Making the Financial Case for Career Academies: A Utilitys Business Case

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Making the Financial Case for Career Academies
A Utilitys Business Case

• View from DC - 2007

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The Challenge...

• More than half of todays utility workforce will
  be eligible for retirement over the next 10 years
  - US BLS
• The positions that will experience the highest
  rates of attrition over the next five years are
  those most difficult to fill Engineer
  technicians and skilled and craft employees -
  APPA
• In the utility industry the demand for
  entry-level employees is expected to grow by 9
  each year, with 10,000 new jobs becoming
  available annually by 2010 U.S. BLS
• More than half of applicants for skilled,
  entry-level positions at Utility companies lack
  the academic or basic skills required for
  employment - UBEC survey of industry CEOs

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Who is Gulf Power?

• Subsidiary of Southern Company

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Gulf Power Company

• 1,307 employees
• 394,772 retail customers 14,128 wholesale
  customers
• 5 power plant sites with
  16 units - 2 sites are jointly owned - 2,711
  MW capacity
• 159 substations/ 1,600 miles of transmission
  lines
• 6,957 miles of distribution lines (1,340
  underground)

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So What Is Our Need?

• Awareness of our careers and requirements for
  success
• A qualified, diverse workforce
• Various career entry points with various
  educational attainments
• Pipeline of students
• Core values work ethic

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Our Challenges...

• Half of our employees are retirement eligible
  coupled with increasing turnover early in job due
  to unrealistic job expectations or lack of
  abilities
• Branding our industry and careers competition
  with other industries and challenges with our
  image
• Difficulties in recruiting specific populations
• Lack of affordable housing in many areas
• Increasing training costs for new technologies/
  processes
• Huge knowledge transfer needs

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• What is a key solution?

Growing our Own through Career Academies
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Gulf Power Academy at WFHS

• First major partnership to develop qualified,
  diverse applicant pool opened August, 2001
• Based on NCCER Electrical curriculum
  articulation agreement with Pensacola Junior
  College 15 hours
• Graduated first class in May, 2005 Hired 8
• Class of 2006 Hired 6
• Significant investment of employees and resources

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What is WFHS?

• Escambia County public high school
• Standard high school core curriculum, but
  career electives replace traditional electives
• Built next to existing George Stone Technical
  Center with new high school facilities
• Only A high school in Escambia County 2005 and
  2006

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Gulf Power Partnership Includes

• Financial commitment for purchase of materials/
  equipment
• Set-up of classroom and lab with equipment,
  videos, posters, etc.
• Support of entire school through participation in
  Career Days, Open House, publicity events, and
  serving on SAC
• Guidance, support instructional assistance in
  the Gulf Power Academy (Program Advisory Council
  in classroom)
• Mentors for all students
• Senior workplace learning opportunities

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How do you spell electromagnetism?
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Time to phone a friend.
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Gulf Power Academy 10th Grade(90 minutes every
day)

• Students get Gulf Power Academy shirts!
• Overview of generation, transmission, delivery
  processes including details about key jobs, work
  conditions, salaries/ benefits, etc.
• Overview of Southern Style, performance
  management, pre-employment process
• Field trips to Plant Crist, Pine Forest, DOC
• industrial electricity curriculum (NCCER)

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NCCER Industrial Electricity Curriculum

• Electrical Safety
• Electrical Theory
• Basic Hand Power Tools
• Electrical Test Equipment
• National Electric Code
• Electrical Blueprints
• Motor Control Circuits
• Etc.

www.nccer.org
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Gulf Power Academy 11th Grade90 minutes every day

• Instruction, projects and classroom work more in
  depth on Industrial Electricity
• Gulf Power employees serve as guest instructors
• Begin Capstone Project research topic of
  interest related to electricity (build project in
  12th grade)
• Implement Mentoring Program

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Gulf Power Academy Mentoring Program

• 11th Grade Gulf Power Academy students matched
  with Gulf Power Employee at Kickoff Dinner with
  parents (consideration given to job
  responsibilities/ experience, individual
  characteristics)
• Provides students direction, guidance, and a
  direct link to one Gulf Power employee
• Provides Gulf Power an opportunity to make a
  determination about each students employability

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Gulf Power Academy 12th Grade

• Have now graduated 3 classes
• Complete NCCER Curriculum Requirements
• Build and present Capstone Project
• Take EEI Pre-Employment Tests
• Participate in BEST (Boosting Engineering
  Science Technology) Robotics Competition
• ACE (Advanced Career Experience) Program

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Advanced Career Experience (ACE)

• Hosted 17 students 2006/2007 2 days/week 8
  hrs/ day (or more depending on work group
  schedule)
• First semester group training focused on
  safety, curriculum requirements, Gulf Power and
  Southern Company information pre-employment
  testing
• Second semester- OJT in jobs of students choice
• Students have a significantly higher success rate
  on industry pre-employment tests than average
  Class of 2007 was 100 test-qualified

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Class of 2007 ACE Group
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Key Points

• Students find a family in the Gulf Power Academy
• Students are prepared to enter workforce or
  college
• In addition to FL diploma, receive a Gulf Power
  Academy certificate of completion (100), NCCER
  national certification (90), and are
  test-qualified for entry-level work in the
  industry (100)
• Recently recognized as the premier Model Small
  Learning Community in US by ACTE

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Costs of not engaging...

• Continued lack of awareness of career
  opportunities
• Continued lack of preparedness for career
  opportunities
• Loss of new employees who dont fully understand
  work or dont fit in with the culture
• Casting the net recruiting - expensive and not
  effective!
• Loss of knowledge transfer opportunities
• Loss of opportunity for employees to engage

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Replicating efforts

• At Laurel Hill School K-12 school in Okaloosa
  Co.
• Electrical and Welding programs
• Opened in August 05
• At Locklin Tech in Santa Rosa County
• Welding program partnership began in August 05
• Electrical and Construction Services to open in
  07
• WIRED 1st Generation
• replicating academies in target industries

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Continuing Challenges

• Branding our industry and technical careers
• Career and technical education squeeze funding,
  classtime and core course equivalencies
• Overcoming perceptions parents, students,
  counselors, educators, district staff, DOE,
  legislators
• Increased collaboration among workforce, economic
  development, industry and education

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Contact Information

• Jennifer Grove,
• Workforce Development Coordinator,
• Gulf Power Company
• jlgrove_at_southernco.com
• [phone]