Members of the Haverhill City Council’s Planning and Development Committee aim to create a one-stop shop to match students with career opportunities and internships.
Councilor John A. Michitson on Tuesday updated his colleagues about plans drawn during the Jan. 21 Planning and Development Committee. Michitson said the Committee is exploring creating a website and online hub to link existing resources and tools for the community.
“Potential features might include matching student needs versus education options, career training options and internship opportunities. That could be a self-service matching algorithm,” he said. “Post-aggregated opportunities so that all schools know about classes, projects, internships, co-ops, certifications so instead of having Whittier Vo-Tech just expose their students to some of this information, it should be exposed more broadly.”
He added, “collaboration spaces for partners to post and respond to needs is very important and publicly accessible information for self-service use while preserving sensitive student data.” He noted that other key focuses for members were to draft partnership principals, discuss data sharing tools and establish metrics to establish success.
“The overall goal is to develop an approach, a process and tools to collectively match student passions and purpose with flexible education, job training and employment opportunities,” he said.
He praised the Haverhill Public-Private Partnership, or HP3, for being “ahead of the game” in connecting students and adults with job opportunities, saying, “We’re hoping that we can add value to what they’re doing and they can add value to the other partners. That’s really what the approach is.”
Stakeholders noted the program should be voluntary, which Michitson said he believes is “key for making this successful.”
“We should focus on efficient interaction and avoids unnecessary complexity. Again, trying to streamline it from the start. What’s really important is to respect student privacy and data security. Any information sharing must comply with relevant regulations,” he said.
He noted the program could involve a school requesting a solution on behalf of a parent, with business partners providing options to address the student’s request. He explained, “A key catalyst identified by all is to expose students to many careers and in-school class, mentoring and online tools.”
The next major step will be the Committee’s February meeting, where partners will review data sharing rules and develop a portal and chart a path forward. The meeting data was not scheduled at the time of reporting.
As only WHAV reported in December, local leaders in business, government and education aim to collaborate on addressing opportunity gaps in the workforce for both students and adults.