Education is economic development. A strong local economy doesn’t happen by accident. It requires entrepreneurs willing to take a risk, businesses willing to invest, workers willing to learn and communities willing to prepare for what comes next.

It also requires something that is sometimes overlooked when economic development is discussed. That is the role of community education.

For Mohave County, that makes the Corporate and Community Education programs at Mohave College an important part of the region’s economic infrastructure. This college isn’t simply preparing students for jobs.

Education Is Economic Development

Through non-credit workforce training, professional development, customized corporate education, community education and small-business resources, it is helping people and organizations adapt to a changing economy. That is economic development. And sometimes the most effective economic development happens in one classroom at a time.

Employers don’t simply need people who know how to do today’s job. They need people who can learn tomorrow’s job and have the skills needed to adapt. That distinction is increasingly important.

Technology changes. Customer expectations change. Regulations change. Manufacturing processes change. Software changes. Management practices change. The business owner that stops learning eventually falls behind.

Mohave College Corporate Education is designed to help businesses and organizations address that challenge through workshops, seminars, customized training and professional development. Training can be delivered at a business location, on a Mohave College campus, at a community-based location or online. That flexibility is important. A company doesn’t necessarily need to send its employees away for a semester.

Meeting Needs

It may need a targeted workshop, a class in leadership development or conflict-management training, assistance in developing high-performing teams or training in communication, supervision or process improvement.

Mohave College identifies areas such as leadership development, conflict management, communication skills, management and supervision, high-performing teams, efficiency and process improvement among its corporate training topics. The result is education designed around the needs of the workplace rather than forcing the workplace into an educational template. One of the most important features of corporate education is customization because every business has different needs. A restaurant has different training needs than a manufacturer, a construction company has different needs than a healthcare organization and a small retailer faces different challenges than a government agency.

A growing business may need management training because its best technician has suddenly become a supervisor. That promotion is great news, but it can also be a recipe for trouble if nobody teaches the new supervisor how to supervise. Corporate education helps bridge those gaps.

Education and The Community

Mohave College works with businesses, organizations and community groups to develop customized training and educational programs around organizational goals. That relationship between education and employers is one of the defining strengths of the modern community college.

Imagine a community where employers have trouble finding qualified workers. Now imagine a community where workers can obtain training for those jobs without having to move away. The second community has an enormous advantage.

This is why workforce development is so closely tied to economic development. The U.S. Department of Education describes community colleges as primary hubs for workforce and economic development in many communities, with career education and training aligned to in-demand sectors. A traditional degree is valuable, but it isn’t always the answer to every workforce challenge. Sometimes an individual needs one skill or an employer needs ten people trained in a specific process. Or perhaps an industry needs workers who can obtain a credential quickly. Non-credit programs can provide those shorter pathways.

Mohave College offers workforce training and professional development for individuals and employers, with some programs offering industry credentials, certificates of completion or continuing education units. That creates what might be called an education toolbox.

Dollars and Cents

There is another economic benefit to continuing education that deserves attention and that is employee retention. People want opportunities to grow.

An employee who sees a path toward greater responsibility, better skills and professional development may be more likely to view the local employer as a place to build a career rather than merely a place to collect a paycheck. For employers, investing in employee development can help build stronger teams and create internal talent pipelines. Instead of constantly searching outside the company for skilled supervisors and managers, businesses can develop the people they already have. That can be particularly valuable for small and medium-sized businesses.

Economic development isn’t only about attracting large corporations. It is also about helping the local entrepreneur who has an idea, a pickup truck, a storefront, a laptop, a welding machine or a spare room. Mohave College’s Corporate and Community Education division includes resources for entrepreneurs and small businesses, including the Small Business Development Center. The College describes the SBDC as a resource for people who want to start or grow a business.

That matters because locally owned businesses often become deeply connected to the communities where they operate. They hire local people, purchase from other businesses, sponsor youth programs and support community organizations.

Learning is a lifelong enterprise. So is community building, and long-term economic development planning. And when those three things work together, a community doesn’t merely survive change. It becomes better prepared to prosper because of it.

Written by Jim Hinckley’s America