Obama Gets It: Proposes $8 Billion To Help Community Colleges Meet Local Employment Needs

I admit I get a bit of a thrill exploring places where I'm probably not supposed to be...particularly empty and dark parts of buildings. So I kind of enjoyed calling in on a White House press conference call. Now if you're gonna say "Uh...you're totally allowed to do that." My response would be to you "Hush up, now! You're ruining my fun!" It sure as heck FELT exciting.

The receptionist person was all like "And what news organization are you with sir?"

"News organization? I....of course...I'm with Muskegon Critic." **TEE HEE HEE** I told her I'm a NEWS ORGANIZATION...MUAAA HA HA HA HA HA HAAA! AAAHHHH HA HA HA HA HAAAAAA....

"Hold on a moment, let me patch you in...."

AHA! My cunning disguise as an actual DC reporter mucky muck was successful! And I didn't even have to wear pants! The FOOLS!

As I sat outside in my living room I listened in on the deepest darkest, darkest, filthiest secrets the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Education were wiling to share in this here press conference. Stuff like "The president's budget proposes 8 billion dollars for community colleges to partner with businesses to provide training in job skills that are in demand."

The new fund, announced at an event at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Va., would support community college-based training programs that would expand training to meet the needs of employers in high-growth sectors, provide workers with the latest certified training and skills, and invest in registered apprenticeships and other on-the-job training opportunities.

The fund would also support paid internships for low-income community college students that would allow them to simultaneously earn credit for work-based learning and gain relevant employment experience.

This, of course, is huge. It's particularly critical for communities hit with a massive upheaval and transformation in how their economies function, such as manufacturing communities. Within the space of just a few years people have lost high paying jobs jobs where they'd been most of their lives and were either thrust into low wage jobs or they now have no jobs at all. It's a trend that's been going on for decades, and has come to a fine point in the past half decade.

A lot of manufacturing communities once offered jobs for folks right out of high school...and in many instances jobs right out of 9th grade. So there's often a low level of higher degree holders, and a low level of skilled labor. That's a problem.

For example...on the national level, about 39% of Americans over 25 have an Associate's degree or higher. Muskegon County, a historically industrial region, is almost half that 22% holding an Associates degree or higher.

In addition to there being a reduction of jobs overall, the drag on the local economy here is exacerbated by the fact that a low percentage of workers have the skill set many modern businesses need. So industrial regions are at a competitive disadvantage.

The local community college is sort of the forefront of the effort to bring the workforce up to speed AFFORDABLY and in direct response to and in communication with the needs of local businesses.

This is something THIS administration understands. The direct infusion of cash to help community colleges connect with businesses and create programs and curriculums that train people to meet the needs of local employers is ENORMOUS. And it's a clear sign our President GETS it.

High School Kids Discover Not One But Two, Century Old Ship Wrecks in Lake Huron

I'm a huge fan of discovery in our back yards. Looking in a familiar place and finding something new and exciting right under your nose. It's even more compelling to me that these types of discoveries are far more accessible than the discoveries in exotic, distant places. When I hear about a farmer plowing his field and he unearths evidence of an ancient people. That's exciting.

Or in this case...when some high school kids find not one, but TWO century old shipwrecks in Lake Huron near their own homes. That's pure good right there.

This quote from Tirrea Billings wells me up.

"I'm so used to, you know, being in the class room and being in one place and just being here. But when, like, I got to go out there and experience all this different technology and things that I never even heard of, it made me realize that there's so much that the world has to offer..."

The kids were selected from Arthur Hill High School Saginaw, Michigan, to be part of a documentary about ship wreck exploration. Saginaw, like many of the industrial parts of Michigan, has been hit hard over the past decade by the decline and flight of manufacturing...they've been languishing for a very long time.

It's exciting to see some attempts made to show kids in that region that there's still a big, unexplored world of possibility waiting out there for them. And it's right next door.

Republican policies push higher education further out of reach for middle class

Average college tuition in Michigan has now crossed the $10,000 mark, weighing in at $10,416. Add to that number a $10,000 for living expenses, and the average college expense costs $20,416 per year. How's that for putting college ever further out of reach for low income families? Not exactly in line with reinventing Michigan, is it?

All this after years of stagnant middle class incomes.

Thank the Michigan legislature for slashing state aid to colleges every year for a decade, balancing the state budget on the backs of our future...

...and of course Governor Rick Snyder just slashed state funding to universities by ANOTHER 15%, but ONLY if the school promises not to raise tuition by more than 7%. If a school raises its tuition by more than 7.1% it will see even MORE cuts of up to 22%.

On June 21, 2011, Governor Rick Snyder signed HB 4325 (PA 62 of 2011) into law. It contains a 15 percent across-the-board cut in state operating support for Michigan’s 15 public universities, provided the universities keep FY 2011–12 tuition/fee increases to 7.1% or less. Those universities that fail to meet the tuition restraint requirements will see cuts ranging from 19 percent to 22 percent.