Planning Grant for the CANS Regional Center for IT Education, Training and Business Development

信息技术（IT）中心的规划补助金是加州康特拉科斯塔、阿拉米达、纳帕和索拉诺（CANS区域联盟）县社区学院在旧金山弗朗西斯科东湾地区的一个合作项目。该项目旨在解决IT劳动力预期增加的问题。该补助金的目标是为IT教育，培训和业务发展的区域中心的综合提案的发展，基于融合技术（CT），即电信，媒体，通过协作学习计划和实习的IT计划和创业精神。最近的经验与“融合技术”Diablo Valley College的一项研究表明，在经济衰退期间，社区学院学生入学人数的增长与当地经济中创业活动的增长之间存在联系，特别是该县的企业孵化器记录在案。人们经常回到社区大学来提高或发展他们的技能，而企业家则依靠他们高度磨练的技能，冒险“冒”一个新想法或“创业”。“他们往往有一个清晰的概念，但不了解业务问题。这就是社区学院与当地企业孵化器或小企业发展中心的伙伴关系被证明如此有价值的地方。学生实习，当提供了许多基本的商业信息和技能，成功。企业孵化器现场提供的“及时”培训机会为这些企业在关键时刻提供了所需的救生筏。因此，挑战变成了解决办法，成功的企业出现了，这意味着创造了新的就业机会，信息技术咨询理事会的概念已向该区域的利益攸关方提出，许多利益攸关方表示愿意提供技术专长、软件、硬件、设施、学生实习、教师发展项目和参与衔接协议。咨询理事会第一次全体会议的议程包括介绍和讨论：1）已建立的IT中心的活动，2）CANS IT计划，3）现有的IT技能标准，4）商业/行业/政府需求评估，5）拟议的新课程，6）教师发展，7）学生实习，8）交付系统，9）可持续性，（10）中心发展标准。目前正在组建一些工作组，以解决为准备建立一个区域中心而确定的关键问题，拟议活动的智力价值是基于CANS联合会的资格和经验以及CANS地区经济发展方面的以往赠款。更广泛的影响集中在商业，工业，教育机构和政府合作伙伴的这种区域合作上，为代表性不足的群体提供机会。

This planning grant for an Information Technology (IT) Center is a collaborative project of Community Colleges in the California Counties of Contra Costa, Alameda, Napa and Solano (CANS Regional Consortium), in the San Francisco East Bay Region. This project addresses an anticipated increase in an IT workforce. The goal of this grant is the development of a comprehensive proposal for a regional center for IT Education, Training and Business Development, based upon Convergent Technologies (CT), that is, the interdisciplinary collaboration of Telecommunications, Media, IT programs and entrepreneurship through collaborative learning programs and internships.Recent experience with a "Convergent Technology" grant at Diablo Valley College showed that there is a connection between the growth of student enrollments in the community colleges during an economic downturn and the growth in entrepreneurial activity in the local economy, especially documented by the county's business incubators. People often return to the community college to enhance or develop their skills, and entrepreneurs fall back on their highly honed skills and venture to "risk" a new idea or "start-up." They often have a clear idea of the concept, but do not understand business issues. This is where the partnership of the Community Colleges with their local business incubators or Small Business Development Centers has proven so valuable. Student interns, when offered much of the basic business information and skills, succeed. "Just-in-time" training opportunities offered on site at the business incubators provided the life raft needed for these businesses at critical times. Hence, challenges became solutions and successful businesses emerged, which meant that new jobs were created.The IT advisory council concept has been broached to stakeholders in the region and many have indicated a willingness to commit technical expertise, software, hardware, facilities, student internships, faculty development projects and participate in articulation agreements. The agenda for the first plenary session of the advisory council includes presentations and discussions of: 1) Activities of established IT Centers, 2) CANS IT programs, 3) Existing IT skills standards, 4) Business/Industry/Government needs assessment, 5) Proposed new curricula, 6) Faculty Development, 7) Student Internships, 8) Delivery Systems, 9) Sustainability, and 10) Criteria for Center development. Task forces are being formed to address the key issues identified for the preparation of the proposal for a regional center.The intellectual merit of the proposed activity is based upon the qualifications and experience of the CANS Consortium and previous grants in Economic Development for the CANS region. The broader impacts focus on this regional collaboration of business, industry, educational institutions, and government partners, providing opportunities for under-represented groups, among others.