gaps for seeking employment. I thank you for the 
opportunity to serve as a witness for this important hearing 
and look forward to your questions.
    Chairman CROW. Thank you, Mr. Boecker.
    So I will begin by recognizing myself for 5 minutes.
    Right now the House is negotiating and taking up a bill 
under President Biden's Build Back Better agenda and an 
essential element of that bill is universal Pre-K and 
childcare. And what I hear from my constituents back home and 
back in my district is how challenging it is to go back to 
work, to change jobs, to reeducate as I think one of you 
mentioned, to skill, reskill, or upskill--and I love that 
phrase--if you do not have good childcare. Because so many of 
the students that the community college system serves as these 
nontraditional students. They have families. They have young 
children.
    So I would like to start with you, Mr. Garcia. What would 
be the impact on your system in your schools if we had a 
better, more affordable, more universal childcare precare--Pre-
K rather, for the students that you serve?
    Mr. GARCIA. Chairman Crow, Members of the Committee. Thank 
you. It would be dramatic, frankly. We know that so many of our 
students are adults. They have caretaking responsibilities. 
Those caretaking responsibilities have been dramatically 
impacted by the pandemic as their children are home during the 
day and they do not have anyone to help them. They cannot go to 
work. So not only can they not pursue work. They cannot pursue 
an education. Making childcare more affordable, more 
accessible, more universal would allow more of our student to 
come to our campuses, take the classes, even online classes. 
They still need time to study. They need a quiet place. They 
cannot always do that if they have got young children at home. 
We know that that is a very common complaint that we hear from 
our students. They want to pursue an education. They just 
cannot do it without affordable childcare.
    Chairman CROW. Thank you, Mr. Garcia.
    Dr. Kress?
    Ms. KRESS. It would be transformational to have childcare 
for our students. Nationally the data suggests that one in five 
college students is a working parent. So if you think about 
that in the context of NOVA, we have 80,000 credit and 
noncredit students. That is 16,000 students.
    We are privileged to have a CCAMPIS grant through the U.S. 
Department of Education. Childcare access means parents in 
schools. The name is right there. And when you look at the 
success of those students across the board, one of the reasons 
why a program like that is so impactful is because it allows 
student-parents to focus on being students, not to worry about 
where their children are for short-term and longer-term 
education.
    Another datapoint I will put out there is that fewer than 3 
percent of student-parents who are mothers achieve a bachelor's 
degree. Think about the loss in workforce that you are looking 
at there simply because we cannot meet a need that they have to 
help them advance themselves and their families. We also know 
that poverty is intergenerational. So if we are able to get 
these student-parents into these short-term programs that 
yield, again, real wage gains, 24 percent, 28 percent, you are 
changing not just the life of that individual. You are changing 
the trajectory of a family simply by supporting childcare.
    Chairman CROW. Thank you, Dr. Kress.
    One follow up question there. Would it be accurate to say 
that available childcare, universal Pre-K, would dramatically 
expedite the resolution of some of our workforce labor issues 
by speeding up that pipeline within the community college 
system?
    Ms. KRESS. Absolutely. When we look at students at NOVA, 
and this would be the same for Colorado, any community college, 
what you are seeing is that when students do stop out and drop 
out, it has nothing to do with their academic abilities. It has 
everything to do with their unability, inability to manage all 
of what life throws at them as college students. Community 
college students on average have an age of about 27. So these 
are folks who have full lives, who have families that they are 
trying to juggle. Providing universal Pre-K, providing 
childcare would enable them to move forward.
    Chairman CROW. Thank you.
    And Dr. Corbin, one remaining question for you on a 
different issue. Advanced manufacturing is a key issue to re-
onshoring vital industries. We have a supply chain issue that 
has become very acute under COVID. Obviously, our economic 
competition with China has underscored the need to bring back 
key advanced manufacturing. Community colleges are going to be 
an essential element to that. But we need capital investments 
in the equipment and the trainers to actually conduct that 
training for those jobs. Can you touch on how you think those 
investments should be made and how we address that to ramp up 
that training pipeline for those industries?
    Ms. CORBIN. Thank you. That is an excellent question.
    I think that there are a number of different ways that 
community colleges can do that, as has been discussed. They are 
very nimble. They can adjust to that but there are equipment 
needs. And I think really partnerships between government, 
philanthropy and industry can really drive that. I spoke a 
moment ago about design thinking. I think that there are 
solutions that can be created by bringing diverse stakeholders 
to the table. As we have seen with some of the supply chain 
challenges, changing scheduling time, sometimes there are small 
changes that yield great results. I see that as a great 
opportunity and I feel very optimistic that there is the talent 
to solve that. And the solutions may not be as complicated as 
we think but investment is needed and I think a diverse number 
of players investing in it is probably the best approach.
