Mesa Community College’s partnership with Boeing is one of several models that could be replicated if a bipartisan bill to help finance community college workforce training for short-term credentials makes it through Congress.The Assisting Community Colleges in Educating Skilled Students to Careers Act — or ACCESS to Careers Act — is designed to increase the number of students who earn these types of credentials and the number of colleges meeting the needs of local employers. It could provide states with up to $2.5 million a year for up to four years to develop policies around this type of workforce training and provide community colleges with grants of up to $1.5 million each to carry out the programs. The bill was reintroduced in May by Sens. Todd C. Young (R-Ind.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) after a February 2020 version languished without success.
