Challenge 2025 - CitySchool July2020

Challenge 2025 Collaborating for collective prosperity.

People, employers, community.

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The

iron is

HOT

Challenge 2025 – shaping the future of Greater Hamilton’s economy.

Challenge 2025 is an ambitious five-year workforce-recovery initiative that commits intensified Mohawk College resources to address the ongoing and interconnected issues of poverty, under-education, labour shortages, unemployment and underemployment in the Greater Hamilton Area.

Recognizing that education and training can lead to generational change and community prosperity, Challenge 2025 builds on the success of City School by Mohawk and the deep relationships Mohawk College has established with community and employer partners in the Hamilton area.

Now, Challenge 2025 is poised to launch with a new sense of urgency into an uncertain economic environment. The challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant economic shutdowns have intensified the issues Challenge 2025 was conceived to address and there is little time to waste in our collective response.

Government, Mohawk College, community and donor funding has fuelled the fire of Challenge 2025 in its initial year of strategic planning and preparation. Mohawk College is seeking additional support to ensure we can move quickly to achieve our ambitious goals as a critical partner in this multi-faceted civic enterprise.

The iron of economic recovery is hot.

With Challenge 2025 in place, as businesses prepare for a post-pandemic recovery, Hamilton has the right tools to shape the future of this region’s economy.

We must move quickly to reshape the structures and processes of the past while the systems are still flexible, before the heat of urgency has passed and the moment to forge lasting change is lost.

Challenge 2025 employment training opportunities will be available to today’s vulnerable unemployed and under-employed populations, including: 1

The Challenge 2025 story Challenge 2025 harnesses the established resources across the community to address the continuing social and economic disparities that exist in Hamilton.

Bridge to employment for marginalized communities

As a leader in accessible postsecondary education, Mohawk College developed this initiative to offer hope and opportunity to people who struggle with poverty every day. Based on research that demonstrates social and economic disparities are linked to specific postal codes in Hamilton neighbourhoods, Challenge 2025 was announced by Mohawk President Ron McKerlie in May 2019.

Embrace the demand-led model

Challenge 2025 envisions a new path forward for people and their families, building a bridge to meaningful employment and economic independence through innovative workforce development models such as the College’s City School initiative in conjunction with other community partners.

Challenge 2025 will match employers who need workers with people who want to work and create access to meaningful employment for those who are or can become job ready.

The Challenge 2025 Taskforce, co-chaired by Mohawk President Ron McKerlie and community leader Bill Young, founder and chairman of Social Capital Partners, involved leaders from the corporate, community, education, healthcare and municipal sectors. After a year of careful consultation, the Taskforce developed an action plan outlining the path forward for Challenge 2025, including the creation of a Stewardship Committee and dedicated Secretariat and a set of key principles to guide the endeavour.

The stark economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic has made economic and workforce recovery an urgent priority in Hamilton, as it is in the rest of the country. In response, Mohawk is redirecting Challenge 2025, shifting from the planned workforce-building initiative to a workforce-recovery initiative to help employers, employees and the community rebuild after this drastic downturn.

De-risk employer participation

A proven model for replication

“Our experience has shown that there are no better workers than those who have experienced barriers because they are so grateful for the opportunity. If you give people the right training, linked to the right job opportunity, they will perform.�

Bill Young, Founder/ Chairman Social Capital Partners

Residents of low-income, vulnerable neighbourhoods

People who need to upskill as a result of disruptive workplace technologies

People displaced from jobs by COVID-19 disruptions 2

The Challenge 2025 vision Challenge 2025 – a responsive, scalable model, based on experience and evidence that can be deployed quickly and replicated in many jurisdictions.

• Employers gain skilled workers to support their resource needs, with a reduction in the regional skills gap.

• Barriers are reduced for participants and bridges are built to education and employment; offering transferable soft skills (self-confidence, self-efficacy, workplace cultural awareness) and technical skills (job competencies, work procedures, health and safety).

