As leaders of the two of the largest chambers of commerce in Tucson, we are committed to promoting a strong local economy. We recognize the critical role education plays in producing career-ready employees and leaders necessary for the economic development of our region.
Pima Community College (PCC) is a key partner in this effort. We are encouraged by the positive change we have seen in PCC’s commitment to collaborating with business and industry under the leadership of Chancellor Lee D. Lambert. We recognize and appreciate PCC’s achievements in producing Tucsonans ready for the challenges of the 21st-century economy.
So it is with considerable dismay that we read accounts in this newspaper describing PCC as an ineffective player in the effort to create a better Tucson. In our view, these stories do a disservice to PCC and the community by ignoring or distorting reality. The PCC portrayed in this newspaper is not the PCC we know.
The PCC we know has re-established relationships with an important business partner, the Arizona Small Business Development Center, which serves thousands of entrepreneurs and business owners. PCC is creating a new center that will offer quality, no-cost confidential one-on-one counseling and no- or low-cost workshops to new and current businesses and entrepreneurs. We applaud PCC’s dedication to helping existing and new businesses launch, grow and become sustainable.
We also appreciate that the college is aligning its education with the needs of business and industry through partnerships in aviation, machining and other growing sectors of the area’s economy. These collaborations are designed to provide hundreds of military veterans, trade-affected workers and others with industry-vetted training that leads to rewarding jobs in energy, advanced manufacturing, aviation and industrial maintenance. Education to develop these skills is critical to the successes of businesses in our community.
The PCC we know also is committed to giving low-income Tucsonans a foothold on the first rung of the economic ladder by training 1,500 county residents for entry-level healthcare jobs over the next five years. The new initiative builds on an earlier effort that resulted in more than 1,100 Tucsonans moving either from joblessness to employment or a promotion/wage increase. We admire PCC’s persistence in an important effort to advance thousands of Tucsonans into the middle class by providing them with the skills to acquire in-demand jobs.
For Laura Nagore, the decision to attend PCC changed the trajectory of her life. “I could continue in a job with no upward expansion,” she says, “or I could further my education and work towards a career.”
It was an easy choice to make, says Laura, who is the chief financial officer of the Tucson Metro Chamber of Commerce. She took most of her classes online in order to keep working full time. “After I received my degree, I was able to leverage my new skill set into a series of new positions, each one a step up in my field. I know that I would not be where I am today without the knowledge base I received at PCC. PCC enabled me to move from having ‘just a job’ to having a career that I love.”
Next month, as it has for years, PCC will graduate thousands of people like Laura. Many will further their education at the University of Arizona. Others will enter the local workforce. Most of these aspiring nurses, machinists, engineers, chefs, teachers and entrepreneurs will remain in Tucson, their home. Many will start small businesses that will employ their fellow Tucsonans. Together, the graduates will form the foundation of a prosperous, stable community, thanks in no small part to the education and training they received at Pima County’s community college.
That’s the PCC we know.
