In Minnesota we have a serious shortage of people with skills to work in certain areas of our economy. The shortage of workers is most critical in advanced manufacturing, agriculture, health care services, information technology, early childhood education, and transportation.
In 2017, the MN legislature put up a million dollars for a pilot program that offered workforce development scholarships of 25 hundred dollars to attract students into these careers.
The success of the pilot program over the last two years persuaded the legislature and governor to add 7 million dollars in scholarship money over the next two years.
Minnesota Community and Technical Colleges have a critical role in meeting the workforce shortage. Over 240 thousand students are enrolled in the 30 community and technical colleges and seven state universities in MN, which include Bemidji State and a dozen community and technical colleges in northern MN.
The Chancellor of the MN State College and University system, Devinder Malhotra, the Provost of Itasca Community College, Bart Johnson, and Lynette Howe, the Director of the Nursing Program at Itasca Community College spoke recently with Scott Hall about the Workforce Development Scholarship program…
