Instructors for Advanced Manufacturing

Decades of disinvestment in CTE programs, centuries of systemic racism, evolving skills requirements to access manufacturing jobs, and massive workforce shortages in the manufacturing sector are all combining to offer a moment of great opportunity: building a more inclusive, advanced manufacturing workforce.

Connecting future of work opportunities in critical sectors, like manufacturing, with the employment needs of low-income and BIPOC communities hinges on effective education, training, and job placement provided by excellent teachers, instructors, and program administrators across educational institutions, nationally. 

IAM seeks to expand the pool of qualified and talented instructors needed to engage, inspire, and teach young people so they are able to pursue and persist in high-wage, high-road career pathways in the advanced manufacturing sector. 

Scaled, IAM would provide communities with leaders who could serve as connectors between workforce training organizations, educational institutions, neighborhoods, and manufacturing businesses -- all building towards filling 2.4 million manufacturing positions.

Disinvestment in CTE programs, changes in skills requirements for entry-level jobs, and a severe shortage of teachers, instructors, and program administrators has led to a broken pathway between communities who need high-wage jobs with career pathways and manufacturing businesses who provide them and desperately need qualified employees. 

Chicago alone, where IAM was piloted from 2016-2020, had 58,000 open manufacturing jobs in 2018. At the same time, 88% of Black and 85% of Latinx youth, ages 16-19, and 59% of Black and 37% of Latinx young adults, ages 20-24, were jobless.

Zooming out, according to Deloitte, the US is looking at 2.4 million unfilled manufacturing positions between 2018-2028. Simultaneously, EPI showed that in Q2 2020, Black workers had the highest unemployment rate nationally at 17.4%, followed by Latinx workers (at 16.9%). 

Even in 2010, the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Educational Consortium found manufacturing is “experiencing [one of] the highest teacher shortages in 2010,” with an 81% shortage of teachers of manufacturing skills. 

A missing lynchpin to meet the scale of this challenge is instructors. IAM develops pedagogically, technically, and culturally competent instructors who connect communities to high-tech, high-wage manufacturing jobs.

IAM trains teachers, instructors, and program administrators in industry needs, changes in technology, and culturally sensitive, pedagogical skills. These instructors provide high-quality instruction to and advocate for manufacturing career paths in underestimated communities.

IAM curriculum includes technical, pedagogical, cultural, and advocacy training for instructors, and is implemented by three organizations over the course of 36 weeks: National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS); Manufacturing Renaissance (MR); and Chicago Teachers Union Foundation (CTUF).

Through IAM, instructors: (1) earn NIMS credentials, building skills and knowledge of the field; (2) learn pedagogically and culturally competent strategies from CTUF so they can relate to and skill up students; and (3) connect with students, learn how promote manufacturing as a career, and have a supportive network of peers through MR.

IAM was piloted in Chicago in 2016-2019. The next iteration of IAM will broaden our pilot to additional cities, leveraging the expertise of two national partners, Century Foundation (TCF) and Urban Manufacturing Alliance (UMA). Together, these five partners will recreate the local ecosystem needed to support IAM. Finally, TCF and UMA will document and disseminate the process and outcomes, understanding the policies that must exist alongside the program to make real change and replicate IAM further.

IAM was originally developed by a math teacher, a machining instructor, and a workforce development administrator. Knowing the critical role teachers play to inspire (or diminish) a student’s enthusiasm, MR, CTUF, and NIMS developed and piloted IAM in direct response to their years of working with and as instructors in high schools struggling to help connect youth to life-changing career paths in manufacturing. 

Few teachers are left in school systems who understand modern manufacturing careers, much less have the technical skills and relationships with employers needed to connect their students with meaningful work experiences and job placements. Furthermore, even fewer have both the technical skills and the cultural and pedagogical relevance to truly connect with and inspire their students, who may never have been exposed to or considered a career in manufacturing.

IAM represents a solution to inspire and prepare today’s educators and workforce professionals who will then inspire the next generation of talent in the advanced manufacturing sector. IAM will provide locally-relevant training and educational experience that can prepare community-oriented teachers, instructors, and administrators to build, teach, and animate manufacturing career pathway programs, effective at engaging youth and adults to pursue and persist in manufacturing career paths.

