Workforce and Community Programs – What a Year!

It is a weird phenomenon when you’re looking at your calendar and start scheduling work meetings and social engagements in 2022! Especially this year, it seems like 2021 went by so fast. This feeling is no different at Arapahoe Community College’s (ACC) Workforce and Community Programs Department (WCP), we flew through this year. We started 2021 with our whole team working from home, we slowly started to come back to campus and by summer most of our staff was in our offices working away. Our ACC community members who take classes with us went through the same transition. Spring 2021 community classes were all virtual, Summer 2021 we started to bring a select few back to an in person format, and by Fall 2021 the vast majority of our programming was back on campus. This year our community enjoyed programming in so many different fields we often wonder if everyone knows what’s available.

Did you know we had over 1000 community members take our community education programming in 2021?

• 200 students enjoyed a Personal Finance course, which include Retirement Planning courses, and Real Estate Investing.
• More than 130 people signed up to take an Arts and Humanities course ranging from joining an ensembles or private lesson, all the way to sitting in on a painting or knitting course.
• A whopping 150 ACC Students are part of what we call our Equine Community, as they took a Equine Training and Management course.
• 50 community members got help with Adult Basic Education topics like English as a Second or Other Language, and GED preparation.
• Another 50 community members came to ACC to learn a new language, or brush up on an old one.
• Nearly 70 individuals took their BLS Provider or Heartsaver CPR certifications with us, or took a EMS refresher course.
• We had 34 students go through our 18-week coding bootcamps which is an amazing online program that provides real world industry training and boasts an over 80% job placement rate!
• 35 students went through our fantastic Virtual Work Readiness program in conjunction with Arapahoe Douglas Works! This program provides people with a laptop and teaches them how to use it in case they get hired on to a remote job, with out any prior experience working remotely.
• Nearly 200 middle and high school aged students came to ACC’s Littleton Campus this summer and enjoyed our Summer Youth Camps!

Did you know WCP doesn’t just serve the community, but we also serve our surrounding workforce, with workforce training options?

• Our Apprenticeship team helped nearly 40 individuals go through a registered Apprenticeship Program. Now I know this may not seem like a lot, but that means 40 people got a degree/certificate from ACC while also getting a Job from an employer partner. This job is not just for the time they are in school but exists beyond their education, so it is a start of a career path. All by paying little to no tuition as a part of our earn while you learn model.
• Our Career Forward specialist helped over 150 students with a COVID impact receive scholarship funds, one-on-one counseling, and career focused workshops.
• Our business development coordinator was able to work with roughly 10 local small to medium sized businesses to provide Contract and Customized Training.

As you can see, at WCP we serve individuals and businesses with the same top-tier curriculum and attention that ACC does with their degree seeking students. You don’t have to earn or degree or certificate to be part of the ACC community. All you need is a passion for life long learning and chances are ACC has a class that can help you foster that passion.