It started as a simple idea. Could manufacturers resolve skilled technician shortages by tapping into a valuable resource that many had within their own facility – female production workers? A collaboration of industry, workforce, and educational partners in Owensboro, Kentucky pursued this idea which led to the design and launch of the GO Females program.
GO Females is an acronym for Greater Owensboro Facilitating Equitable Manufacturing and Leadership Educational Solutions. The purpose is to “skill up” underserved incumbent workers in manufacturing for both technician and leadership positions. With support from the National Science Foundation and the Kentucky Workforce Development Cabinet, Owensboro Community and Technical College (OCTC) launched its first GO Females cohort in 2019.
GO Females is an industrial maintenance associate’s degree program offered in a hybrid format at or near the worksite. It targets those currently working in manufacturing who need to continue working full-time while taking classes. The GO Females delivery model includes instructor-led teaching combined with competency-based online learning offered through the industry-validated Advanced Manufacturing Technical Education Collaborative, known as AMTEC.
AMTEC provides GO Females with a credible solution for teaching students the technical and critical-thinking skills needed to analyze issues, solve difficult or complex problems, and manage output. By using AMTEC, OCTC faculty focus their limited face-to-face time with students on instruction, skill practice, assessment, and mastery. AMTEC provides GO Females students competency-based learning which reduces seat time and eliminates the need for duplicative or time-consuming basic level teaching strategies. Consequently, students focus on acquiring and mastering the specific skills needed to aid in their career progression effectively and expeditiously.
The first GO Females cohort of students was comprised of 20 female workers from UniFirst Corporation in Owensboro, Kentucky. UniFirst Corporation employs 445 individuals at its state-of-the-art Owensboro Distribution Center that provides customized work uniform programs, corporate attire, and facility service products. UniFirst supported GO Females students by paying participants full-time wages and benefits throughout the program and providing them eight hours of paid time off per week to attend classes. Fifteen students graduated with an associate’s degree in 2021.
The partnership with AMTEC allows OCTC’s GO Females program to provide working females unprecedented access to education by eliminating accessibility barriers. As a true “work and learn” model, it brings college to the workplace. Classes are held onsite and lab training equipment is set up near UniFirst’s actual production equipment. This allows instructors to connect the AMTEC concepts students learn to “real world” application. It also allows the students to understand, practice, and apply skills relevant to what occurs on the job. AMTEC provides the opportunity for minimizing time away from production and maximizing worker participation and skill attainment. AMTEC and GO Females provide students with greater career opportunities with UniFirst, as well as offering the company value-added team members as it competes in today’s global market. The GO Females program is a real-life example of AMTEC’s mission to create and sustain an innovative, responsive and standards-based workforce development system that meets the advanced manufacturing industry’s skill requirements.