A partnership between the state, community colleges and advanced manufacturers is helping to develop a new generation of workers.
The program called ReadyTechGo includes four community colleges across Arizona and several companies that make things like semiconductors, batteries and commercial metals.
Carlos Contreras, cabinet executive officer at the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity, said the colleges offer an Automated Industrial Technology (AIT) program based on employers’ specific needs
“We’re really trying to provide the training that our employers say that they want right away so that these students can get into an entry level job,” he said.
Contreras said Arizona has more than 160,000 advanced manufacturing jobs with a median annual income between $60-70,000. Advanced manufacturing jobs use new technologies, processes and materials.
ReadyTechGo’s Automated Industrial Technology (AIT) program is offered at Central Arizona College in Coolidge, Estrella Mountain Community College in Avondale, Mesa Community College in Mesa and Pima Community College in Tucson. Depending on the employer, the program can run two weeks to two years.
“One major thing that it has done is it has standardized the curriculum, and it has standardized naming convention forces, so that an employer is not kind of trying to figure out, you know, is this program in this college? It's very consistent,” Contreras said. “And it also has allowed us to work with the community colleges to look at different transfer points because, those are also always a consideration in terms of somebody that transfers to another college, you know, is this class going to be going to count towards my degree in this other college, so that really helps from that perspective.”