• The entire community benefits: improved resiliency and shared prosperity; higher rates of employment; generational change in the families of Challenge 2025 participants. (A key predictor of children’s educational aspirations and attainment is their parents’ education level.)*

Long-term Effects of Parents’ Education on Children’s Educational and Occupational Success: Mediation by Family Interactions, Child Aggression, and Teenage Aspirations. Merrill Palmer Q (Wayne State University Press), 2010. *

By 2025, we will achieve the following:

4,000

3,000

Build a pathway to college for 4,000 students

Partner with the City of Hamilton to support 3,000 people in the transition from income support programs to meaningful employment

STUDENTS

• Participants experience reduced material and non-material barriers to education and employment.

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REGIONAL EMPLOYERS Partner with 100 regional employers to deliver rapid, demand-led training that closes workforce gaps

• Employers gain skilled workers to support their resource needs, with a region-wide reduction in the skills gap.

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PEOPLE

• Local community benefits from improved resiliency and shared prosperity, through reduced Ontario Works rates and time, and higher rates of employment.

Partner with other community colleges across Canada to test the City School model • Through a commitment to ongoing and shared learning with our partners and stakeholders, create a proven, pan-Canadian approach to reduce socioeconomic disparity and address sector-specific workforce gaps.

Mohawk College role in Challenge 2025 Foundational An investment plan to achieve our projected outcomes.

Rapid Skills training team

C2025 innovation fund

Model for replication

EMPLOYER ENGAGEMENT

RESEARCH, PARTNER SUPPORTS

PAN CANADIAN IMPACT

• Staff team focused on expanding and strengthening SME relationships

• Research for program efficacy

• New Credential Framework • Local network expansion

• Responsiveness to needs of industry

• Research for economic impact • Resources to adapt the model and de-risk for employers

• Employer lead curriculum development • Workforce Recovery and pipeline development

• Community partner supports

• Test model with three Canadian colleges • Knowledge mobilization and shared learning with college partners

• Program delivery* *select program execution funding from OLMP and SAO grants

Aspirational An investment to accelerate our impact.

Rapid Skills Training Centre

BUILDING TALENT PIPELINE

• Purpose built/retrofit facility

• Preferred Site – Hamilton Mountain

• Classrooms and multi-functional space

• Vacant retail next to Service Canada

• Agile and quick response to meet needs for sector-based training

Amplify

Accelerate

Align

Amplify Mohawk’s impact on poverty in Hamilton and beyond.

Accelerate the impact of the City School model, which demonstrates Mohawk’s ability to engage underserved students and its commitment to remove barriers to education at the community level.

Align with demand-led employment initiatives to address the “mismatch“ of skills and opportunities – a timely response to a changing workforce and changing workforce needs.

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City School milestones

AUGUST 100th student completes a City School course SEPTEMBER First City School Mobile Classroom OCTOBER Three pop-up sites added – HRIC, NWC, St. Joe’s Youth Wellness Centre

MAY Initiated development

of College Community Access Strategy – Code Red

2010

APRIL First “pop-up” City School Community Site – Mission Services

DECEMBER More than 200 individuals complete a City School course

OCTOBER Launch of City School – Eva Rothwell Centre

2014 NOVEMBER Planning and Community Engagement

2015

2016

2017

JUNE Second City School Community Site – Hamilton Public Library

Proven models show efficacy and positive impacts Structuring Challenge 2025 on proven models shows participants moving from social assistance to employment through education and training. Studies conducted by Deloitte Canada and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada confirm the efficacy and impact of the City School model.

