Adjunct instructor Jerry Eliason, center, helps Siobhan Beatty, left, and Denise Delossantos learn to take blood pressure at the Community College of Rhode Island.

The Providence Journal / Kris Craig

With more than 70,000 Rhode Islanders out of work, hard questions are being asked of the state’s only community college and its ability to train Rhode Islanders for 21st-century jobs.

Is the Community College of Rhode Island preparing students for jobs of the future or the jobs of the past? Is CCRI equipped to lead the state in training students for jobs in allied health, information technology, advanced manufacturing and green industries? Can the state offer the college adequate resources to do what needs to be done?

Can CCRI respond quickly enough to changing market needs?

“We’ve heard it again and again: Rhode Island is not really equipped to meet the needs of the 21st century,” says Julian Alssid, a consultant advising a 13-member committee of business, labor, education and political leaders that recently released some preliminary findings about CCRI and its ability to train students for the jobs that exist today or will exist tomorrow.

The findings of the CCRI 21st Century Commission reinforce what many people close to the community college have long known: The institution is spread too thin. Like many community colleges, CCRI has tried to be “all things to all people,” Alssid says.

Members of the commission want the community college to focus more intensely on 21st-century job-training programs.

Targeted programs, particularly in technical, health and advanced-manufacturing sectors, would help put thousands of residents back to work in decent-paying jobs, they say. And a more highly skilled population would help attract new companies to the state, says J. Michael Saul, interim executive director of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation and a member of the commission.

“We need to better align CCRI with what the actual market needs are,” Saul said. “We need to help CCRI become more forward-thinking and strategic, rather than reactive.”

Says Alssid, “Like everywhere else, but perhaps even more so, [Rhode Island] has an aging work force and a disappearing manufacturing base.”

The lace factories, dye companies, textile mills and jewelry manufacturers that once fueled Rhode Island’s economy are largely gone, never to return, say economists.

“The commission is really about coming up with strategies so that CCRI can help build a work force that will produce revenues for the state and ensure that Rhode Islanders can support their families,” says Alssid.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 87 percent of new jobs in fast-growing, high-wage careers will require some form of education beyond high school. In order to thrive, states like Rhode Island need to train workers to work with computer software, in laboratories and on wind turbines — jobs that require far more training and education than the blue-collar jobs of the 20th century.

The commission members stopped short of criticizing the community college, saying they recognize that the institution has suffered deep budget cuts from the state and has struggled to provide a wide array of remedial, associate degree and job-training programs.

“I think that CCRI is still providing critical educational services to the State of Rhode Island,” said Armeather Gibbs, the commission’s chairwoman and executive vice president of the United Way. Gibbs is a graduate of CCRI and credits the college with advancing her career in banking.

“But the world is very different than it was when I went to CCRI and the jobs that are available or are coming down the pike are not the same,” she said. “People today need different kinds of training.”

The commission wants other entities, including the Department of Labor and Training and local businesses, to help CCRI develop technical programs, and hopes that lawmakers are willing to dedicate additional resources, even in these hard economic times, Gibbs said.

Sandra Powell, state director of labor and training and a commission member, said some Rhode Island employers tell her they want to hire but cannot find skilled workers with a strong grounding in math and science, and “soft skills, such as a professional demeanor and the ability to work well in a team.

“CCRI would say they train a great portion of the Rhode Island work force in the health-care arena, and it’s true,” Powell said. “But there are other areas where we need more people with technical skills, like advanced manufacturing, biotech, robotics and some green jobs. We want to work with the community college and help them be flexible with their course offerings as it relates to the demands of the work force.”

CCRI officials told the commission that, unlike private institutions such as the New England Institute of Technology, CCRI faces obstacles that can prevent it from responding quickly to changing market demands. These include delays in purchasing new equipment and materials from the state Department of Administration; the process of gaining approval for academic programs from state higher education officials and restrictions in union contracts.

CCRI President Ray M. DiPasquale said his institution is already straining to provide classes and services to students and would need additional resources to expand job-training programs.

This fall, enrollment hit a record 17,800 full-time students, even as the state has cut its higher-education budget and tuition has risen nearly 10 percent. Another 2,000 students were turned away when they were unable to pay their bills.

“I have 130 positions frozen,” DiPasquale said. “We wouldn’t have been able to serve those additional students because I can’t add more sections or hire more instructors.”

The commission’s next meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. Nov. 20 at the Rhode Island Economic Development Corp., 315 Iron Horse Way, Providence.

KEY POINTSCommunity College of Rhode Island: What it does

Operating campuses in Lincoln, Newport, Providence and Warwick plus several satellite locations, CCRI serves 53,800 students. There are 17,800 in credit courses and 36,000 adults in certificate and non-credit programs. Here are its major offerings:

Remedial help: 70 percent of CCRI’s credit students require courses in reading, writing or math.

Health education: CCRI trains 300 nurses a year, plus the

majority of the state’s certified nursing assistants and dental

hygienists.

College coursework: Thousands of students begin studies at CCRI and several hundred a year transfer to four-year colleges and universities.

Non-credit programs: Almost 36,000 students take classes such as English as a Second Language, driver education,

computer skills, early childhood education certification, culinary arts, lead abatement and boating safety.

jjordan@projo.com