Airport Experience® News - Conference 2023

ONE - ON - ONE

Right: CEEA’s career pathways programming addresses the needs of employees at all levels, preparing them for next steps in their career journeys.

now our Business Development Training Academy (BDTA). We launched the first pilot cohort just to test the curriculum in 2022 and we had over 70 businesses apply. We were very intentional about looking at the certified business aspect of it because we wanted to make sure that they’ve at least got the foundation they need. Thirty applicants were accepted into the program. They went through an orientation then had nine weeks of courses. At the end of that nine weeks, we had 27 graduate from the academy. We did focus on the architecture, engineering, construction, contracting side of things for now, because that was where we saw the biggest pain points, but we will be initiating a concessions cohort in 2023. The curriculum is broken out into three different levels of proficiency – 100, 200 and 300 level courses. For the 100-level (entry level), we wanted to make sure they understand how to navigate the airport, that they know what the basic standards are …. Level 200 is an intermediate phase, and 300 is the advanced level where they’re probably doing well as a contractor at DEN and are interested in how to sharpen skills. Ultimately, the goal is to grow small businesses from operating as a sub-contractor to moving into a prime contractor role and increasing their generational wealth. CAROL: How are the primes involved? ANDREA: One key role was informing the process. Another is that the primes help [participants] make connections with expanding their networks and understand how to grow their business. The primes also are helping with some mentor-protege programming that the city launched several years back, but we’re really trying to level it up and make sure that our primes and our subs are in fact driving outcomes to increase generational wealth for small businesses. CAROL: What does the Career Pathways portion entail? ANDREA: There are five tiers to career pathways. The first tier focuses on grades K

through eight and is named Getting Your Wings, which is all about just planting seeds early and often about what a career in aviation looks like. We host a lot of field trips for schools, where we’ll give them an insider view on how the airport operates. We also do workshops and sponsor things like their science fair. The goal is to inspire, motivate, get them engaged and curious about working in aviation. The next level is what we call Careers on the Radar, aimed at middle school into high school-aged students. We have a summer DEN Academy that offers three weeks of curriculum for grades seven through 10. There are aviation related projects and experiences that they engage in week to week. This is also teaches students how to build a great network, because they have an opportunity to engage with our professional staff. We also offer a paid summer internship program for post-high school age students. In addition, we have partnered with CareerWise Colorado where we host student apprentices for three years while they complete high school and transition into post-graduation plans. Additionally, we work with Arrupe Jesuit high school and their corporate work study program, where high school students who are in junior or senior level grades are assigned into our workplace as part of their school day. We help them develop skills and grow them towards some specific goals that they identify as part of their goal setting process. Ultimately, at this tier we aim to either convert to hire student

interns and apprentices or assist them with transitioning to the next phase of their career goals. We’re also expanding the high school graduate apprenticeships into some of our trade positions like electricians and plumbers. By registering these positions with the U.S. Department of Labor, we build access for participants to gain experience in certified positions so that we can support apprentices in transitioning into full-time positions and manage some of the challenges we see in our workforce shortages. WARD: Can you discuss the initiatives to train and retain staff? ALBO: Our employee training program is titled Your Flight Plan. The training includes programs like our DEN 101 series, where every division provides presentations about different career pathways and opportunities within their respective areas. We also have a very robust employee training, development programming, e-learning modules, so employees can log on and take a series of different types of trainings. As another example of living our employee engagement values, we designed specific recognition programs that empower our workforce to recognize their colleagues and share stories about their development experiences. In addition, the city offers race and social justice training, which helps to embed our equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility principles into the knowledge base for our employees.

83

A X N E W S C O N F E R E N C E I S S U E 2 0 2 3