Much work has been done locally over the past year to better prepare the workforce to meet the increasingly technical needs of employers. Job creation is a statewide priority, especially in BRAC-affected areas in central and northern Maryland.
While Southern Maryland isn’t part of the region most impacted by BRAC (Ft. Meade is in Anne Arundel County, Aberdeen Proving Grounds is in Harford County), we have fresh experience from the first BRAC rounds in the 1990s which ultimately brought 10,000 jobs to the area. NAS Patuxent River, its tenant commands including NAVAIR and NAWCAD, and outlying Webster Field in St. Inigoes combine to form the single largest employer in the County and tri-county region where some 22,000 work everyday.
With this consolidation of skill, talent, and physical assets like the Air Combat Environment Test and Evaluation Facility (ACETEF), NAS Patuxent River is now a premier center of Naval Aviation excellence. Concentrating this capability here has allowed program growth to be steady and strong, which will only increase in the coming years with major programs such as the F-35 Lightning II, VH-71 Presidential Helicopter, and a variety of Unmanned Aviation Vehicles and Systems (UAV/UAS), among others. To fulfill future program requirements, there is a need for hundreds of specialized jobs in the engineering and related technical fields, along with those in business, economics, and finance to help manage these programs.
In preparation, several initiatives are underway. One common theme is for a homegrown approach to workforce creation. Key to this is the STEM Academies at elementary, middle, and high schools through an excellent collaboration between the St. Mary’s County Public Schools and NAS Patuxent River. A related effort is Starbase Academy. Yet another initiative is the local, regional, and now national Robotics Competitions and the deepening Engineering offerings by the Forrest Technology Center. Several Forrest Center students will work as interns this summer through a special arrangement with local employers. Collectively, these efforts will combine to produce more local talent to NAS Pax River and the supporting contractor community.
At the higher education level, the College of Southern Maryland, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and Southern Maryland Higher Education Center are all expanding offerings in response to the needs of the technical management community. One area where there’s collective emphasis is an effort to bring the last two years of engineering programs in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering offered by the University of Maryland. This effort would dovetail with CSM’s current engineering program and be delivered at SMHEC. NAS Pax River would provide labs, facilities, student internships, research appointments by faculty, and other support efforts to supplement the program.
For the person just entering or re-entering the workforce who may lack essential skills, the Jobs Connection Program provided by the Community Development Corporation in Lexington Park has assisted numerous job-seekers develop a resume, conduct a skills assessment, complete job readiness training, search for work, and in many cases secure a job. With the recent reinstatement of the Southern Maryland Workforce Investment Board (WIB), these services will be expanded to Leonardtown to enable more of the County to take advantage of these services.
Finally, scholarships offered by several local organizations help increase access to college for more and more students. This is the case in traditional fields of study and more specialized fields like engineering, health care, and skilled trades. The Business, Education and Community Alliance (BECA) of which I am part, has deve