The arrival of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program triggered government and industry interest in ensuring that a sufficient workforce would be on hand to implement the generational build-out of broadband infrastructure across the nation. These sentiments were not grounded solely in that historic legislative development but had rather been simmering since the first COVID relief bills implicated potential broadband buildouts. At an industry meeting in the spring of 2021, a contractor confided that if he were fully staffed, he could secure enough work for the next two years.
NTCA took note of these demands and struck two alliances. Working with Northwood Technical College in Wisconsin, we created a program in the Broadband Academy, an online suite of broadband industry courses that is blended with onsite apprenticeship-type work experience for industry-recognized digital badging. The program allows student workers from across the country to access classroom experience online while gaining hands-on skills at ISPs in their local communities. At the same time, we worked with the National Rural Education Association (NREA) to produce BOLD: Broadband Opportunities and Leadership Development, a broadband career awareness toolkit for K-12 schools and their locally-operated broadband providers.
But sometimes it is useful to see how “the other half” lives. Many states have been incubating job training efforts, working with the communications industry and colleges to create learning opportunities to meet workforce needs. Every state faces its own local dynamic – the mix of telecommunications providers, demographic characteristics of the labor force, educational resources and competing job opportunities from other major industries. I have had the opportunity to be involved with the Ohio Broadband and 5G Workforce Partnership (OH/BB/5G), which has tapped the collective experience (and expertise) of broadband trade associations, private telecom operators and institutions of higher education. Their efforts mirror strategies identified by many who are invested in the need to develop a workforce for the future: Collaborative efforts among industry and the education sector; creative approaches to blending learning with paid on-the-job experiences; local and on-site opportunities for engagement; and recognition that these efforts must include more than only post-high school students, and embrace, as well, younger students in whom awareness and interest in this exciting field can be cultivated. And, of course, U.S. service veterans. In the interest of sharing an analytical construct for point of comparison, here is an overview of how Ohio is creating a comprehensive workforce response.
At the outset, the OH/BB/5G program is housed within the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation. This signals implicit recognition that the explosive introduction of broadband into previously unserved or underserved areas will be only part of an overall shift in workforce needs and strategies as a greater number and broader scope of industries and businesses will have broadband resources at their ready. In fact, a recent NTCA-supported study found 23% higher business growth, 10% higher self-employment growth and 44% higher GDP growth in rural counties with high rates of broadband adoption. The OH/BB/5G program also paves broad avenues along which aligned workforce programming can be driven: (1) Increasing awareness of the industry and jobs it offers; (2) Development and distribution of educational and training resources; (3) Identification of state and federal resources that can be leveraged to support workforce development efforts.
The principal educational partner in the OH/BB/5G program is The Ohio State University, but the program counts among its participants associations representing independent and community colleges as well as career and technical education organizations. At the same time, the program leverages input from a variety of state offices, including the Departments of Education and Veterans Services. Trade association partners include NTCA, the Ohio Telecom Association and other national and state organizations representing telecommunications providers and industry contractors. Coursework focuses on primary career pathways including fiber technicians, construction installers, tower technicians and RF engineers. Like the NTCA/Northwood Broadband Academy, participants can obtain industry recognized credentials. And to be sure, the framework may align with what is developing in your state or may spark ideas to refine or adjust local efforts elsewhere.
But here are some important numbers that indicate how, and why, publicity is key to promoting career opportunities in the industry: As of last month, just one 11-county sector of the Ohio program tallied more than three million social media impressions and more than 30,000 clicks. It has placed billboards throughout the state and distributed fliers to community centers, libraries and fairs. The NTCA/Northwood Broadband Academy can boast good numbers, too, with 30 broadband providers from 20 states and two Tribal Nations enrolling students in the program. Separately and collectively, these indicate that deep interest in good jobs is waiting to be tapped, and that resources, whether generated through state offices or collaborative efforts as spearheaded by NTCA, will be key not only to broadband deployment but to the furtherance of successful careers in our growing industry.