According to Deloitte, the US is looking at 2.4 million unfilled manufacturing positions between 2018-2028. Simultaneously, EPI showed that in Q2 2020, Black workers had the highest unemployment rate nationally at 17.4%, followed by Latinx workers at 16.9%. IAM’s solution unites these two opportunities by bringing together education providers, workforce development programs, and diverse job seekers by creating technically, pedagogically, and culturally competent instructors to match manufacturing industry needs. IAM’s partners build supportive ecosystems that connect students, service providers, businesses, policymakers, educators, and others to create advanced manufacturing career pathways that build generational wealth in local neighborhoods.

The team lead is Erica Staley, CEO of Manufacturing Renaissance, and supported strongly as co-team lead Andrew Stettner, Senior Fellow of The Century Foundation. There will be a new hire for a fellow to join the team to run the project's overall coordination and program research. We will be working with several partners and sub-contractors including CTU and Urban Manufacturing Alliance.

At The Century Foundation, we stand for equity and justice for all. We believe that diversity is a strength. We develop solutions using rigorous research and evidence. We value our intellectual independence. We believe the government plays an indispensable role in improving people’s lives. 

At TCF, we currently offer sexual harassment trainings to all staff, but we plan to do more staff engagement on racial equity practice at work including DEI training. DEI is a key goal in our strategic plan. 

Our DEI goals are two-pronged:

1) Value and lift the voices of those who have traditionally been excluded from policy making to inform our research, work, events, public presentations; be part of our staff, board, partnerships, etc.

2) Build a pipeline of diverse leaders to change the face of policymakers of the future (staff development, Summer Scholars, Next100)

The skills gap is often framed as the responsibility of the worker; the onus is on them to find the right kind of training for jobs, some of which they may not even know exist.

However, the truth is, if we had 2 million people, or even 2,000 in an individual community, wake up tomorrow and demand training in advanced manufacturing, our system couldn’t handle it. We, as a society, haven’t done the work to make sure there are enough teachers, programs, and supports that make it possible for people to get the skills to get these jobs. 

More specifically, we haven’t created the educational or training infrastructure to create the instructors who will inspire and train the next generation of manufacturing employees. 

Our solution, IAM, reframes the skills gap, moving the responsibility upstream. IAM starts to build the necessary infrastructure to create technically, culturally, and pedagogically competent instructors, who look like and come from the same community as the students they teach.  

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For workers without a college degree (60 percent of the US workforce), jobs in manufacturing pay $150 more per week. Major cities like Chicago have tens of thousand unfilled factory job openings, with the largest group requiring only a high school degree and short-term job training. But urban BIPOC communities are not taking advantage of these opportunities because our educational system has failed to prepare them with the fundamental and applied skills to do so, and because communities scarred from deindustrialization look askance at manufacturing. The American educational system is awakening to the need to rebuild career education programs in schools and the community--and organizations from more than twenty cities applied to be part of our industry and inclusion partnership funded by the Lumina Foundation. Educational programs can put young people into a pathway where they can earn a living right out of high school (or for adults returning from the criminal justice system or unemployment), while having the opportunity to continue their education through an apprenticeship, college degree, build wealth and push against the racial wealth gap. 

However, this logic model is breaking down because the lack of qualified, cultural competent instructors.  In simple terms, the cars are starting to be built--i.e. revitalized career education programs in high schools, the community, through apprenticeships, pre-apprenticeships and community colleges.--but there are not enough drivers for those cars. IAM fills that gap by giving enterprising instructors exposure to industry-recognized credentials attuned to the future of work, as well as cultural competent pedagogical approaches. The genius of IAM is that it leverages the existing teacher professional education system in major cities (especially the part of that system that is built in partnership with teacher unions) to tackle this challenge. Upon establishing the program in new cities, graduates will populate growing industrial programs inside and outside public education. This with thus allow these programs to expand further to meet the needs of employers, and creating a virtuous cycle of instructor development and training for careers in advanced manufacturing. 

Our goal is to close the gap between the 2.4m manufacturing job openings and the high unemployment rate of Black and Brown communities by filling the former with qualified candidates from the latter.

After piloting IAM, we plan to scale using a hybrid of our current, hands-on approach and a modular, tech-based platform that can be replicated by local workforce development organizations across the country. Each instructor training component (technical, pedagogical, cultural, advocacy) would be evaluated for the type of platform best suited to its desired impact and format. For example, the technical training can already be done online, whereas the cultural competency training is more relationship-based and would need to remain a more hands-on approach. We envision this hybrid model standing on its own, supported by the current and new partners, each providing their expertise to the relevant component(s).