    Chairman CROW. Thank you, Dr. Corbin.
    I am out of time so I will now yield to the Ranking Member, 
Ms. Young Kim, for 5 minutes.
    Ms. YOUNG KIM. Thank you, Chairman.
    I would like to engage with Mr. Boecker who is joining us 
virtually. In your testimony, Mr. Boecker, you mentioned the 
challenges the construction industry is facing in finding 
skilled labor. This is an issue that many small businesses 
across America also face. So can you tell us more about the 4-
year workforce development program that Sunwest is funding for 
over 100 of your employees?
    Mr. BOECKER. Thank you, Ranking Member Young Kim.
    The apprentice programs that are throughout our country 
which as I stated are free, they provide not only the classroom 
but the hands-on, and they also provide jobs for these 
individuals. So they are able to work full time, get their 
education, and be able to provide for their families. And the 
skills that they gain inside these programs are providing them 
the skills that are needed to do their day-to-day job and 
progress further in their careers.
    Ms. YOUNG KIM. Would you say that this program has helped 
meet your demands, your labor demands, and bring new employees 
to your company? And are they only employed by your company or 
are you able to help them gain employment elsewhere?
    Mr. BOECKER. Well, the 100 employees that we have, the 100-
plus employees that we have that go to the Associated Builders 
Programs, the local program here, they are Sunwest employees 
and they are paid and employed by us during the day and they go 
to school at night. The pipeline to find skilled, trained 
workers out there is tough, you know, especially when you look 
at the population aging out in the construction industry. So 
associations and programs like ABC, they provide our employees 
the skills and we provide them with the students.
    Ms. YOUNG KIM. You know, as I mentioned in my opening 
statement, the ReIGNITE Hope provides skills to change their 
lives and help in the joblessness and sometimes the homeless 
issues, too. And your company offers similar training. So how 
can we do better in highlighting and raising awareness of 
programs like these?
    Mr. BOECKER. Well, you know, especially in your district 
there is a lot of great organizations that help, you know, 
especially veterans. There is a program in your district called 
Hope Builders, which I am partnered with that provides 
opportunities for individuals who are economically challenged 
or second chancers. And there are programs like that. There are 
programs in LA, Homeboys Industry, that also helps second 
chancers and gang members. There are a lot of organizations and 
associations out there that they have the people. They just 
need the partnerships with employers and with educational 
institutions to help get them on the right path and move them 
forward.
    Ms. YOUNG KIM. Thank you, Mr. Boecker.
    I would like to engage our witnesses in the room today. 
Some of these programs that we are talking about which are 
successful, I would like to see how we can replicate these 
programs across our nation. So can you talk about your 
partnership with local small businesses? And how do you ensure 
that you are providing the curricula that will fill those gaps 
in the local workforce?
    Either one of you can go.
    Ms. CORBIN. Do you want me to start? Okay. Thank you for 
that question, Ranking Member Young Kim.
    I think I could speak to it from a scaling perspective, and 
some of the ways that we can take best practices around the 
country, things that work and expand them and scale them.
    One successful way that we have seen that our community 
colleges themselves engaging in competitions, for example, 
looking at how can you take skilled trades and other programs 
and infuse that into the curriculum? So we have done that the 
last couple of years with the support of the Radcliffe 
Foundation. So we challenge faculty to say if it is a 
construction business that is assisting women who are returning 
back into the community building tiny houses, how can you 
accelerate and scale that? So I think part of the question that 
came up previously tied to your question is how do you scale up 
and how do you get the stories out? And I think it is really 
through networks of sharing. I think opportunities like today 
where we can talk about these things deeply in terms of what is 
being done on specific community colleges but how can we take 
best practices that are happening at NOVA and infuse them 
quickly throughout the country and it definitely can be done. 
Thank you.
    Ms. YOUNG KIM. Quickly. We ran out of time but I would like 
to ask Dr. Kress the same.
    Chairman CROW. Go ahead, Dr. Kress. You may answer the 
question.
    Ms. KRESS. So I will just give the example really quickly 
of the Fast Forward program. So this is a program again that is 
focused on short-term credentials that have local market 
relevance. So what you are going to see in Northern Virginia is 
not what you are going to see in Southwest Virginia or in 
Hampton Roads region. And these programs then are scaled across 
the state. So they are serving a system that has close to 
300,000 students in it. If you look at a program like that that 
helps support those noncredit students financially and 
incentivizes completion by telling them you are going to pay 
one-third but if you do not finish the program we are going to 
ask you for the second-third as well, you are really looking at 
a program that meets local needs because they are locally 
informed by the workforce investment boards and others. It 
graduates folks right into that regional marketplace. They find 
jobs right away. And the word of mouth around that program is 
incredibly powerful because of the success stories that it 
generates.
