General goals
With a signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by both parties, the National Network for the Transportation Workforce (NNTW) and the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE) agreed to form a collaborative working partnership to advance their common interests and initiatives, create opportunities for underserved populations, and promote an increasingly skilled and resilient workforce to meet the needs of the transportation sector in the coming decades.
Duration
Status: Ongoing
Anticipated Partnership Duration: September 2015 – Center lifetime
Timeline and Overview
SWTWC Team Member Fran Beauman began conducting outreach with NAPE in August 2016. NAPE is a consortium of state and local agencies, corporations, and national organizations whose mission is to increase student access, educational equity, and workforce diversity by building educators’ capacity to implement effective solutions through professional development, technical assistance, research and evaluation, and advocacy.
With this collaborating partnership, both partners agree to establish a formal working arrangement to:
- Establish a representative point of contact between NAPE and the NNTW;
- Meet (in-person or virtually) at least annually;
- Link NAPE members expressing desire to connect with industry partners to advance efficacy of education and training programs;
- Provide support on national and regional event(s) to promote or advance the common goal; and
- Collaborate on joint educational and industry outreach via webinars or other projects.
The MOU was signed on October 24, 2016.
With the MOU, NAPE and the NNTW have designed and implemented a survey to identify and highlight transportation education and training program’s associated with NAPE. The education and training programs will be added to the NNTW’s national and regional compendium, and be publicly accessed on the national and regional websites. The survey and compendium will serve to connect stakeholders; such as educators, students, researchers, and industry professionals from different sectors of transportation; empower stakeholders to identify innovative transportation education and training programs; help the NNTW and regional centers determine future transportation workforce needs; develop effective career pathways to regional priority occupations; and sustain a skilled and successful transportation workforce.
Key Deliverables
- Signed MOU between NAPE and the NNTW
- Education and training programs associated with NAPE added to SWTWC.org “Resource Center”
- Support for education and training programs to connect and build partnerships with industry professionals
Anticipated Outcomes
This MOU provides the foundation for NAPE and the NNTW to formally engage in a collaborating partnership, and work toward common goals to promote equal access to and equity in educational opportunities in transportation and the development of a skilled and career-ready transportation workforce. NAPE and the NNTW anticipate that the collaborating partnership will result in the following:
- Creating opportunities for underserved populations in the transportation workforce
- Identifying critical needs and developing strategies to meet those needs
- Providing regional and national data, indicators, and forecasts
- Promoting successes – regional, organizational, and individual
- Tracking industry growth and trends
- Demonstrating benefits for career pathways, partnerships, and innovative approaches
- Recruiting and retention efforts to attract existing and future workforce; including youth, veterans, women, and underserved populations
- Connecting educators and industry leaders across the continuum to introduce and advance program efficacy to fill current and future workforce needs in transportation
Contribution Analysis
- SWTWC conducted outreach with NAPE for months.
- SWTWC coordinated meetings until the MOU was signed by the NNTW regional center directors and NAPE.
- SWTWC coordinated all survey efforts; including conception, design, implementation, and collating results.
Documentation
National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (signed Memorandum of understanding, October 24, 2016) with the National Network for the Transportation Workforce.
SWTWC. (2016). “The NNTW’s Education and Training Program Survey.” Retrieved from https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SWTWC-education-training-programs.