Recruiting Women into Nontraditional Careers at Central Lakes College Brainerd and Staples campuses

1. Recruiting Women intoNontraditional CareersatCentral Lakes CollegeBrainerd and Staples campuses

2. Geri Pohlkamp Career Projects Coordinator gpohlkam@clcmn.edu Kim Pilgrim Associate Director, META-5 Displaced Homemaker Program, A Women Work! Affiliate kpilgrim@clcmn.edu Presenters

3. Minnesota

4. Duluth Staples Brainerd Minneapolis/St. Paul

5. What we do • Career Workshops for Women • Career Exploration Camp • 2000 • Pathway to Nontraditional Careers • 2001 • Focus on Nontraditional Careers • 2002

6. Who we serve • Single parents • Displaced homemakers • Low-income women • Limited education beyond high school • No high school diploma • Nontraditional in age

7. Barriers to education • Belief system • Support systems • Financial Situation • Walking through the college door • Negative home life and self-talk

9. Where we get the participants • Women Work! clients • Workforce Center clients • Current college students who are unsure of their career • Public advertising • Newspaper • Radio • High school students • Brochure distribution

10. How we do it • One day of information awareness • Two days of business tours relating to the classroom careers they will be experiencing • Two days of hands-on classroom experience

11. Day One:Information Awareness Day • Specific program information is presented • Description of support services available at the college • Financial Aid information • Process of application and enrollment

12. Days Two and Three:Business Tours • Tour businesses relating to the careers participants will experience on their hands-on days • Former graduates and program advisory council members are used when available • Small group tours – no more than 8 women

13. Days Four and Five:Hands-on classroom experience • Participants spend six hours in classrooms working on projects and gathering information about each program • Each participant experiences two different careers

14. Hands-on classroom experience • Carefully choose the instructors • Female when you can • Put time and effort into this part • Participants should be able to take something home from each career area they experience – something they made

15. First part of classroom day … • Instructors should explain the career • Job opportunities • Placement rates • Expected wages • Where the jobs are • Safety issues • Show and explain the machines and tools

16. Second part of classroom day ... • Instructors and classroom helpers (former graduates or work-study students) assist participants in their projects. Participants actually do the project themselves. They fully experience the career program.

17. Welding • Design a project, draw it on CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machine • Program CNC to cut out the design from a sheet of steel on the plasma cutter • Grind the cut-out to smooth the edges • Weld the pieces together

18. Drawing the design

19. Cutting out the design

20. Grinding the cutout to smooth the edges

21. Using the Press Brake

22. Welding

23. The final project

24. Auto Body Repair and Painting • Students learned about mixing paints and different kinds of paint and fillers

25. They chose colors and painted sheets of steel • Some painted their projects from Welding

26. Participants were able to put the final touches on this car that was repaired and painted at the college

27. Engineering • All aspects of engineering were described via a computer program

28. Science • Participants mixed chemicals and conducted experiments • Homemade soap was made by some participants

29. Science • Participants completed experiments with chemicals, dry ice, rocks, and burners

30. Computer Careers

31. Computer Careers • Participants took apart a computer, looked at all the parts, identified them and then put the computer back together. It had to work when they were done.

32. Each participant received a computer took kit

33. Additional Career Programs Program participation is determined by availability of instructors and enrollment options for students

34. Horticulture and Landscaping • Participants built a retaining wall, planted shrubs, worked in our greenhouse transplanting plants and shrubs • Participants were able to take shrubs and plants home with them. Some made floral arrangements too.

35. Automotive Technician • Participants learned how to change oil and change a tire • They learned how the transmission works and they learned how the motor works • The participants were able to connect vehicles to the computer to diagnose problems • Participants took car tool kits home with them

36. Mechanical Drafting • Participants were shown the process of drawing a design - blueprints, programming the computer for Machine Trades and making the product that was designed. • Participants took home their blueprints

37. Machine Trades • Each participants cut out two cubes from a block of steel • Dice were made from the cubes through drilling and grinding

38. Law Enforcement • Workshop participants learned how to dust for fingerprints • Participants conducted Field Sobriety Tests on each other • Breathalizer testing • Organic Analysis – Crime Lab

39. Continued Support • We can’t give these women hope for their future during the workshop and then forget about them when it is over

40. We continue with: • one-on-one support • referrals to the appropriate resources • counseling • career advising • social program information • being there for them when they need someone to talk to or discuss their educational options.

41. Statistics • 110 women have attended in three years • 60 women enrolled in college (55%) • 27 women (of the 60) enrolled in nontraditional career programs (45%) • 50% of participants enrolled in other career programs or liberal arts program at CLC • 5% have enrolled in other area colleges

42. How much does this cost?

43. Amount spent each year • 2002 (38 women) • $8,360 • 2001 (31 women) • $6,895 • 2000 (41 women) • $9,047

44. Budget Items Where the money is spent. . .

45. Instructors • Between $150 and $250 per day per instructor. Include fringe benefits in budget • Cost has gone up over the last three years. Pay is based on average pay per instructor at our college. They must work during their summer vacation so pay is increased slightly compared to their regular salary.

46. Advertising • $150 per newspaper (2 runs) • Used six area newspapers • Brochures • Cost varies from about $500 to $1,000 • Varies if professionally developed or if we develop it

47. Food • Approx. $12.00 per person per day • Snacks in the morning, lunch and afternoon snack • Transportation • Bussing – approx. $500

48. Classroom Supplies – approx. $2,000 • Tool kits • Steel • Chemicals • Paper • Plants and shrubs • Paint • Miscellaneous, etc.

49. Career test booklets and supplies • Approximately $600 • Inspirational/Motivational Speaker • $300 to $600

50. Funding • Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technology Education Act of 1998 grant funds • Women Work! Affiliate (Meta-5) • College support through staff time and in-kind funds • Private Foundation Grant (Bremer Foundation) • School-to-Work Grant funds