Opportunity Centers New Model
Create Opportunity to Transform Lives
The Opportunity Centers are vibrant hubs that connect employers, community members, social services partners, and community-based agencies to PCC. Building on two decades of experience providing community workforce development services, these centers offer a new model with equity-based strategies for the college to become “student-ready”. They create a pipeline of students prepared to succeed in education and connect with career track employment.
Each of our two Opportunity Centers—at Willow Creek in Beaverton and at NE 42nd and Killingsworth in Portland—is a front door to the PCC portal of opportunity. We have on-site system partners such as WorkSource (WSPM), Job Corps, Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS), Oregon Commission for the Blind, and Multnomah County Health Department, as well as community-based organizations (CBO) such as the Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA), Community Action and Urban League. By situating some of our staff in other WorkSource and Department of Human Services offices, participating in community events, and collaborating closely with CBO partners to engage their participants, we take PCC’s front door to where the most marginalized and underrepresented populations are in need of a better job, training, and education.
New non-credit programming drives interest in industries that offer living wage career tracks. We also offer college and career readiness for adult learners who may not feel ready to step foot on campus yet. Training and Education Specialists provide individualized support to prospective students, assisting them in creating academic or career-based plans and connecting with the PCC teams who can help them enroll and succeed.
At both of our Opportunity Centers, the model allows us to integrate resources from grants and contracts and leverage relationships with community partners to create a web of support that helps people succeed and move out of poverty.
- Launch Willow Creek Opportunity Center ad-hoc space committee – June 2022 through July 2023
- Offer program “meet & greets” for future on-site partners of the Opportunity Center at NE 42nd and Killingsworth – December 2022 through August 2023
- Integrate and coordinate with recruiting and admissions teams to recruit prospective students and support transition from career and college preparation programs to PCC credit and non-credit programs – June 2022 through December 2023
- Build a plan with Career Pathways (CP) to create smooth transitions to CP programs, including IETs – September 2022 through December 2023
- Collaborate with PCC Foundation, employers, and funders to create a scholarship fund for Opportunity Center students transitioning into PCC programs – September 2022 through December 2023
- On-going team professional development to increase skills in assisting people to transition into education and economic mobility – September 2022 through June 2023
- 欧洲杯决赛竞猜app_欧洲杯足球网-投注|官网 concept for AI Incubator Literacy Lab, with the Artificial Intelligence and Cultural Computing faculty cohort. Work with PCC’s Planning and Capital Construction to develop cost estimates and, with the support of the PCC Foundation, identify gap funding and create lab – September 2021 through June 2024
- Conduct outreach to community-based organizations and culturally-specific networking groups and nonprofits to build trust and spread the word about programming – January 2021 through December 2023
Opportunity Center Successes
The Opportunity Centers attended 94 community events, CBO partner staff meetings, resource fairs, and networking events between July 2022 and May 2023
- Launch new web pages – January 2021 through January 2022
- Launched data tracking system – October 2020 through April 2023
- Create quarterly and annual report template – March 2022 through July 2022
Opportunity Center Successes
The Opportunity Center newsletter is sent to 1,500 individuals in over 140 community-based organizations.
- Collaborate with faculty and staff to develop course content for Discover (on-ramp) courses in fields that lead to family-wage careers: manufacturing, healthcare, technology, and the trades – November 2020 through June 2021
- Work with academic programs, funders, and employers to develop and launch the Quick Start to Semiconducting to engage more women and people of color in the semiconductor industry – November 2021 through Summer 2023
- Create affinity-based strategies to create a welcoming space and expose specific communities to careers with economic mobility – September 2022 to December 2023
- Design and pilot Explore series for Immigrants and Refugees – March 2022 through August 2022
- 欧洲杯决赛竞猜app_欧洲杯足球网-投注|官网ment of additional non-credit workshops to build skills and momentum, including VR career exploration, math, and reading/writing boot camps – September 2022 through June 2024