Governor Inslee Celebrates Five Years of CCW

CCW celebrated its five-year anniversary at the Seattle Colleges Wood Technology Center on November 22, 2024, with special guest Governor Jay Inslee. The event highlighted CCW’s evolution from a vision to a nationally recognized model for career connected learning.

Former CCW Executive Leader Maud Daudon reflected on the initiative’s origin and Governor Inslee’s instrumental role in its creation and ongoing success. Daudon thanked the Governor for his support and vision, and the current CCW Leadership Team presented him with a CCW Champion award, recognizing his unwavering commitment to ensuring high-quality, equitable pathways for young people in Washington to explore, prepare, and launch themselves into college and careers.

“I hope you’ll all become advocates for this program,” Governor Inslee shared, emphasizing that career connected learning addresses economic growth and equitable impacts. “This is a justice issue as well as an economic issue,” he added.

The event spotlighted JumpStart, an innovative “earn and learn” program connecting communities affected by climate change with green jobs. “When we do things differently, we get different results,” explained Michael Carter, Climate & Workforce Program Manager at King County. The program’s unique approach includes King County directly employing students during worksite learning at partner businesses.

Employers praised JumpStart’s impact on talent development. “This partnership gives us a talent pool to draw from,” said Sarah Ali, Program Manager at Sphere Solar Energy. Morgan Zehrung, owner of Forecast Solar, added, “We love this program, we plan to take on more trainees.”

For students like Tim Miller, JumpStart has been transformative. “They provided the opportunity of a lifetime, and I didn’t know that it was going to lead to all this, but I’m very happy and grateful that they did because now I have a career where I could support myself as well as a family.” The program’s success is bolstered by comprehensive support services funded through the Washington Jobs Initiative, with several participants transitioning to full-time positions with their host employers.

Governor Inslee concluded by celebrating the initiative’s impact: “Our young people take a seed of opportunity and run with it.”