    Chairman CROW. Thank you. The gentlelady yields back.
    I would now like to recognize Ms. Bourdeaux, the gentlelady 
from Georgia for 5 minutes.
    Ms. BOURDEAUX. Thank you so much. This is a hearing that is 
really near and dear to my heart as a college professor and 
also someone who spends a lot of time talking to small 
businesses in my community about how we can bring those two 
sides together.
    Georgia is really nationally known for its technical 
college system and they do a lot of great work partnering with 
the business community to make sure they are really building 
that pipeline between businesses and the skills, building those 
skills that they need. I am actually going to be visiting a 
local battery manufacturing plant near my district with 
Gwinnett Technical College in the coming week to talk about how 
they can partner to expand opportunities.
    The challenge though is, and I think many of you are 
touching on this even in that last question, is it is small 
businesses. It is often the big guys that are able to come in. 
They have the equipment. They have, you know, the ability to 
really create a program at scale. But my small businesses, I 
have got lots and lots of small manufacturing all across my 
district and they have huge workforce needs and they just do 
not have the time or ability to build those kinds of 
connections with their community colleges. Or in my case, the 
technical colleges.
    So I just thought I would see if you have some ideas or 
models that we might be able to draw on. And I guess I would 
start with Dr. Kress. You know, what are things that we can do 
to bring those partnerships together more firmly? What are 
things that you all have worked on that have been very 
successful and really, you know, getting the needs of the small 
businesses and then creating that pipeline into jobs?
    Ms. KRESS. Thank you. It is an excellent question.
    One of the challenges that I think many small employers do 
have is the challenge of scale. And so I will just speak with a 
couple of specific examples. For example, in a previous role 
when I was in New York as the president of a community college 
there, we saw a huge need in heating ventilation and air 
conditioning but these were folks who really need what we would 
call ones and twos. Right? They need one employee, they need 
two employees. So we actually convened them together and we did 
a visual experiment. We had ping pong balls and we had each one 
of them pick up the number of ping pong balls that they 
actually needed for employees. We had a gigantic bowl in the 
middle and it overflowed. And what the message was was if we 
could convene you together and develop a set of skills that 
would benefit all of you, we could build a program that could 
serve all of you and help you build your capacity. Because what 
they were doing, and we all have seen this, is that they were 
hiring each other's workforce over and over again rather than 
expanding it. So I would say that the convening power of 
community colleges to bring businesses around the table, have 
them set their competition to the side, think about the 
skillsets that they need, the community colleges stand ready to 
provide that. We can be the convener. We can be the aggregator. 
And we can grow that workforce by directly responding to these 
individual needs as a much larger need across multiple small 
businesses.
    Ms. BOURDEAUX. Thank you. That is a great story.
    Dr. Garcia, do you have any insight from your perspective?
    Mr. GARCIA. Yes. Thank you for the question.
    It is true that small businesses face the greatest 
challenges because they do not frankly have the resources or 
the time to train their own employees, but those ones and twos, 
the issue that Dr. Kress just spoke to, is a challenge for all 
of us. These programs, frankly, are the most expensive programs 
for us to offer. Of course, you know, community colleges offer 
a wide range of academic programs. It is a lot cheaper and a 
lot easier to offer a class in English composition or English 
literature than in HVAC. HVAC requires specialized equipment 
and instructors. The SBDCs can help us by talking to the 
employers about helping to provide instructors. Often for us we 
find it very difficult to find instructors who we can pay 
enough to come in and teach our students even if we have enough 
students. But teaching very small groups of students, using 
expensive equipment is a net loss for us in all cases. So we do 
need more support from the State and federal government to help 
equip our classrooms and our labs to offer the kind of 
expensive training that so many employers demand.
    And again, the small business development centers can help 
us by getting the employers together, just as Dr. Kress 
described, recognizing the collective need and perhaps getting 
them to agree to help provide instructors, equipment, lab 
space, even onsite training so that we can deliver in a way 
that is affordable to us. We still are relying on revenues from 
tuition and from state funds. Often those revenues are not 
sufficient to cover the costs of offering these kinds of much-
needed programs.
    Ms. BOURDEAUX. Okay. Thank you so much. I see I am out of 
time. I yield back.
    Chairman CROW. Thank you. The gentlelady yields back.
    And Dr. Kress, I think I am going to go buy a bunch of ping 
pong balls because the United States Congress could benefit 
from that exercise here. I love that.
