{"id":22114,"date":"2014-01-28T18:27:20","date_gmt":"2014-01-29T04:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=22114"},"modified":"2021-11-09T10:12:20","modified_gmt":"2021-11-09T20:12:20","slug":"educated-workforce-critical-to-hawaiis-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2014\/01\/28\/educated-workforce-critical-to-hawaiis-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Educated workforce critical to <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai\u02bbi<\/span>\u2019s future"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"676\" height=\"380\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9jn3Bd0eluU\" title=\"Youtube video player\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>An important education goal has been set for the state of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span>&#8212;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.55by25.org\/\">55 by &#8217;25<\/a>, to increase the number of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span>&#8217;s working age adults with a two- or four-year college degree to 55 percent by the year 2025. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We need families, business leaders, community groups and the general public to pledge their support to help <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span>&#8217;s keiki and students to strive higher, and to earn a two- or four-year college degree, so that they are prepared for the best careers and a family sustaining wage,&rdquo; said <strong>Karen Lee<\/strong>, the executive director of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.p20hawaii.org\/\"><span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> P&#8211;20 Partnerships for Education<\/a>, which is spearheading the campaign. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.55by25.org\/\">Get involved with 55 by &#8217;25<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Only 42 percent of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span>&#8217;s adults hold a college degree according to the latest U.S. Census information, and a recent study by Georgetown University found that by 2018, 65 percent of the jobs in <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> will require some college&#8212;an alarming 23 percent gap. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This is a national imperative, this is an imperative for the state of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span>, therefore, it is an imperative for the University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> System,&rdquo; said <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/\">University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> System<\/a> Interim President <strong>David Lassner. &ldquo;We take this extremely seriously. &rdquo; <\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_22126\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22126\" style=\"width: 350px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/p-20-news-conference-group.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"345\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22126\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/p-20-news-conference-group.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/p-20-news-conference-group-260x256.jpg 260w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-22126\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">From left to right, Kathryn Matayoshi, <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> State Department of Education; John La Forgia, <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> Pacific Health; Karen Lee, <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> P-20; Governor Neil Abercrombie; GG Weisenfeld, Executive Office on Early Learning; Richard Mizusawa, <abbr title=\"Associated Students of the University of Hawaii\">ASÌÇÐÄVlog¹Ù·½<\/abbr> and David Lassner, University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Governor <a href=\"http:\/\/governor.hawaii.gov\/\">Neil Abercrombie<\/a> and leaders in education, business and government spoke at a news conference at <a href=\"http:\/\/www2.honolulu.hawaii.edu\/\">Honolulu Community College<\/a> in January 2014 about the importance of strengthening the state&#8217;s workforce through education, from preschool to college. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This is based on solid evidence of what works, how to do it. We know where we want to go, we know how to get there&#8212;the 55 by &#8217;25 campaign is it,&rdquo; said Governor Abercrombie. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>PHOTOS: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/neilabercrombie\/sets\/72157640274300093\/\">See event photos courtesy of the Office of the Governor on Flickr<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The campaign is calling on parents to get more involved, government to expand and invest in more academic programs and initiatives and businesses to provide more internships and incentives for employees to complete college. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>TIPS: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.55by25.org\/parents\/\">Parents<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/www.55by25.org\/students\/\">Students<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/www.55by25.org\/businesses\/\">Businesses<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Local businesses have also joined the 55 by &#8217;25 initiative including <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hawaiianairlines.com\">Hawaiian Airlines<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/hawaiiantel.com\/\">Hawaiian Telcom<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/ficoh.com\/\">First Insurance Company of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span><\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hawaiipacifichealth.org\/\"><span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> Pacific Health<\/a>, the largest private employer in the state that operates four hospitals including Kapi&#699;olani Medical Center for Women and Children and Straub Medical Center. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;These hospitals could not function without an educated workforce,&rdquo; said John La Forgia, the senior vice president and chief marketing officer for <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> Pacific Health. &ldquo;We need doctors, nurses, lab technologists, x-ray technicians, a whole host of people, all of whom need to have specialized training, advanced training, advanced education to get what really are wonderful jobs.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>Efforts are already underway on all fronts. In recent years, enrollment is up 25 percent across the <abbr>ÌÇÐÄVlog¹Ù·½<\/abbr> System and graduation rates are up 27 percent, thanks in part to efforts like the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/hawaiigradinitiative\/\"><span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> Graduation Initiative<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;That is, we are getting more students through more quickly than we are enrolling and that&#8217;s going to be essential for increasing degree output for the state,&rdquo; said Lassner. <\/p>\n<p>55 by &#8217;25 is an initiative by <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> P&#8211;20 Partnerships for Education, a statewide partnership led by the <a href=\"http:\/\/earlylearning.hawaii.gov\/\">Executive Office on Early Learning<\/a>, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hawaiipublicschools.org\"><span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> State Department of Education<\/a> and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/\">University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span><\/a>. Go to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.55by25.org\/\">55 by &#8217;25 website<\/a> for more information. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 55 by \u201925 initiative aims to increase the number of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span>&#8217;s working age adults with a two- or four-year college degree to 55 percent by the year 2025. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,12],"tags":[511,340,306,947,56],"class_list":["post-22114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-video","tag-55-by-25","tag-hawaii-graduation-initiative","tag-hawaii-p-20","tag-uh-system","tag-video-2","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22114"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151519,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22114\/revisions\/151519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}