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- Wenatchee Valley College awarded Workforce Development funds
Wenatchee Valley College awarded Workforce Development funds
September 10, 2025
Media Contacts:
Tracy Donnelly, Dean, Workforce Education and Allied Health, 509-682-6614, tdonnelly@wvc.edu
Marcine Miller, Executive Director, Public Information Office, 509-682-6582, mmiller2@wvc.edu
Wenatchee Valley College is one of twelve community and technical colleges to receive
workforce development funds from the Washington State Board for Community and Technical
Colleges (SBCTC). The college was awarded $130,000 and the funds will be used for
WVC’s Competency-Based Education for Industry and Degree Seeking Students project.
In a recent press release, the SBCTC stated that the funds “aim to help industry thrive
and expand in Washington state while continuing to support the development of a skilled
workforce. The awards support projects that address the changing needs and expectations
of industry and prospective students, or that bolster local workforce and economic
development initiatives.”
The WVC Workforce Education department will work with faculty on various programs
including the recently suspended programs such as machining, graphic design, and engineering
to redesign them as Continuing Education workforce courses with clear competencies
and assessments. These offerings will maintain credit alignment for co-enrollment,
while using a competency-based education (CBE) model that breaks mastery into smaller
sections—creating flexible, stackable opportunities that allow students to progress
at their own pace and allow industry to meet their needs more directly.
“We know that success in non-credit workforce programs often leads to longer-term
enrollment,” said WVC Workforce Education Dean Tracy Donnelly. “And as an industry
begins to engage with these offerings, especially when timed to their schedules or
delivered as contract training, we’ll gain clearer insight into what they truly need.”
Donnelly will also work with industry leaders so that they can share what they need
to remain competitive.
“This approach gives us the flexibility we need as a rural college to truly become
a college of choice for students and industry alike,” Donnelly said.
Funding for the project comes from the SBCTC’s Workforce Development Fund program, which includes Invest in Washington funding that the SBCTC uses for supporting customized training programs, job skills
programs, job readiness training, workforce professional development, and assisting
employers with state-approved apprenticeship programs for manufacturing and production
occupations.
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To report discrimination or harassment: Title IX Coordinator, Human Resources, Wenatchi
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