    Now, the gentleman, the Vice Ranking Member of the 
Committee, Mr. Williams from Texas, is recognized for 5 
minutes.
    Mr. WILLIAMS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am going to thank 
the witnesses for being here today.
    This whole thing is very close to my heart. I am an auto 
dealer in Texas. I employ several hundred people and I have 
used community colleges for body welding and mechanics for 51 
years. It is really important. And when I was secretary of the 
State of Texas, we lost a billion dollars' worth of 
improvements to Michigan, if you can believe that, because we 
did not have enough welders. So that has always set home to me. 
So thanks for what you are doing.
    You know, when I talk to small businesses back in Texas, I 
constantly hear concerns surrounding the skills gap. And 
recently, I spoke with a landscaping company in my district who 
told me they turn down jobs every day because they do not have 
the manpower, skilled workers needed to complete more complex 
jobs, even though they offer to pay for their employees' 
technical trainings or certifications and offer competitive 
salaries.
    The growing skills gap is something we all need to be 
concerned about and it is hitting the vocational job industry 
extremely hard because the younger generations are not 
necessarily joining at a high rate and that could be because we 
are making them think that unemployment compensation is a 
career. And of course now today we have got the vaccine 
mandates which are not going to help at all.
    So Mr. Boecker, my question to you is can you speak more on 
how the skills gap is affecting small businesses?
    Mr. BOECKER. Great question. Thank you, sir.
    I think that, you know, the skills--I guess the better way 
to put the answer to that question is, you know, there is a lot 
of projects, you know, with the infrastructure and many other 
large and small projects throughout, you know, the United 
States that are out to bid, ready to be awarded but contractors 
throughout the country, they just, like I stated in the 
beginning, the workforce is aging out and the younger 
generation is just not energized enough or know about the 
availability of training programs and that kind of stuff. So, I 
mean, there is a huge gap and it does prevent, you know, 
contractors like ourselves from doing a lot of these projects 
or being able to do these projects quickly because of that 
shortage. But there are avenues out there to help, you know, 
the industry grow and that is one of the main things that I, 
you know, as I brought up is ready to work. We just have to 
continue partnering them with industry and government and make 
sure that they are able to get on these projects and hep 
contractors, especially these small businesses everybody is 
talking about. Get out there and help them.
    Mr. WILLIAMS. We have to excite these young men and women 
that a paycheck is one of the greatest things you can have in 
this country.
    One way that we can work to address the skills gap is by 
informing and encouraging individuals to join career and 
technical education, better known as CTE programs. Earlier this 
year I introduced the Student Debt Alternative and CTE 
Awareness Act which informs high school students about CTE 
opportunities before they commit to a traditional 4-year 
university and take out student loans and that is important. I 
wrote this bill in response to many of my young constituents 
saying they did not know what they wanted to do in life but 
felt compelled to get a college degree. Could not afford it. 
Instead of forcing our students into years of debt, we should 
encourage CTE that provides students with a viable, good paying 
career.
    So again, Mr. Boecker, do you think encouraging more 
students to pursue CTE would have a positive impact on 
business' experienced, skilled worker shortages? And also, what 
resources would be helpful to you to assist in recruiting more 
skilled workers? And I have got a question after that, too, so 
if you could be brief.
    Mr. BOECKER. Great. Great question.
    You know, the programs that we are associated with, they 
are free to young men and women who want to join these programs 
but I definitely think that there is a lot of opportunities for 
continuing, you know, showing these young men and women the 
opportunities are out there and provide them with paths to 
these CTEs to get them to jump in and become successful.
    Mr. WILLIAMS. Thank you.
    Mr. Garcia, as students complete their vocational training, 
what additional resources do you think would be helpful to 
these graduates looking to find full-time employment or trying 
to start their own businesses? And I think if they are trying 
to start their own business they need to get a hold of their 
elected official and tell them not to raise taxes. That might 
be a good start.
    So what do you think, quickly?
    Mr. GARCIA. Mr. Williams, our students need a number of 
things once they graduate. One, Chairman Crow already mentioned 
which is childcare. Individuals still have a hard time, 
especially at entry-level jobs of affording childcare.
    But the second thing they need is career counseling. They 
need help from us to connect them with employers so that they 
can put those skills to use. A lot of employers want people 
with skills but they want them with experience as well so they 
often want them to get a job with somebody else and then they 
will hire them away from that person once they have a little 
bit more experience. So we have got to get employers to be a 
little bit more willing to do some on-the-job training to 
supplement the educational experiences they have received 
through the community colleges.
    Mr. WILLIAMS. My time is up. I yield back and thank all of 
you for being here.
    Chairman CROW. Thank you. The gentleman yields back.
