Area businesses, organizations working to expand technical training opportunities in Southeast Missouri

Southeast Missouri businesses have been particularly focused in recent months on bringing vocational education to the region. Technology throughout a variety of industries is expanding quickly, and education must keep up with it. And the pool of pre-existing workers continues to shrink as baby boomers prepare to retire out of technical jobs they've dedicated a lifetime to.

This lack of trained workers causes strain on local businesses that rely on them, and can keep new businesses from coming in.

"The No. 1 factor for any business is going to be workforce," says Rich Payne, director of the Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center. "You can offer any tax incentive you want. You can offer all the other kinds of opportunities states do to lure business. But the No. 1 thing businesses are going to look for is do you have the skilled and/or trainable workforce in place to fill the slots to make our businesses run."

To explore the possibility of expanding technical education in Southeast Missouri, the Jackson Area Chamber of Commerce ran a survey earlier this year to determine skill areas local businesses were having difficulty filling.

Responses were varied. They included electrical technology, automotive technology, welding, industrial electricity, heating and air conditioning, automotive collision and heavy equipment.

Shawn Flores uses a diagnostic instrument to check the code of a "check engine" light in the automotive technology class Wednesday, Oct. 5, at the Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center.

"All of these things are getting more and more technical every year ... [and] as they become more and more technical, we're going to need to continue training to keep up with that," says Mike Berry of the Missouri Job Center.

The Cape Girardeau CTC already offers a variety of programs to high school and postsecondary students interested in vocational training. Automotive technology and collision repair, electrical trades, nursing and welding are among the programs offered in at the center. And demand is high. Of the 22 programs, only two had openings when the fall semester began, Payne says.

Area business leaders also have put forth an effort to improve technical training in the region in response to the shortage. In June, Ranken Technical College announced plans to open a satellite campus in Perryville, Missouri. The plan to bring Ranken into Southeast Missouri was a collaborative effort of local county and city government officials and top leaders of several area businesses, including Gilster-Mary Lee, TG Missouri and Robinson Construction.

"If we can find a way to hold more local people in the area, we'll be so much better economically," Don Welge, president of Gilster-Mary Lee, said at the event announcing the new campus.

Shortly after the announcement, local business leaders joined at the Cape Girardeau CTC to discuss the need for state-run technical training, a movement started before the Ranken announcement and independently of it.

Charlie Glueck, owner of Jackson Tire Center, has been leading the movement to bring state technical education to the region. Since the open discussion in June, Glueck says a 12-member steering committee has been organized to gather information and tackle various issues that must be addressed in the hopes of bringing the project before state legislature. After a meeting scheduled in October, it is the hope, Glueck says, that the organizers can present the information to key legislators and push the project closer to actualization.

"Technology has advanced so fast in the last several years, we're not keeping up. We've got to have additional high-level training," Glueck says.

In the meantime, Ranken Technical College is expected to open in July 2017, offering classes in industrial technology, automotive technology, transportation and logistics and construction. The CTC also has its sights on expanding its educational offerings in 2017, including courses on information technology and piloting unmanned aircrafts.

"That's what we do," Payne says. "Find those occupations, find the opportunities, and then develop the programs to support them."