Campus Community Collaborations
Examples & Resources for Community Colleges

Since 1994 Brookhaven College and Ford Motor Company have joined forces to provide quality education experiences for Ford employees and their spouses. This educational collaboration is one of several successful projects that BrookhavenÌs Workforce/Continuing Education Division supports in the local business community. Created less than five years ago, the Workforce/Continuing Education Division actively surveys local businesses for training needs. It then works with those businesses to plan, customize and deliver courses to meet their specific demands.

Through one of these surveys, it was discovered that Ford Motor Company has an established nationwide educational program for United Automobile Workers (UAW) automotive sites and seeks partners willing to use some creative methods to satisfy the unique educational needs and interests of employees.

The educational programs are governed by the UAW-Ford National Education, Development and Training Center (NEDTC), and UAW automotive sites throughout the country are eligible to receive training money from the NEDTC. Educational benefits include tuition reimbursement for academic credit and noncredit courses and on-site learning resource centers. Each UAW employee is entitled to receive $3,100 per year for tuition reimbursement, of which $1,800 can be used for noncredit courses. Funds from the NEDTC are distributed in two ways. First, funds are distributed per individual for credit and noncredit tuition reimbursement. Tuition reimbursement applications are submitted to the NEDTC, and money vouchers are sent directly to the institution. The second method of distribution is through the UAW-Ford Skills Enhancement Program (SEP). The SEP provides the opportunity for active UAW-represented employees and their spouses to continue their education, sharpen their skills in areas such as math, reading comprehension, and computers, and receive educational advising services that could lead to mastering new skills. The SEP facility is located in the plant as close to the work site as possible. The SEP is delivered at each UAW-Ford location by an education provider from the local geographic area and is funded by the NEDTC through yearly contracts with a local accredited college (UAW-Ford EDTP Training Manual).

Brookhaven has partnered with the Dallas Ford Parts Distribution Center (PDC), which is located less than five miles from the college. At the time of the survey, individual employees were taking advantage of the tuition reimbursement plan, but the Dallas PDC was not offering on-site education to the employees. The college pursued the idea of implementing a Skills Enhancement Program for the Dallas PDC. The steps that were followed are those established by the NEDTC for all institutions requesting funding as an educational provider.

Step 1. Form an Education, Development, and Training Committee.

Identify UAW representatives and management representatives to act as the educational committee for the site. The purpose of the committee is to identify the needs of the employees and to approve budget proposals. The Dallas PDC committee includes three UAW representatives, two management representatives, and one Brookhaven College representative.

Step 2. Distribute interest surveys to employees.

Plant management allowed college personnel to personally distribute the surveys. Feedback from employees supported the establishment of an on-site educational center and was also used as input for the committee to determine educational interest

.

Step 3. Ensure local management support.

To be successful, management must be supportive of an on-site education program. We found the management philosophy to be supportive of continuing education. According to Ned LaRowe, employee relations manager for the Dallas Ford Parts Distribution Center, "Continuing education is a must in a competitive world. The auto industry is extremely competitive, and one way to assure our position in this competitive race is to have a totally educated workforce. The management is committed not just to training for skills used on the job, but also to education for the whole person."

Step 4. Submit proposal to the National Education, Development and Training Center.

The college, with the assistance of the site education committee, submits a program proposal to the NEDTC. The Brookhaven College proposal was reviewed and approved by the NEDTC.

Under the direction of Brookhaven College, the Dallas Ford PDC Skills Enhancement Program has been in operation for two years. All funding for SEP is provided by the UAW-Ford National Education, Development and Training Center and includes purchase of equipment, instructional material, instructor salaries, overhead expenses, supplies and marketing material. The on-site education center is a dedicated area within the plant and is furnished with four state-of-the-art computers, one color bubble jet printer, news magazines, newspapers, desks, chairs, reference and leisure reading materials, VCR, and monitor.

The easy part of providing on-site education was creating a physical location and purchasing training materials for the Skills Enhancement Program. Delivering on-site educational services to meet the needs and interests of employees is challenging in that the plant operates twenty-four hours, five days a week, and the majority of employees participating want classes either before or after their shift. This plant has two main shift changes, yet there are workers arriving and leaving work throughout the day. A large number of workers are scheduled from 11:00 p.m. to 7:30 a.m., yet there is another group of workers that arrive at 10:00 a.m. and leave at 7:00 p.m., and still others who arrive at 6:00 a.m. and leave at 2:00 p.m. Tailoring training sessions to meet the needs of individuals and scheduling at nontraditional hours is key to recruiting employees. The UAW-Ford National Education, Development and Training Center recognizes the twenty-four-hour work schedule and provides sufficient funding to assure instruction is available to all interested employees. Brookhaven College offers instruction as early as 5:00 a.m. and as late as 10:00 p.m. Instructional delivery methods include one-on-one tutoring, self-paced tutorials and small-group instruction. One-on-one instruction is the primary delivery method used at the Dallas PDC. Developmental reading, writing and math, GED preparation, computer software training, and Spanish skills are ongoing educational opportunities provided to employees and spouses. Other services available through the Learning Resource Center include academic counseling, financial planning seminars, assistance with filing tuition reimbursement forms, and open times for utilizing reading materials and computer work stations.

Based upon Brookhaven CollegeÌs experience with UAW and Ford, other campuses could benefit by forming alliances with local UAW sites. The partnership is one that Brookhaven values and recommends to other colleges who have a UAW automotive site nearby. We have found working with employees to be very satisfying, and the support we receive from management is outstanding. Our relationship with the Dallas PDC becomes stronger each year we serve as the education provider. Both Ford and Brookhaven College benefit from the collaboration. The first and most apparent benefit is to the UAW-Ford employees. They are receiving instruction that will be useful in all aspects of their lives at a place convenient for them. The college receives funding through Ford, above and beyond the contract amounts for general-purpose student scholarships and for training salaried employees who are not eligible for education funds under SEP.

Patty Forsyth is a Program Director for Continuing Education at Brookhaven College in Dallas, Texas. She coordinates all noncredit computer training for technical support personnel, as well as for end users of software products. Patty also promotes and organizes training partnerships with many businesses, including Ford Motor Company and Stream International. As part of the Ford Motor partnership, Patty participates in the UAW-Ford Teacher Training Conference held annually at the UAW-Ford National Education Center in Dearborn, Michigan.

Additionally, she is involved with the City of Farmers Branch Leadership Program. The Leadership Program provides participants with business networking and community involvement opportunities. Participants in the program are members of the Farmers Branch Chamber of Commerce and participate in community development programs.

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		Educational Partnerships with Business and Industry
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