    I will now recognize the Chairwoman on the Subcommittee of 
Economic Growth, Tax, and Capital Access, Ms. Davids form 
Kansas for 5 minutes.
    Ms. DAVIDS. Thank you, Chairman Crow. I appreciate you 
holding this hearing on what is a really, really important 
topic. And as a community college graduate myself, and I earned 
my associate's degree at Johnson County Community College in 
Overland Park, Kansas, which is the district I get to represent 
now. I know how important it is for strong community colleges, 
you know, to be in communities. They provide affordable and 
really highly-accessible pathways to all sorts of careers and 
industries. So I am really glad we are getting to focus on how 
these institutions are helping prepare folks to be part of the 
small business workforce. And really to be entrepreneurs 
themselves.
    So my first question, Dr. Corbin, you know, yesterday, we 
held a full Small Business Committee Hearing on the surprising 
increase in entrepreneurship that we saw in 2020. And I know 
that was mentioned earlier. I am curious if that is 
corresponded with increased interest in entrepreneurship or 
business counseling at your partner schools
    Ms. CORBIN. Thank you for that question, and thank you for 
your interest. We have seen that. There was a survey that was 
done earlier in the summer by a Woodrow Wilson scholar that is 
included in my written testimony that really speaks to that 
entrepreneurship interest and programming, both on the 
noncredit side and on the credit side has increased. We have 
seen that and we expect that to increase. The opportunity is 
really to thread in mentorship. It was mentioned career 
counseling and support. If you have wraparound services to 
those and enhance those you can be even more successful. So 
thank you for that question.
    Ms. DAVIDS. Yeah. I know you mentioned the Small Business 
Development Centers. Johnson County Community College also has 
a small business development center and has been an incredible 
resource for students and entrepreneurs. We have a really 
strong entrepreneurial ecosystem in our region.
    I am curious if, you know, do you think with the small 
business development centers, do you think there are things 
that we could be doing to help make sure that these areas are 
getting better connected, partnering with federal resources 
through our community Colleges.
    Ms. CORBIN. Absolutely. I think one of the things that we 
have had the privilege to have are conversations with 
Administrator Guzman about really infusing entrepreneurship 
through the SBA. I know there is a lot of good programming that 
is going on there. I think where you are right now in Johnson 
County is a leader for that. You have the Kauffman Foundation 
out there. You have a lot of resources. But really, there are 
resources everywhere. Some of what we could do is really lean 
into more ecosystem mapping. Helping people identify assets. 
Sometimes there are resources and partnerships that are 
literally right in front of you but you do not see them. And I 
think the SBA is doing just a fantastic job of doing that but I 
think we could do more, especially with connecting with, you 
know, the programs that we are highlighting day.
    Ms. DAVIDS. Yeah. That is a great point. I often see folks 
kind of later in the game saying, oh, I wish I had known about 
that resource much earlier. And so I know I am always trying to 
figure out ways that from the Small Business Committee 
perspective we can be helpful there.
    And then, you know, I think the next question, Dr. Kress, I 
would love to hear from you about how community colleges are 
staying in tune with local communities in terms of the skills 
needed. I know we have been hearing a bit about that gap and I 
am curious what you are seeing with local workforce boards and 
businesses trying to determine what skills should be taught. 
Kind of what does that look like in practice?
    Ms. KRESS. So thank you. Excellent question.
    At NOVA and at most community colleges, every single 
program needs to have an advisory council. And so that advisory 
council is typically made up, if it is a transfer pathway it is 
university partners. Our career pathway programs, those are 
employers. They are individuals who employ our students on a 
regular basis. And for our advisory councils, 50 percent of 
those seats are filled by small business owners or their 
representatives. So they are directly informing the curriculum 
of our programs. They are giving us feedback on the performance 
of our graduates. So that is one way.
    And then with noncredit programming, we work directly with 
the workforce investment boards to identify which programs are 
necessary in our community, where those skills gaps are, and 
how NOVA can fill that role in helping graduate a prepared 
workforce. And that is true across the Commonwealth of 
Virginia.
    Ms. DAVIDS. Thank you. And thank you to all our witnesses 
for taking the time to share your experiences and expertise 
with us today.
    Chairman, I yield back.
    Chairman CROW. Thank you. The gentlelady yields back.
    I will now recognize the gentlelady from New York, Ms. 
Tenney from New York for 5 minutes.
    Ms. TENNEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member 
Young Kim. This is a really important meeting and I am really 
proud of the community colleges that are in my region. And they 
do offer a great opportunity for so many students.