• The City School Partnership: A Community-Built Response to Improving Access to Education (College & Community Social Innovation Fund: Social Science & Humanities Research Council of Canada, 2019) • The Economic Impact of City School (Deloitte Canada, 2020)

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JANUARY First Hamilton Port Authority Course – Careers at the Port MAY Second Employer Partnership – Thrive Group

MARCH Second City School Mobile Classroom

AUGUST 500th student completes a City School course

APRIL More than 100 different credit courses offered at City School

Research Published: The City School Partnership: A Community-Built Response to Improving Access to Education | Final Research Report

MAY Deloitte Report Released – Economic Impact of City School

SEPTEMBER Launch of 10th City School Community Site

2018

2019

JUNE Project Launch – National City School Expansion Initiative (Future Skills) OCTOBER Fifth Anniversary of City School

2020

JUNE First City School student graduates from Mohawk College program OCTOBER First Employer Partnership – Hamilton Port Authority

APRIL – MAY Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Workforce Development – co-chaired by Mohawk College President Ron McKerlie

MAY Challenge 2025 – Launch of a community-wide collaboration to consider opportunities to scale the City School model JUNE Challenge 2025 Taskforce assembled, co-chaired by Bill Young, Founder, Social Capital Partners

FEBRUARY Ontario Labour Market Partnerships funding for Challenge 2025 Secretariat MARCH Taskforce Report and recommendations delivered JUNE Mayor’s Taskforce on Economic Recovery, chaired by Mohawk College President Ron McKerlie

Challenge 2025 milestones “What I saw in this whole thing was Mohawk College’s willingness to invest in the student. That was my biggest take-away. Seeing what they were willing to do to give somebody who has no information.”

City School Student

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The Challenge 2025 guiding principles The Challenge 2025 Taskforce developed guidelines that embody three evidence-based principles:

The Challenge 2025 model Every sector of the community has a role to play in building a resilient and prosperous region. Challenge 2025 is a community-wide collaboration aimed at effective workforce development, requiring the dedicated efforts of industry and community organizations, governments and the education sector. All of these partners in the Challenge 2025 Ecosystem play a critical role in our collective success.

1 Amplify. Build on what already works well

Demand-led Development of soft skills

Transition point

Technical skills and competencies

Challenge 2025 is based on proven models that move participants from social assistance to employment through education and training. Two research studies confirm that the City School by Mohawk model makes an impactful difference.

2 Accelerate. Grow through experience and success A five-year scaled implementation plan starts with a limited number of sectors and then applies best practices to additional sectors, adapting each application to meet specific workforce needs.

3 Align. Focus on communitybased education and training Programs and training are to be delivered in the community at service agencies, local boards of education and employers’ facilities, with social and health supports for employers, learners and workers.

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Anchor partner Ontario Works • Employment Assistance • Child care • Employment Benefit • Health Benefit

Anchor partner Employers • Entry level employment • Competencies and skills • Retention support

Aptitude

Attitude

• Sector-specific skills and competencies

• Self-confidence and self-efficacy

• Awareness of future trends and technology

• Workplace cultural awareness

• Commitment to health and safety

• Essential skills

• Ability to follow work procedures

• Language learning

• Commitment to quality practices and procedures

• Transferable skills

Challenge 2025 priorities Funding partners Federal Government START – Workforce training by sector Future Skills – National scaling/ replication of City School Province of Ontario Ontario Labour Market Partnership – Governance, planning and implementation Skills Advance Ontario Workforce training by sector Strategic Mandate Agreement – Employee Engagement City of Hamilton In-kind Contribution – (2 FTEs) Major community donors Foundations Mohawk College

Bridge to employment for marginalized communities Embrace the demand-led model De-risk employer participation A model for replication

Community partners City of Hamilton Ontario Works Economic Development Workforce Planning Hamilton Participants Ontario Works participants

Employer partners Sectors Food and Beverage Processing (Maple Leaf Consumer Foods, Olivieri Foods Limited) Goods Movement/ Transportation Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority (High Road Logistics Inc.) Advanced Manufacturing (ArcelorMittal Dofasco, Stelco, Walters Group) Healthcare (Hamilton Health Sciences, Thrive Group) Aviation/Aerospace (KF Aerospace)

The City School Story Mohawk College has positioned itself as an innovative education and community leader, with an Access Strategy that provides equitable opportunities for marginalized communities.

marginalized adults. Working with industry and community partners, City School offers tuition-free college credit courses and workshops throughout our region, including our mobile classrooms.

