The Island’s only nursing home, Windemere Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, is so short on local employees that it is staffed almost entirely by traveling nurses. Local electricians say that demand for their services is rising but finding workers is getting harder and harder to the point where they have extensive backlogs.
In response to these challenges in industries across the Island, the first ever Island Career Pathways night was born.
Held Wednesday at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School’s Performing Arts Center, the event attempted to bridge the growing gap between young Island residents and the work force
“As long as there are young people living here year-round, we should be doing everything we can to connect them with the Island workforce while they are here,” said Alexandra Coutts, executive director of ACE MV, at last week’s event.
The event was cohosted by ACE MV – an adult community education program that serves 200 young adult learners annually – and the high school.
“This is an exciting time in the world of career pathways,” said Coutts.
Spread about the lobby of the performing art center were tables featuring different employment and career opportunities on the Island and the Cape; and there was pizza to entice students in.
In attendance was Upper Cape Tech Adult and Continuing Education program, Mass Bay Community College, Mass General Brigham, Johnson and Whales University, Plumbers Supply Company, and Cape Cod Community College. At one table, the Communication Ambassadors Partnership (CAP), representative Emily Santana told students about their effort to provide interpreter training to help meet the Islands increasing demand for bilingual professionals.
During a panel discussion, healthcare professionals addressed what they consider an urgent demand for residential employees. According to a brief released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Health Policy last year, the extreme stress the American healthcare workforce was put under by the pandemic led to burnout, exhaustion, and trauma; a little over a quarter of those surveyed by the Massachusetts Medical Society were likely to leave the medical field in the next two years.
David Carron, vice president of Diagnostic and Therapeutic Services at the hospital, said the entry level positions offer on-the-job training and a diverse future of opportunities for career advancement.
Amy Houghton, the contracts and projects administrator for the hospital, said that Windemere, the Islands nursing home, is “almost entirely staffed by traveling employees.”
“We pay a premium for their salaries and we pay their housing costs,” said Houghton. “The cost is through the roof.”
Alongside healthcare professionals were Island trade representatives such as Cole Powers and David Sprague — whose brutal honesty regarding the faults of the mainstream four year education program — brought a laugh to the crowd.
“You could go to college for four years, graduate, and have no experience and nobody who wants to hire you or you can work, earn a living, go to night classes, and get experience that way,” said Powers.
Powers, owner of Powers Electric, has been advocating for an electrical course at the high school since 1990. He has urged students and young Islanders to consider careers in the trades and says his main competitor is the traditional four-year college path that the majority of youth are encouraged to follow.
In 20 years living and working on Island, Powers said that roughly five students from the high school have trained under him and entered the trade. He also noted the increase in remote workers as result of the Covid-19 pandemic, which is leading to more year-round residents and increasing demand for retrofitting homes for year-round living.
“As we try to move away from fossil fuels for things like cars and other things, we move to electric,” said Powers. “Not only is demand for electricians spiking but the number of electricians is still going down.”
Powers recently spoke with the newly elected Massachusetts state representative Thomas Moakley about changing state requirements for the apprentice-to-master ratio. The current regulations require three professionals to one trainee creating a bottleneck in producing new electricians.
Although more than 60 students signed in to the event and more than a dozen attended the panel discussion, Powers said that he would like to see more students take an interest in getting into the trades on Island.
The event follows a recent visit from Spark MV, who aimed to shine a light on the trades for the Islands youth.
This post was updated to more accurately reflect the number of people at the event.
While there is nothing wrong with working in the trades, giving up on a college education is a mistake. While you may not need to learn algebra in order to work in the trades, algebra teaches us how to see relationships in the world. Estimating, another math skill, might be one of the most useful tools a person can learn, whether in trades or not. Having a broad education that encompasses world history and English helps us navigate communication with other people and exposes us to the stories of past generations: how did we get here? How can we move forward to a future of peace and a better life for our children?
Learn a trade and do it in the structure of a college education.
Oh my goodness, Mary. Did you learn nothing from the election?? Perhaps high schools need to raise the bar and do more of the teaching you are referring to. Young people who grow up being encouraged to be curious and motivated can learn most of the topics and skills you identify as valuable without going to college. (I cannot think of ANY trade that does not involve algebra BTW. You might benefit from learning a trade, Mary.)
Personally, I do not know one college educated person who is capable of building a set of handmade stairs from raw lumber — a complex mathematical endeavor. My husband does have this skill — achieved without a college education.
Your comments are demeaning and reflect the type of liberal elitism that turns people off — especially those of us who come from the mid-west and west where skill, talent and hard work count for more than “book learnin'”.
The point of the Career Pathways night was certainly not to disparage the value of a 4-year degree. It was to highlight the options other than the 4-year degree. Many younger Islanders either can’t afford to or don’t wish to go to a 4-year college or both. They need viable options to begin a career, and all too often 4-year college is presented as the only valued choice when other attractive and affordable options like community college, training programs, and apprenticeships are also great choices. A broad education is wonderful; I’m grateful to have had the chance to pursue a Ph.D. but I also have great respect for the many health care professionals with two-year degrees or certifications, trades people, and artists (to name a few occupations) who also have broad knowledge but acquired from experience as well as in the classroom. The goal of the national career pathways movement is to prepare all young people for a first career that can earn them a family supporting wage and leave open the door for additional education and training should the person want it.
All excellent points, Nancy. Well said.
Please note that the Times is going to make a correction. The Career Pathways event was attended by over 70 people– high schoolers, young adults, and families seeking information along with the wide range of people representing options for post high school.
Nancy and Katie, please take a look at the civil rights movement and also the goals of white supremacy organizations. Some of the most powerful voices in the republican establishment do not want people to have a broad understanding of the world and one of the ways for propaganda to be effective is for people to be under-educated.
We need to find ways of funding higher education, especially for people who have a desire and/or aptitude for learning. The percentage of people not attending university should be around 10%. We are in a crisis because the number of students going to college now is increasingly low.
Leadership requires higher education.
Mr Hess, Leader ship is a personality and temperament trait. It does not require education at all. One can have all the education in the world and be an introvert or a beta male and not know how to lead. Leaders influence even without authority.
Leadership training starting point:
https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/ARN36735-FM_6-22-000-WEB-1.pdf
Andy– interesting comment. What is a “beta male” ?
You seem to be advocating for the dumbest rock in the box
to lead the dumbest sheep in the field.
Mr. engleman are you well educated?
Are you a leader?
How many of Trump’s leaders are graduates of Ivy Class colleges and universities?
How many have a GEDs?
How many Islanders responsible for million dollar a year plus operations have at least as third rate state college degree?
Are your offspring college educated?
Are they leaders?