A sampling of the Lifelong Learning staff: Standing (left-right): Bob Delaney, Tina Davis, Gary Culbertson, Donna Brillon, Ellen Beauvais. Seated (left-right): Monica Russell, Barbara Korpacz

Not all students come to CCRI with the goal of earning a degree or a certificate. Some need job training to prepare themselves for entry—or re-entry—into the workforce. Some come to CCRI to master new technology important to their existing jobs. Still others require training to enhance their management and leadership skills so that they may advance in their careers.

The CCRI Division for Lifelong Learning offers customized programs to meet the needs of its diverse clientele. The division is a key player in workforce development for the state, and a prime educator for ESL and adult literacy students in Rhode Island. Dean for Lifelong Learning Robin Smith sees literacy and workforce development as mutually interdependent. “We bring literacy and developmental skills to Rhode Island workers so they can move up,” she says. “It’s an economic development strategy because employers who want to relocate to RI require an educated workforce.”

Why pick CCRI? Businesses and individuals choose Lifelong Learning for training, says Smith, who became head of the division last fall. “We can act quickly and offer affordable choices,” she says. She adds that even if an advanced degree may be in a client’s future, sometimes he or she is not ready to commit to the rigors of an academic program right away. “Through Lifelong Learning, they can just dip their toe into education,” says Smith. “It’s non-threatening.” And, she adds, as these students become more confident in their abilities and more desirous of education, Lifelong Learning can become a feeder program to traditional credit programs at the college.

In fact, the division frequently collaborates with the credit side of the house. One of the college’s most visible workforce success stories, the Electric Boat degree program, involved a partnership between Lifelong Learning, which oversaw the program delivery at its Quonset headquarters, and the college’s academic area, which helped develop the credit curriculum for the EB workers. In the end, the workers not only learned useful job skills for their workplace, they also earned a valuable education and an associate’s degree. Another example of this credit/non-credit collaboration is the Facility Management Certificate, which was developed jointly with the academic area and is a combination of 6 credit courses, 6 non-credit courses and 5 seminars.

Smith is quick to remind anyone that success for Lifelong Learning is ultimately a success for the entire college, particularly during lean fiscal years. “We are a revenue producer at CCRI,” she says. “We help the college to grow in all areas.”

Specialized and customized

How are new programs conceived within the Division? First, training directors may spot an up-and-coming workforce trend, then create a training program around it. Or, they may respond to an expressed need from an industry sector. Alternately, they may create a program for a particular client that in turn has applications for other businesses.

Dean of Lifelong Learning Robin Smith recently addressed business leaders as part of a panel discussion sponsored by Providence Business News.

For example, Lifelong Learning staff saw in the construction industry an opportunity to offer training in energy-efficient and new building technologies. This program then led to the creation of other energy-related programs, such as electrician training for residential solar panel installation. “We were the first in New England to offer Solar Voltaic training,” says Director of Project Development Bob Delaney. Today, the college continues to expand its energy offerings, and has partnered with the State Energy Office to offer free informational seminars to the public.

The creation of the composites training program followed a different path, when key players in the boat building and manufacturing industry clamored for new employees who understood their field. “The need for skilled workers is so great that the industry pays more in want ads then they do in regular advertising,” comments Director of Workforce Training and Corporate Education Suzanne D’Onofrio. With industry input, CCRI has launched a successful composites training program that can move motivated students from school to work in less than a semester’s time.

A third example of a training program’s development begins with the needs of a single company, in this case, Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems. Facing the prospect of a workforce nearing retirement age with no replacement workers in sight, Raytheon contracted with CCRI to build a pool of applicants for its electronic assembly positions. Smith adds that because Raytheon subsidized the cost of running training program, CCRI could reduce tuition, and more people could pursue education. “It gives them an extra incentive,” she says. This novel approach—subsidizing training for job applicants rather than current employees—is a model that has piqued the interest of other Rhode Island businesses needing skilled workers.

Making a difference

When Smith talks about adult literacy, she speaks from the heart. “We have the ability to make a difference in the competency level of employees,” she says. When it comes to ESL training, the effect on the workplace can be almost immediate. “Employees who have low self-esteem because they don’t speak English can develop the confidence to communicate with their supervisors.”

Annually, CCRI provides remediation to 1,100 ESL students and nearly 400 more students through other grant-funded programs administered by Leslie Gell. Among these are the Adult Skills Training programs, which offer skill training, remedial education and job-seeking skills to qualified participants for a one-time $125 registration fee. Programs range in scope from Adult Skills training can ready students to become employable Certified Nursing Assistants, nail technicians, teacher assistants and welders, to name a few. One particularly popular program is Office Skills Training, which can move a participant from the unemployment line to an entry-level wage of $12.48 per hour. “We’re booked solid,” says Program Director Mary Parrillo.

Sometimes, providing students with the appropriate technical skills is not enough to ensure success in the real world. In Newport this spring, CCRI Training Coordinator Joanne Galliano is running a program that focuses not on technical skills but on the soft skills today’s workers need to be successful. Called the Workforce Readiness Pre-Employment Program, it features frank discussions on such job-seeking skills as résumé writing and interviewing and on such job-keeping skills as effective time management and meeting workplace expectations.

Community Education and Personal Development

Not all Lifelong Learning programs are designed to enhance a student’s career prospects. Some courses are designed to improve other skills—such as driving acumen. The CCRI Division for Lifelong Learning is a veritable one-stop for driver education, from motorcycle instruction to boating safety. “We train for just about every vehicle people drive,” says Director of Community Education Emilio Colantonio.

Adventurous folks can do more than learn how to drive a boat or a motorcycle at CCRI. Screenwriting, woodworking, cake decorating—even salsa dancing—are among the personal development offerings in which the public can enroll. These courses are designed not only to introduce new skills in a stress-free atmosphere, but also to introduce people with like-minded interests to each other. In particular, the CCRI PrimeTime program has a variety of programs designed specifically for active adults age 50 and older interested in expanding their minds and their communities.

Smith prides her division on not only its diverse client base, but also on its diverse staff. “The Division for Lifelong Learning has a multi-talented staff with a presence at all campuses,” she says. “They love what they do. They are enthusiastic and creative.” “We have a great team,” Smith says.

For more information of Lifelong Learning programs, visit the Web at www.ccri.edu/lifelong, or call (401) 825-2000 for a free brochure.

The Institute for Leadership and Orgnaizational Development

A Providence-based unit of the Division for Lifelong Learning, the Institute for Leadership and Organizational Development, offers programs to improve the soft skills of middle- and upper management across all business sectors. Among its offerings are such popular training titles as “Emotional Intelligence,” “Appreciative Inquiry,” and “Who Moved My Cheese?” In its First Friday series, the institute offers free previews of programs like these at its training facilities at the CCRI Providence campus. Registration is required. For more information, contact the Institute for Leadership & Organizational Development at (401) 455-6188.