This has been a good week for visibility for our colleges. As you may have heard, President Obama released his proposed budget for 2013 at Northern Virginia Community College, calling for “giving community colleges the resources they need to become community career centers” where we teach “skills that businesses are looking for right now,” from aviation to IT and health care. This AACC Bulletin  highlights proposals for “landmark investments in community colleges,” including a College to Career Fund, a $1 billion Race to the Top for higher education and a First in the World fund to help colleges develop and expand strategies for completion.

And on Tuesday morning, the King County Aerospace Alliance selected the South Seattle Community College Aviation Maintenance hangar at Boeing Field to announce an ambitious plan to support a “faster, stronger, better” infrastructure for the region’s aerospace industry. The five-point plan includes developing a pipeline of trained aerospace students into the workforce. As members of the Alliance, we helped to shape this initiative, which includes “workforce navigators” to guide students into well-paying aerospace careers. At Tuesday’s news conference, we heard that the average age of workers at the Boeing Company is close to 50 years old, and that local schools are preparing only half the number of trained workers needed for production every year.

Our colleges already play a major role in supplying workers for this key industry for our region, and we have been developing many more programs and partnerships. As partners in the statewide Air Washington consortium announced last fall, North is receiving $1.1 million to increase the number of students getting into the pipeline by focusing on aviation electronics, and South will receive $1.4 million to increase the capacity and success of students in the Aviation Maintenance program. All of our colleges have strong programs in science, math, engineering and technology (STEM). Seattle Central has a long history of providing opportunities for students to enter the NASA STEM pipeline: Since 2005, the college has partnered with the Washington NASA Space Grant Consortium to provide scholarships and Undergraduate Research opportunities for students at Central. Through Washington NASA Space Grant funding, the college has sent two students to work at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, funded 18 Undergraduate Research projects, and provided scholarships for 85 students at Central, in addition to two transfer scholarships to the UW.

Surrounded by our aviation students on Tuesday, King County Executive Dow Constantine called aerospace “an indispensible source of family-wage jobs” in this area. It remains one of the most important industries for the Puget Sound. Did you know that every job at the Boeing Company generates three more in related industries throughout the region? We are in a position to create a significant impact on individuals, families, and our community in the near future and for future generations.

Please keep this week’s news in mind as you speak with business leaders, partners, educators and elected officials about the value and contributions of community colleges and our students.