Once the hybrid model is designed, we will leverage the national networks of The Century Foundation and the Urban Manufacturing Alliance (which combined reach thousands of manufacturing practitioners) to disseminate and replicate this idea nationally. These stakeholders include workforce development agencies; local, state, and federal governmental agencies; community colleges; K-12 educators; vocational institutions; layoff aversion programs; technology companies; industry leaders; and many more.

IAM faces two major cultural barriers.

First, manufacturing perpetually faces a perception issue: that it is dirty, dangerous, repetitive, boring, despite many efforts by industry leaders and others. Even though the sheen of the College Promise is fading, many students, parents, teachers, guidance counselors, and elected officials still do not promote manufacturing or the skilled trades as first-rate options for careers. Even with 2.4m job openings and high-wage career paths on the table, many communities continue to avoid the opportunities in the manufacturing sector.

Second, and similarly, becoming a CTE teacher is not a discipline that attracts a lot of qualified candidates. There often are not clear certifications to become a CTE instructor; even if there are, they are not always transferable to other districts or states; further, there is no career path within CTE. On top of that, the pay is often not commensurate with staying in industry -- so often those with the technical skills who could teach, choose not to. 

In a single word: partnerships. Both with large-scale partners, like MIT Solve, Morgridge, New Profits, and others, but also local communities, led by our workforce development organization partners. They already bring together often silo-ized groups, like schools, industry, faith-informed communities, parents, instructors, and more, building strong supportive ecosystems that can continue to change the perception of manufacturing as a career path.

The data we would love to collect is more systemic, focused on long-term change. For example, we want to understand:

• How has the instructors’ own perceptions of manufacturing changed between the start of the program to when they finish?

• Does having more CTE instructors in the system equate to more student participating in CTE programs, or more schools implementing those programs?

• Are schools offering new classes or programs as a result of having trained instructors?

• Did companies add more on-the-job training opportunities or apprenticeships in industry or within the workforce development/education system?

IAM is housed within The Century Foundation, but is a partnership between TCF, the Urban Manufacturing Alliance, the Chicago Teachers Union Federation, Manufacturing Renaissance, and the National Institute of Metalworking Skills.

IAM was originally developed by a math teacher, a machining instructor, and a workforce development administrator. Knowing the critical role teachers play to inspire (or diminish) a student’s enthusiasm, MR, CTUF, and NIMS developed and piloted IAM in direct response to their years of working with and as instructors in high schools struggling to help connect youth to life-changing career paths in advanced manufacturing. 

National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS) credentials are earned by students, trainees, apprentices, employees, and military personnel nationwide and around the world. NIMS credentials secure a competitive edge when applying for jobs because they demonstrate that skills meet the industry established standards.

The Chicago Teachers Union Foundation (CTUF) is the premier professional development provider supporting over 20,000 Chicago Public School educators for the past 30 years. CTUF assists educators by designing thoughtful professional development offerings that teach current and well-established educational best practices and social-emotional skills and strategies including focus on maintaining culturally responsive, restorative, and trauma-sensitive learning environments for all.

Manufacturing Renaissance works to advance sustainable development anchored in manufacturing through diverse partnerships to develop programmatic prototypes that leverage the manufacturing sector as a strategic vehicle for reducing poverty, expanding inclusion, and sustaining middle-class communities. MR programs include providing training, job placements and retention support for in-school youth and underemployed BIPOC young adults and the support and retention of the local ownership of manufacturing companies.

The Century Foundation’s High Wage America project began in 2017 to help traditional manufacturing communities revitalized advanced manufacturing as a heart of their 21st century regional economies.  TCF, and it’s Senior Fellow Andrew Stettner (who joined TCF in 2016) has led the Industry and Inclusion cohort, which is uniting best in class future of work providers and this coalition is situated to serve as a spawning ground for IAM and a laboratory for systematic change around career education.

In addition to NIMS, MR, and CTUF, this iteration of the IAM pilot will include The Century Foundation and the Urban Manufacturing Alliance as national-level partners to document and disseminate the work.

The Century Foundation is a progressive, independent think tank that conducts research, develops solutions, and drives policy change that make people’s lives better. TCF pursues economic, racial, and gender equity in fields like health care, education, and work. Over the past three years, TCF has led the High Wage America project which demonstrated that a globally competitive advanced manufacturing sector is key to the successful recovery of regional economies, especially in the industrial heartland. 

