Revitalizing Hawai’i’s Economy by Upskilling the Workforce

The Challenge

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Residents of Hawai’i need access to good jobs to live and thrive, but underemployment along with the cost of living in the state are becoming a concern. To address the challenge, the University of Hawai’i Community College System (UH Community Colleges) partnered with the Chamber of Commerce Hawai’i and over 70 industry partners to launch Good Jobs Hawai’i in January 2023. 

Good Jobs Hawai’i is an initiative offering free skills training in high demand industries to create pathways to good jobs for the residents of Hawai‘i. Funded by multiple workforce development grants, the seven colleges within the UH Community College System are responsible for providing the training and support that allows individuals to access these jobs.  

Of course, creating access to programming for so many individuals presents operational challenges. 

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It can be tricky to have a seamless experience when there’s various information in different places. A lot of burden was on the student to figure out where to apply for grants.

Dan Doerger | Director of Workforce Innovation, University of Hawai'i

The Solution

UH Community Colleges leveraged its Modern Campus Lifelong Learning non-traditional student management system to make it easy for residents of Hawai’i to find and register for programs that would lead to good jobs. 

"Looking at the website from a user experience, Lifelong Learning is able to pull all the information from course catalogs together so that students don’t have to visit our seven campuses to find that information. We pull it all together and it’s there for them in one place," Doerger said. 

What’s more, staff are able to leverage Modern Campus Lifelong Learning to ensure the right grants are applied to the right students—making life easier for learners while also ensuring the Good Jobs Hawai’i initiative runs smoothly. 

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Modern Campus Lifelong Learning works with our existing interface databases to provide that seamless experience on the front end for the student. Students easily apply on the front end and our staff is able to work out which grant applies to each student.

Dan Doerger

The Result

Within four months of launching in January 2023, the Good Jobs Hawai’i initiative has already had an impact in the state. Nearly 700 have already enrolled for free employment training.  

“The end goal is when someone is using the website and accessing information, it’s as easy as possible,” said Doerger.