    Recent data shows that according to March 2021, the Federal 
Reserve, over 40 percent of recent 4-year college graduates are 
employed in jobs that do not typically require such a college 
degree. It is critical that we support alternatives like 
community colleges which offer vocational training, 
apprenticeships, and other forms of job-created learning. And 
this has been a huge factor in my district. I am not even a 
mile away from Mohawk Valley Community College which was a 
shining example of innovation, of learning, of adapting to 
providing needs for our industries locally and giving students 
an opportunity to do hands-on learning, empowering students. 
Even our company has used some of our community college-based 
students for this. But the current labor shortage shows that 
there are necessary, well-paying jobs in our economy and that 
the expensive 4-year degrees are not necessarily the solution. 
So looking, I mean, I know that we have looked to the community 
colleges for our industry as well and I know that Mr. Boecker, 
you answered some of these questions. But in sharing your 
experiences with workers, and I agree with your testimony, 
there is sometimes an overemphasis on having a 4-year degree. I 
am a recipient of a 4-year degree. It has been valuable. But in 
facing our worker shortage across the country, what would you 
identify as the core reason for this shortage? And what can 
Congress do to help bring our workers back using our community 
college networks, particularly in Upstate New York where we 
have a fantastic SUNY system?
    Mr. BOECKER. Great question. You know, I think that, again, 
I think when we talk about the shortages and getting people 
partnered with community colleges and apprenticeship programs, 
I think it is more of we have heard it time after time that a 
lot of people are unaware of what is out there for them. I 
think it is important that we go into high schools. We go into 
some of these either junior colleges and stuff and talk about 
some of the vocational training that is available.
    Ms. TENNEY. How would you do that? Can I just ask, what 
recommendation would you have to us as Members of Congress? How 
can we get the word out in our communities that there are these 
great opportunities with our community colleges?
    Mr. BOECKER. That is a tricky question because, I mean, you 
know, again, even as parents we look, you know, we encourage 
our kids to get a higher education. You know, even as parents 
we do not even progress our kids into those type environments. 
I think that as far as, you know, as far as, you know, 
everybody in the government, as far as, I think that we need to 
encourage some of these high schools to actually have programs 
like pre-apprenticeship programs and that kind of stuff to 
allow these young men and women to actually touch a 
screwdriver, touch a hammer, touch these tools and see if this 
is something that would excite them and allow them to, you 
know, start up, you know, an apprenticeship or a second type of 
vocational education.
    Ms. TENNEY. Yeah. I think that is something we do with our 
BOCES system in New York State which has been tremendous.
    But I want to now just ask Dr. Corbin, you were talking 
about the surge of new business startups during the pandemic 
totaling 440,000 as of June 2021. The next challenge is always, 
all entrepreneurs struggle with surviving and keeping their 
idea going. And obviously, it has been a huge issue in my 
community as well. We have a lot of entrepreneurs who have 
stepped up to try to encourage these programs to match them 
either with employers or other 4-year colleges.
    And so my question is to Dr. Corbin. What can be done from 
the SBA or the community college side to help facilitate this 
more so that our entrepreneurs can continue to empower and stay 
involved in helping these entrepreneurs who own their 
businesses, to keep them alive. It is a huge challenge in 
today's post-COVID economy.
    Ms. CORBIN. Thank you for that question. I think that is 
excellent.
    We mentioned a little bit earlier about mentoring. Dr. 
Kress had mentioned about advisory councils. What I saw in my 
experience as the vice president of a community college is a 
lot of times college foundation boards are populated with 
entrepreneurs. Many of them do not have degrees but they are 
very successful. It is tapping into what is right in front of 
you and having very simple programs where people can plug in 
and support one another.
    The other opportunity, there are a lot of open-source 
online tools that are provided by companies. For example, like 
Intuit. They have a suite of tools that are available to 
community colleges for free and there is training around it. So 
I think it is really, like we said, getting the word out, 
meeting people where they are, speaking sometimes in their 
language, going into their communities. Who is it that they 
trust? Do they get their information from churches? Many times 
communities of color, they have that. So thank you for that 
question. I think there is so much that we can do.
    I would just quickly add as well, in some of the 
conversations we have been having with the SBA and the Equity 
Roundtable, they are really leaning into that. They are 
bringing together association executives and saying, how do we 
get to the people? As a person on those calls, there is a lot 
of low-hanging fruit, some simple things that we can do that we 
can expand and scale.
    Ms. TENNEY. Yeah, thank you. I served actually on our 
Community College Board a number of years ago and it was a 
great experience. And it is amazing what they do for adult 
learners and how quickly our community college actually reacts 
to entrepreneurs and people that need resources, including our 
company and providing a skillset. And it is really incredible 
but I think the more that we look at this and facilitating 
these private relationships also and working with our local 
community--we have a community of entrepreneurs and small 
businesses which is unique because it is a small rural sort of 
suburban setting. So I really appreciate that and just love our 
community colleges.