Mohawk recognizes the importance of meeting current industry needs by leveraging partnerships and external expertise, and by fostering lifelong learning. City School by Mohawk, the flagship component of Mohawk College’s Access Strategy, brings the college into accessible community-based locations, providing diverse entry points to education and training for

By executing innovative and scalable program deliveries with support from community and employer partners, City School uses a place-based approach to allow individuals facing barriers to postsecondary education to try college for free in a supportive and familiar environment. The implementation of the employer engagement strategy has enhanced City School’s ability

to link its students to local employment opportunities with in-demand industries.

City School has grown exponentially since its inception in 2015. City School’s range of workshops, career exploration modules, non-credit courses, and college-credit courses have engaged over 500 unique students, and during this time nearly 200 former City School students have transitioned to Mohawk College into at least one of full-time studies, part-time studies, Academic Upgrading, and/or Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada.

“I love it, because honestly, without you guys, I probably wouldn’t have the respect I have because some of the people I had to give my name [to] they didn’t trust me until I showed them my certificate.”

City School Student

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Grey’s story

Troy’s story

For Grey Grant, the opportunity to take Intro to Millwrighting through City School

by Mohawk was a means to achieve a dream of becoming a journeyperson at a local union. This course allowed Grey to gain some essential knowledge and hands-on experience before jumping into a brand new career field.

Troy was an unemployed father prior to discovering City School. After seeing the mobile classroom around town, he noticed it parked just a five-minute walk from his front door. Knowing he needed a change, Troy dropped in and decided to sign up for a three-month advanced manufacturing course.

Grey learned how to draft precisely with small hand tools, the basics of rigging and how to calculate the weight and centre of mass in huge industrial objects, pneumatics, hydraulics, pipefitting, and how to wear personal protective equipment.

Troy, whose background is in customer service and transportation, knew he needed new skills to get back into the workforce. He now knows how to weld, is qualified in first aid, and has a three-tiered forklift ticket. The opportunities to move forward in his career have greatly expanded since he went to City School.

“I didn’t have the funds to take a college program so City School helped me find a way to get the schooling without the cost.

They provided so many resources and it felt like every single person was there to help students reach their goals.”

With the help of City School teachers, Grey has applied to take the aptitude test needed to start an apprenticeship.

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For the first time, the possibility of his kids attending college is a regular conversation at the dinner table. Because of their Dad’s success, his sons see the many opportunities postsecondary education can provide.

Challenge 2025 campaign The time is now to invest in this carefully developed strategy to help our city and its people recover in a sustainable way; to continue to learn and adapt to the needs of our region’s employers, and to test the City School model in other Canadian communities for national impact.

As we transition to the implementation phase of Challenge 2025, we will move forward with a shared funding model that includes Mohawk College; federal, provincial and municipal government support; and a campaign to raise $7 million through partnerships with local donors and national foundations that share our interest in lifting up marginalized communities through this unique model of education and employment training.

“With this pandemic, the demand for skills will change. What I like about City School is that it engages with employers and asks what is it that they need, so it will always be filling the market demand. In a world with a lot of flux and a lot of volatility, there is no more effective way of delivering education.�

Craig Alexander, Chief Economist, Deloitte Canada 10

“I was actually really surprised. I’d never been in a college mobile classroom before. Walking in there, it was just mind-boggling, seeing all the work that was put into it and everything, all the stations around us for work and all the computers set up for us and everything. It was like walking into a classroom (on the) first day of school. It got me excited.”

City School Student

For more information, please contact Katie Burrows Director of Development, Mohawk College Foundation 905-575-1212 ext. 3350

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