In response to “Low survey response, but CCA advocates press ahead” printed 7/17/13:
I am writing to thank The Citizen for excellent ongoing coverage of the community-wide effort over the last 16 months to explore the possibility of establishing a College and Career Academy in Fayette County.
A recent online survey of Fayette businesses and industries began a data collection process that, when coupled with student/parent data, will point to the types of educational programs and careers that interest our students, and meet the needs of our businesses.
Despite the characterization of the employer survey as having a “low response” due to the number of companies that responded, the reality is that we were able to document the training and hiring needs of 78 organizations that employ nearly half of the entire Fayette workforce, covering more than 24,000 current employees.
This is an excellent response!
Nearly two-thirds of respondents plan to expand their workforce in the next five years.
We were able to identify 102 unique job titles currently held by more than 4,200 employees in a variety of sectors such as healthcare, education, public safety, manufacturing and aviation.
Employers documented that they will need to add nearly 4,500 new employees in the same job titles within five years. This is in addition to hiring replacements for retirees.
These results mean we can document a minimum number of jobs that we can help create in the next five years.
This data, and the fact that we are averaging nearly 50 community stakeholders attending our public meetings for more than a year, document the positive impact that a Fayette College and Career Academy partnership can have for our students and for economic development in Fayette County.
Kim Learnard
City Council Post 3
Peachtree City, Ga.