    I want to say congratulations to my home community college, 
which is Mohawk Valley Community College, where they are 
celebrating 75 years this year. Just like our family business 
was founded 75 years ago, our partners with the 11 colleges in 
my district, a number of community colleges as well, have 
really enriched our communities and made us able to thrive and 
find great qualified workers. And particularly, a lot of 
people, a lot of women and others who have left one business 
and gone to another and have been able to see the resources of 
a community college. So I think that is a real key place for a 
small business, you know, business development. I really 
appreciate all that you have done.
    And thank you to our witnesses, also. I really appreciate 
this. And to the Chairman and Ranking Member, great meeting. I 
look forward to meetings like this in the future where we can 
actually help our small business community and help them grow.
    I yield back.
    Chairman CROW. Thank you. The gentlelady yields back.
    I will now yield to the gentleman from New York, Mr. 
Garbarino, for 5 minutes.
    Mr. GARBARINO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you to 
the Ranking Member for having this very important hearing. I 
have to echo the words of my colleague from New York. We have 
some of the best community colleges. Very proud of my two, 
Suffolk Community and Nassau Community, because they seem to 
adapt much quicker through the needs of what the community 
needs. And specifically, you know, right now we are seeing 
huge, huge problems with cybersecurity. I am the Ranking Member 
of the Subcommittee for Homeland and my two community colleges 
have started a cybersecurity program. A 2-year program to get a 
degree because people need cybersecurity experts so the 
community colleges saw the need there and they produced a 
curriculum so people can come out with a degree and get jobs 
right away.
    I do have a question because Mr. Boecker representing AGC, 
I had meetings the other day or last week with equipment 
manufacturers and dealers. They were telling me how they are 
offering about $48-50 an hour now for certain equipment jobs 
and they cannot fill them. And right now one of them said the 
supply chain issue is actually helping them because if there 
was no supply chain issues they would not be able to keep up 
with demand. Granted, they would love to be able to keep up 
with demand.
    Can you go in a little further? I know you touched a little 
bit on it in your testimony and some other questions. What can 
we do more? Because I think, you know, with these community 
colleges we need to get people back into trades. We need to get 
people back into, like you said, swinging a hammer, doing 
electrical work, doing plumbing work. Not going and doing these 
4-year degrees that at the end people might come out of college 
with more debt. Well, they are. People are coming out of 
college making less money than they have in debt.
    So what can we do with the community colleges? What can 
Congress do to help businesses, like yours, like the AGC, like 
these equipment manufacturers? I know you touched on it 
briefly, but can you go into it a little more?
    Mr. BOECKER. Yes. Great question.
    The association I am with is Associated Builders and 
Contractors (ABC). ABC is another great organization that I 
have spent a lot of time with.
    You know, probably the one thing that I think that 
everybody on the Committee and in government, I would encourage 
you to go to your local apprenticeship programs and tour the 
facilities. Talk to these students. See and meet these young 
men and women who are in these classes. I mean, ABC has 69 
chapters across the country. They have thousands of students 
attending these classes every day. I think it is important for 
community colleges and government to meet these young men and 
women and see what brings them to the industry. I think that 
would help you encourage other young men and women to do that 
because I think if you see these young men and women as we 
said, swinging a hammer, I think you would be very impressed 
and I think it would open more doors and avenues to help 
community colleges form these partnerships with these 
apprenticeship programs. Who know? Many people have talked 
about the financial cost of our apprenticeship programs or 
hands-on skilled training. They are out there. I mean, from A 
to Z, if you want to learn how to operate heavy equipment, 
there are amazing programs through the Associated Buildings and 
Contractors that will teach you how to operate a big bulldozer 
if you want. Or if you want to be a plumber there are programs 
to teach you how to be a plumber. They are all there. It is 
just people are not, you know, I guess again it is not one of 
those things that is broadcasted out there. I mean, you do 
not----
    Mr. GARBARINO. People do not know about it. They are not 
being told about them?
    Mr. BOECKER. Yeah, they are not. It is one of those secrets 
that nobody wants to share which is sad.
    Mr. GARBARINO. Well, and actually, so I have a follow-up 
question actually for Mr. Garcia.
    So I have heard similar from what Mr. Boecker just said 
from other groups saying the high school guidance counselors, 
they are not offering this. They are not offering community 
college programs like the trade programs. They are not offering 
these as something that these kids can do. What kind of 
relationship does your organization have or your community 
college have with guidance counselors? Do they know about these 
programs? I mean, are they sharing them with their students in 
the high schools? Because, I mean, that is how the high school 
students are going to find out about them.