The Urban Manufacturing Alliance is a national coalition of manufacturing practitioners who serve making and manufacturing businesses of all sizes across the country. UMA believes manufacturing is a wealth-building strategy through production jobs, business ownership, and entrepreneurship. UMA and our network strives to remove barriers so that people from all backgrounds can access these opportunities and build generational wealth for their communities.

The immediate customers of the IAM program are teachers interested in delivering advancing manufacturing education, and the organizations they are placed. In the initial years, expanding IAM will depend on a local sponsor organization that will adapt the IAM model in their cities, and serve as a hub for multiple programs seeking advanced manufacturing instructors. In other words, are model is akin to a franchise. We have developed a prototype that can be adapted to other cities in ways that fit that geography, and depends on a lead franchisee to put into action. Like a franchise IAM believes that we have a consistent product, and solid pedagogy, that can be applied to different markets and continually adapted alongside changes in industry. To that point, we go into this nation stage with the idea that Industry is also a key ultimate customer, and our challenge is to develop relevant effective training and education that delivers companies the workers of the future. So everything done at IAM from instructor work-experiences with companies to utilization of industry recognized credentials has an educational structure that serves industry. 

At TCF, we work with Foundations, Individuals and other partners to get support for our work. We have a portfolio of 35 major funding institutions and several major donors in our pipeline that engage with us and support our work on an ongoing basis. We also get event sponsorships and our investments, and our endowment are the main sources of financial sustainability and carry our work forward. Our endowment revenue covers about 40% of annual expenses. Between Foundational support, individual and corporate giving, we've been able to fund as well as expand programs.  We've also increased staff by 30% (32 to 42 full-time employees) over the last 4 years.

The future of IAM lies with institutionalization, through teacher continuing education and ultimately an accredited college class. At that point, teachers will be able to enter into IAM and support through financial aid and continuing education funding. In addition, we will look for industry and public support for our lead agencies engaging in IAM. Recurring public or industry support is the ultimate goal for organization engaged in our Industry & Inclusion cohort, graduating from philanthropic dollars to sustainable funding. 

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We are seeking $625,000 to advance these efforts. This funding will help with the expansion of program to new cities, funding for lead agency and training in two cities. It will also give us the opportunity for learning and evaluation and over all coordination of the program and research. We will be working with several partners to expand into different cities. We will also be hiring a project Fellow at TCF to manage the project.

We will need $138,478 in personnel costs and $400,000 in partnerships and contracts. We will also need 15% indirect cost will will all add up to $625,000.

TCF expected expenses for 2021 are $8.5M for the entire organization budget.

According to Deloitte, the US is looking at 2.4 million unfilled manufacturing positions between 2018-2028. Simultaneously, EPI showed that in Q2 2020, Black workers had the highest unemployment rate nationally at 17.4%, followed by Latinx workers (at 16.9%). In 2010, the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Educational Consortium found manufacturing is “experiencing [one of] the highest teacher shortages in 2010,” with an 81% shortage of teachers of manufacturing skills. 

IAM unites this confluence of challenges by creating technically, pedagogically, and culturally competent instructors to match manufacturing industry needs. IAM’s partners build supportive ecosystems that connect students, service providers, businesses, policymakers, educators, and others to create advanced manufacturing career pathways that build generational wealth in local neighborhoods.

Scaled, our hybrid training model of virtual and hands-on learning will bring together education providers, workforce development programs, manufacturing businesses, and diverse job seekers to fill the huge demand for advanced manufacturing jobs.

The instructor apprenticeship is a curriculum and approach that can be scaled to other communities. The ultimate goal is an accredited course that teachers can take online and gain college credits.

At the time of this submission, we have had interest expressed from three local partners to run pilots in Chicago, Cleveland, and Detroit. In each city we go into to run this program, we need a strong workforce-oriented partner who can bring together the local ecosystem of stakeholders. While TCF, UMA, TCF, MR, and NIMS have the structure and curriculum prepared and ready to execute, the local partner will be key in getting stakeholders to the table, such as the instructors themselves, key governmental partners, and other funders to support the work.

The partners include Manufacturing Renaissance and Jane Addams Resource Corporation in Chicago; LIFT in Detroit; and MAGNET in Cleveland.