North Idaho College: At the center of regional workforce development

COEUR d’ALENE — For more than 25 years, North Idaho College has provided in-demand job training that helps Idahoans improve their quality of life and helps employers find qualified local employees.

The Workforce Training Center in Post Falls serves more than 5,000 students each year. Many of those students are already working for local employers who refer their students to NIC and pay for their training.

“Employers are our biggest customers,” said Vicki Isakson, dean of instruction for workforce training at NIC. “They’re choosing to send their employees.”

The reason why is simple.

“If employers aren’t willing to invest in their employees, then they’re not going to move forward as times change,” Isakson said.

Coeur d’Alene Paving and Concrete Specialties is one of those employers. For almost three years, the business has partnered with NIC to provide their employees with professional development and heavy equipment training.

Because Coeur d’Alene Paving uses different types of vehicles, including concrete mixers, NIC developed customized commercial driver's licensing classes for the company's employees.

“Our drivers not only get a chance to learn how to operate a vehicle safely, but they get to learn to drive our trucks and the trucks they will be using,” said Bridget Sundhal, chief financial officer for Coeur d’Alene Paving.

Isakson said the college has developed customized training for a number of employers in the region.

“It’s how a lot of programs get started,” she said. “Whenever we start something new, we pull together employers from that industry and validate what they need and try to make it generic enough to serve a broader audience."

Sundahl said NIC’s workforce training programs enable local employers like Coeur d’Alene Paving to retain and invest in local staff. Without NIC, those employees would have to seek professional development elsewhere.

“We make (training) available to them so they can continue to work and support their families and get that continuing education while on the job,” Sundahl said said. “If we didn’t have that, the people who want to pursue that kind of training would have to leave, and we could only hope they’d come back to us in Coeur d’Alene.”

Isakson said the NIC Workforce Training Center courses can be completed while a student works full-time.

“The biggest barrier to people is they can’t afford to stop working and take classes,” she said. “We’re really trying to make sure we have flexible options available so they can come to school and also be able to work so they can afford to live.”

NIC offers more than 35 career and technical programs, which include six-month, one-year and two-year certificates, as well as two-year associate degree programs.

The Workforce Training Center also offers options for credit-free, short-term courses offered weekly and throughout the year.

“People don’t see that as continuing their education, but that’s what it is,” Isakson said. “It’s getting more and more popular nationwide. We’re exploding out there. People need to work and all the workforce training programs allow people to work.”

Regional health care providers like Kootenai Health rely on NIC to be a “pipeline” for nurses and other clinical positions.

“It’s more important now than ever before, with some of the challenges with the labor workforce and the need for nurses and clinicians, given the constraints we’ve been through in the post-pandemic era,” said Kelly Espinoza, Ph.D, Kootenai Health’s chief nursing officer.

Kootenai Health works closely with NIC on student placement for the associate degree nursing program and practical nursing program, as well as other technical programs, including surgical technology and radiography technology.

“These are critical to our being able to fill our positions and ensure we have the right training for the right staff,” Espinoza said.

Espinoza said the hospital places NIC students in most clinical areas.

“They work alongside our bedside staff, but also our clinical educators and some of the ancillary support staff to help round out their experience for whatever stage of education they’re in,” she said.

Kootenai Health has a collaborative relationship with NIC, Espinoza said. For example, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kootenai Health explored bringing practical nurses into acute care settings and NIC responded to that need.

“They have partnered with us through their ability to increase some of the numbers  of students they can take into cohorts to help us supplement those workforce needs that may not have been the need three to five years ago,” she said.

Espinoza said NIC’s program offerings are a valuable asset for a rapidly-growing region — and not only in the health care sector.

“I think North Idaho College provides a wonderful entry into education that is so much broader and more accessible than other university programs,” she said, adding that she started her higher education journey at a community college. “It is a cornerstone for education and for training.”

Isakson said Idaho LAUNCH is now giving students a boost as they pursue training.

Idaho LAUNCH is a state program that provides financial support for Idaho workers seeking training and education for in-demand careers. LAUNCH funding is a once-in-a-lifetime benefit for Idaho residents, regardless of their financial situation.

The maximum benefit is $5,000 per person, which can be used to cover up to 80% of training costs for approved classes. Fund recipients must work in Idaho for 12 months or repay the funds.

Employers like Coeur d’Alene Paving say Idaho LAUNCH is a game-changer.

“All businesses should look to NIC to see how they can use the funds available from the state of Idaho to help their employees grow,” Sundahl said.

She said she hopes many Idahoans will take advantage of LAUNCH funds to pursue training and education.

“If you’re interested in the medical field or construction or business, open up that brochure and take a look,” she said. “Chances are you have a future right there, paid for by the state of Idaho, within a reasonable amount of time.”

    NIC dental hygiene student Jessica Reineccius examines veteran and former NIC student Trevor Cardigan on Nov. 10, 2022 at Winton Hall at NIC’s Coeur d’Alene campus.
  

    NIC diesel technology student Kyle Giannette works on a transmission repair assignment on Jan. 24 at NIC’s Parker Technical Education Center in Rathdrum.