Brattleboro Citizens’ Breakfast 
April 18, 2014
Gibson-Aiken Center – Brattleboro VT
The Internship Program at BDCC
Andrew Robinson, Director of Workforce Development
802-257-7731802-257-7731 ext 215
arobinson@brattleborodevelopment.com
Jan Coplan, Internship Coordinator
802 257-7731 802 257-7731 ext.226
jcoplan@brattleborodevelopment.com
Andy Robinson, formerly with the VT Department of Labor, began at the Director of Workforce Development at the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation in January 2014 and Jan Coplan started as Internship Coordinator in February.
The idea for an Internship Program grew out of discussions had when Jeff Lewis was Executive Director of the BDCC.[1] From discussions with the six colleges, Marlboro, School for International Training, Vermont Technical College, Community College of Vermont, Union and Landmark, the Windham Higher Education Collaborative was formed. [2]
The thinking is that the best way to connect students with internships in the area is to have a single coordinator talking with businesses rather than have each of the six colleges needing to have their own outreach. With the assistance of Landmark College, a grant was obtained from the Labor Department to pay for Jan’s work. The program is limited by the terms of the grant, but it does build the foundation for this program to get up and running. It is hoped that it will expand and costs will be picked up by the colleges in the out years.
There are some barriers in that while there are engineering businesses, there are not many engineering programs. Options would entail expansion to Greenfield Community College and Keene State and interfacing with the University of Vermont and its Agricultural Science program.
Jan Coplan noted that she has experience in starting and running a small business and in teaching and finds it exciting to network for a pool of talented, capable students. In her position, she meets with business owners, taking the burden off owners to do their own outreach for interns, providing tools for the owners to use, gathering an idea of the culture of the business, helping to create a job description, and disseminating it among the six college institutions, and from there, out to the college networks. The descriptions are also posted on the active Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility (VBSR) site:
http://vbsr.org/intern_program/available_positions. It’s all about making sure students are aware of the businesses and businesses are aware of the students.
Andy also noted that, apart from the grant funded work, there is a collaborative relationship with Paul Cohen, the intern coordinator at the Windham Regional Career Center (WRCC) https://sites.google.com/site/wrccvermontfaculty
Andy has an independent interest in assisting the WRCC business/advisory board http://www.wrccvt.com/about-wrcc/regional-advisory-board by engaging a number of different businesses to serve in an advisory capacity for a number of the different training sectors such as Automotive, Health, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and building trades. By having active employers aligned with the various “trades” it would hopefully provide a way to keep the curriculum current and maintain a “live” link with the business community that could provide internships or jobs for secondary school students once they graduate.. There is a question as to how to resolve some clogs in the education process caused by Department of Education regulations.
Jan anecdotally noted, based on her experience since February, that there are opportunities to network businesses and colleges. She realized in a dialog at SIT that we are not always aware of what persons right next to us might be doing. In her position, she also oversees the Young Professionals Group, organizing monthly meetings offering professional development opportunities and connections with the community.
Question and Answer period:
Administrators from Greenfield (MA) Community College (GCC), who attended the Breakfast, welcomed expanding the program to Greenfield, noting that about 10% of the students at GCC come from the Brattleboro area. GCC is considering a similar internship program and currently offers certificate programs in Renewable Energy and Health Sciences, among many others in the Business Program.
A question as to whether small businesses were the biggest generators of job growth prompted Andy to note that a related goal is to work with businesses in Windham County to develop a jobs inventory. He recalled visiting Sonax when one of the principals remarked that the company’s workforce was aging leading to the need for a strategic plan to look at turnover rates and to anticipate the type of openings anticipated in the next five years. This kind of information makes it more likely to plan for jobs. Also, think, for example, thin-film technology. How do we build training to prepare for opportunities down the road? Internships are beginning steps. The Career Expo exposed people to the businesses in the area. It allowed people to apply for jobs and also helped high school students see what businesses do and what might be needed to be employed there.
Jan stated she has met with 19 different businesses and they are very open to the idea of hiring interns.
The Sustainable Energy Outreach Network may be able to partner with the internship program.
Soft skills training /re-inculcating the work ethic is also a need.
The way the grant is written, interns must be paid at least the minimum wage. Unpaid internships are problematic from a liability standpoint. Interns would stand to receive minimum wage and college credit from their participation.
How does the educational system teach entrepreneurial skills, considering that a majority of businesses in some locales are small, one to two person operations? Greenfield Community College offers credit bearing and credit free training in entrepreneurship and hard and soft business skills. The college students also participate very successfully each year in a an area competition for students to pitch business ideas. Lefty’s Brewing Co.http://www.leftysbrew.com/#!about/c42f and Kringle Candle https://www.kringlecandle.com/about/our-history are two good examples of businesses in the GCC area that began with a small business pitch/ marketing plan from an enrolled student, as part of their class
Social media fluency is an identified need where interns can be hired.
Program expectations include: that the intern is being mentored; that there are “checks ins.”
A labor readiness program continues to be offered by the Department of Labor in conjunction with Community College of Vermont – http://ccv.edu/workforce/governors-career-ready-certificate-program/
The Windham Workforce Investment Board (WWIB) is also engaged in career readiness activities; the contact there is Denise Mason at SEVCA. http://www.sevca.org/economic-development/windham-workforce-investment-board
http://www.sevca.org/contact/management-team
[1] Ed: At Jeff Lewis’s retirement, Pat Moulton-Powden took over as Executive Director; she recently accepted appointment as Secretary of the VT Agency of Commerce. cf: “Laying out a vision for a stronger county economy,”The Commons, Randolph T. Holhut, April 16, 2014 http://www.commonsnews.org/site/site05/story.php?articleno=9730&page=1#.U1Kuq1VdV8E
[2] http://www.brattleborodevelopment.com/item/windham-higher-education-collaborative-formed