    Mr. GARCIA. Mr. Chair, Representative Garbarino. That is 
exactly right. High school counselors generally attended 4-year 
institutions themselves. They know 4-year institutions. They do 
not know us. We need to help them understand the success rates 
of our students and the earnings and job placement numbers for 
our students. There is still a stigma attached to attending 
community colleges. We all speak about how much we love 
community colleges but how many of our colleagues, how many of 
us want our kids to go? We need to understand that a lot of our 
students are very successful and we need to identify those 
people in the community, in our communities who are seen as 
leaders but who attended community college and got their start 
there and we need to ask them to talk about their experience.
    But we do need to work with our counselors. Let's say our 
largest community college, Front Range, invites all the 
counselors here 4-times a year, buys them lunch, and tells them 
about the programs that we offer, and importantly, the earnings 
and job placement rates for those graduates. That helps and yet 
I think guidance counselors, just like school principals, often 
are measured in terms of their success by how many students 
they send to selective 4-year institutions, not by how many 
students they send to a community college, even if those 
students are ultimately very successful.
    Mr. GARBARINO. I appreciate that answer so much, and I know 
I am over time so, Mr. Chairman, I yield back. And thank you 
again for having this great hearing.
    Chairman CROW. Thank you. The gentleman yields back.
    So today this was a remarkable hearing. I always love these 
hearings. I love this Committee so much because honestly, you 
cannot tell someone's political affiliation during these 
hearings because we are just asking questions and talking about 
policy and talking about really important issues which, 
frankly, is just incredibly refreshing. I appreciate my 
continued collaboration and work with the Ranking Member, Ms. 
Young Kim, as well. Because obviously, we make that possible 
through our hard work.
    So what we know, what we have realized is COVID has 
resulted in a massive shift in our labor market and changed how 
Americans work potentially forever. Research shows that as much 
as 25 percent more workers than previously estimated are going 
to potentially need to switch occupations in the wake of COVID. 
But switching, obviously, is not easy. It takes work, 
specialized skills to gain a foothold in new industries. It 
takes that skilling, reskilling, upskilling. I am going to 
steal that from you, Dr. Kress.
    So that is why we have to do everything we can to support 
these workers and make that transition. And what has become so 
obvious over time and again in this hearing is that the 
community college system is going to be fundamental to actually 
accomplishing that.
    In Colorado, we have a great system. The Colorado Community 
College system. I am going to thank Joe Garcia again. In my 
district, we have Arapahoe Community College and Community 
College of Aurora, which really is life-changing to so many 
students. And they do incredible work and I am proud to support 
them.
    So I am going to continue to work on Members of this 
Committee to pursue the avenues and the ideas we heard about 
today because our economy will demand it, our families will 
demand it, our constituents will demand it, and they all 
deserve it.
    And with that I am going to part from normal protocol here 
and give the Ranking Member some time for a short closing 
statement as well.
    Ms. YOUNG KIM. Thank you, Chairman. It is really an honor 
and privilege to work with you in a very bipartisan way, 
especially through our work on the Subcommittee that we both 
Chair and Co-Chair.
    So I want to thank all the witnesses that have provided 
wonderful testimony and also through some of your examples, I 
think it was very apparent that the partnership we have with 
the local community colleges, it is really important to help 
build that workers' training that we need to fill those 
unfilled job openings that we have.
    I also would like to give a big shoutout to the community 
colleges in my California 39th Congressional District. In my 
district we have Fullerton College, Mount Sac Community 
Colleges, but also nearby we have Cypress and Pomona Colleges. 
And I know the great work that they do. And I am very proud to 
also represent Cal State Fullerton in the district. They have a 
wonderful partnership and provide all of these job skills 
training programs that are needed. And on their campuses, they 
also host SBDC offices and work directly with our small 
businesses in the area to provide them with the advice, 
counseling, training, and all that that is needed.
    So I would like to offer my personal service as well as my 
offices' resources to work with all of the community colleges 
and really work together in a bipartisan way to move these 
programs that we talked about and also do more so we can talk 
about the programs that work and allow the businesses to take 
advantage of these resources are out there.
    So with that, thank you so much, Chairman, for this 
wonderful hearing that we have had. I hope we all walk away 
with some more information than we came with. Thank you.
    Chairman CROW. Thank you. The gentlelady yields back.
    And with that, I would ask unanimous consent that Members 
have 5 legislative days to submit statements and supporting 
materials for the record.
    Without objection, so ordered.
    And if there is no further business to come before the 
Committee, we are adjourned. Thank you all.
    [Whereupon, at 11:24 a.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
                            
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