The Learning Aligned Employment Program, or LAEP – is looking for local employers to provide college students opportunities to gain career-related experience in their fields of study.
This may sound like a lot of words for a familiar concept – internships – and you’d be correct with one important clarification – these are paid positions for the students. The program requires that the students get a comparable pay rate to others in that position.
Here’s the kicker – Copper Mountain College will reimburse businesses for that paycheck. Non-profits get 90% of those wages returned, where for-profit businesses get back 50%.
CMC Career Services says that priority will be given to first-generation college students, current and former foster youth, unhoused or those at risk of being unhoused.
At a presentation by CMC’s Career Services department, faculty shared a Workforce Demand Assessment for the High-Desert Subregion, which was prepared by the Inland Empire / Desert Regional Consortium.
The report says that government jobs are the biggest area of growth in the region – far outpacing other industries with over 48,000 of those jobs added in 2021. However, healthcare, transportation and warehousing, construction, manufacturing and restaurant service work all had positive job growth in the region.
These programs are important specifically to the college, which offers programs in demand industries like the construction trades with an emphasis on employment preparation. The college says that these programs and prep create a support system and professional network for students as they enter the workforce – as well as giving local businesses skilled labor and craftspeople homegrown right in the Morongo Basin.
If you are a business owner interested in the LAEP program, contact the Career Services department at 760.366.5201 ext. 5790, you can also email Career Services Coordinator Heather Sanchez at [email protected]
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