Windward Community College launches Ready, Set, Grow - Hawaiʻi

A free College and Career Readiness Program

Windward Community College
Contact:
Normadeene Musick, (808) 235-7367
Coordinator, Career & Community Education
Gerri Kabei, (808) 235-7428
Program Coordinator, Career & Community Education
Posted: Jul 1, 2011

HONOLULU – Windward Community College administrators announced a unique partnership among the University of Hawai‘i Community Colleges and the Department of Labor, Ready, Set, Grow - Hawaiʻi (RSG HI), a statewide initiative that will address the basic skills and work readiness gap for the community. 
Potential candidates have significant deficiencies in reading, math, work readiness skills, and often lack a high school credential and employable skills. The program is designed to create an environment that engages, motivates, and supports students while allowing them an opportunity to accelerate toward a job and/or further education through the community college system. The program will eventually be facilitated statewide by 2014, serving 5,500 students annually with the initial pilot sites being Windward and Leeward Community Colleges.
Census figures estimate there are 64,156 young people in Hawai‘i that are 16-19 years of age. Of those, 4,816 are not enrolled in school and do not have a high school diploma. These students have opted out of their high school programs without a credential but have returned to the adult schools to earn either a GED or an alternate Competency Based Adult Secondary Education (CBASE) high school credential. However, neither the GED nor CBASE certificate is specifically focused on job readiness or further education through the community college system. With support from Hawai‘i Community Foundation, the community colleges would extend the Ready, Set, Grow - Hawai‘i program and develop specific strategies within the program to address the educational and career advancement needs of these youth and under skilled adults.
The goals of the Ready, Set, Grow - Hawai‘i program are:
  • To provide the students with both the soft skills and basic academic skills required for employment in the state as evidenced by a recognized work-readiness credential.
  • To provide students with academic skills that allow them to enter community college degree programs with no more than one semester of developmental education.
  • To provide students with comprehensive counseling services to ensure course completion and preparation for college success.
     
Ready, Set, Grow - Hawai‘i will be holding open houses for potential students at Windward Community College on July 7 and August 4 and at Leeward Community College on July 14 and August 11, all from 6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m. These will be informational workshops and counseling sessions where students can apply for the program. Light refreshments will be served. For more information call (808) 235-7381 or visit www.readysetgrowhawaii.com.