CNM joins national cohort of colleges working at refining workforce programs

A slowing labor market and the rise of artificial intelligence will likely change the workforce in the coming years.

That’s why Central New Mexico Community College is teaming up with more than a dozen other community colleges in a newly formed Community College Workforce Transformation & Implementation Cohort from think tank New America, which has a focus on improving workforce development at public education institutions across the country.

“We know that learning from the prior cohorts of colleges and the work that New America has put together, we thought there was further guidance and refined guidance (that) could really slingshot us forward to better serve our learners and our employers here in central New Mexico,” CNM President Tracy Hartzler told the Journal.

For CNM, joining the cohort will help the college look at the planning and delivery of its current workforce programs and refine them using data-driven tools, Hartzler said. New America will also help CNM with improving financing strategies for its programs — something that can better help efforts in meeting the needs of local employers.

Hartzler said the lessons learned through participating in this cohort can also aid other local partner colleges in workforce training. CNM is part of the Collaborative for Higher Education Shared Services, which includes Clovis Community College, Northern New Mexico College, Santa Fe Community College and others.

“If we can refine the recipe, I think we’ll be able to have a greater impact, again on our immediate community but I also think we’ll be able to share our lessons with our other partners,” she said.

The new cohort, announced this month, comes as experts predict massive disruption in the workforce as companies begin to streamline their operations with AI technologies.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an international consortium of countries that includes the United States, estimates that jobs with the highest risk of automation make up nearly 30% of the workforce globally.

That’s a point Hartzler is well aware of.

“We know that training that we have today isn’t sufficient, one, for upward mobility for an individual, but two, many roles can be replaced or be challenged by artificial intelligence and other advances in machine learning,” she said.

CNM joins 14 other community colleges — four of which are Hispanic-serving institutions — in the year-long cohort. Hartzler said CNM has put together a small team of staff representing different areas within the college that will be involved with the cohort, including — but not limited to — its Division of Workforce and Community Success, Office of Data Strategy and CNM Ingenuity.

She said the work CNM has already accomplished in workforce development aligns with the vision of New America’s focus on scaling quality programs at colleges across the country.

“I think anybody who’s a community partner, or who reads about us … or has hired our graduates, has worked with us as an employer — they know that we are successful and that we are solution-oriented,” Hartzler said. “We know (joining this cohort) is about refinement. It may be about some rearrangement, but … it is about refining what we do.”