THE YEAR IN REVIEW 1996

Time and time again, employers ask: How do I get good employees, not just with technical skills, but with employability skills? VICA is the answer.

Vocational-technical education, the School-to-Work initiative, and many other movements in education and training reform have searched for an elusive buy key bridge - how to have an active partnership between public education and private business. VICA has been that bridge since 1965.

Today, VICA students are enrolled in trade, industrial, technical, and health occupations fields in high school and postsecondary education programs. We have 53 state and territorial associations and more than 13,000 local chapters. VICA students are the heart and soul of our organization. They're enthusiastic, determined, and have dreams - and more importantly goals - for the future. VICA gives them the tools, skills and opportunities to achieve their goals.

VICA activities develop creativity, problem-solving skills, teamwork, leadership, self-esteem and integrity - all competencies and foundation skills urged by SCANS, the U.S. Department of Labor Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills. More importantly, VICA instills a sense of pride and determination to be the best.

State and federal departments of education have long recognized VICA as a vital part of vocational, technical and occupational education. On September 23, VICA help a breakfast at the U.S. Capitol and invited key business and government representatives. Significantly, Robert Reich, U.S. Secretary of Labor and Richard Riley, U.S. Secretary of Education, spoke at this breakfast. They both realize the importance of vocational education and School-to-Work:

"The Vocational Industrial Clubs of America is doing an outstanding job of preparing America's young people - tomorrow's high performance workers in our high schools, vocational schools and community colleges. VICA is blazing a trail for the 21st century in the School-to-Work efforts." Robert Reich, U.S. Secretary of Labor.

Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association, was the keynote speaker for the congressional breakfast. The congressional breakfast was held in conjunction with VICA's 1996 Washington Leadership Training Institute, had 240 students and advisors from 29 state associations in attendance. After the breakfast, students made scheduled visits to 104 congressional representatives and senators.

One of the many examples of successful VICA partnerships is the General Motors Youth Education Systems (GMYES). This program allows high school students opportunities in job shadowing, mentoring and hands-on paid work experience in participating GM dealerships. Tony Sgro of Sgro Promo Associates, a business partner that develops and implements educational models for General Motors stated: "One of the things dealers complain about in hiring young people is that (employees) come with basic or good technical skills, but they're just not good employees. And what VICA is able to do is develop those job readiness and work-based learning skills. VICA provides the behavior component which make for great employees."

Another example is the partnership AlliedSignal and VICA have had since 1979. AlliedSignal had difficulty recruiting skilled workers from the East Coast to work at its aerospace plant in Phoenix, Ariz. VICA enabled AlliedSignal to develop skilled workers from within their own community. Ruben Coronado, training director of the AlliedSignal/VICA partnership, has stated, "VICA students come to us with a wealth of professionalism, with problem-solving ability and solid communication skills... the results have been outstanding."

Neither business nor education can prepare students or future workers in isolation. All three parties - students, education, and business - must be involved. One of the ways they all come together with VICA is through the skills competitions. Throughout the year, VICA features 10,000 skills competitions all over the country at the local, regional and state levels. Judges in all of the competitions come from business and industry to ensure that the contests realistically mirror on-the-job scenarios.

VICA's 1996 Skills USA Championships was the biggest, best ever. Held in Kansas City, Mo. On June 26-27, this event represented a $10.5 investment by business, industry and labor in volunteer time, travel, equipment, supplies and materials. It required 500,000 square feet of floor space. Over 3,500 students demonstrated the skills needed, both personally and professionally, to be a winner in today's society.

It's great when you walk out on the competition floor and see the involvement of business and industry firsthand. However, VICA's involvement with business goes far beyond competition support or financial contributions. Business involvement also means donating equipment and supplies to schools, ensuring that skill training is on the cutting edge of training technology, providing job shadowing and mentoring, and finally, providing students access to hiring opportunities.

Some of VICA's national winners continued on to compete on a global scale in the 33rd International Youth Skills Competition (IYSE), which was held in Lyon, France. These outstanding "Team USA" competitors brought home the highest scores in history for the team. At this biennial event, there were 506 competitors representing 28 countries, 450 technical experts, 2,000 vocational training instructors and approximately 240,000 visitors.

The next competition will be held in St. Gallen, Switzerland, next summer. This is an opportunity to see how the United States stacks up against other countries and to learn the latest techniques. VICA is the official U.S. representative tot e IYSC. The U.S. team is the only country not sponsored by its government. VICA relies solely on private support to fund and train its team.

America needs skilled workers to remain competitive in a global economy. According to recent Department of Labor statistics, by the year 2000, less than 20 percent of jobs will require a bachelor's degree, however, 65 percent of jobs will require skilled labor. Without a skilled work force, we cannot increase productivity, or promote and sustain economic growth.

The American public needs to learn about and understand the need for skilled workers and how they're trained. VICA shows these training programs in a positive light. Most importantly, VICA is preparing America's future work force to meet the demands of a global economy.

CURRICULUM IMPLEMENTATION AND DEVELOPMENT, INDUSTRY STANDARD SETTING

Since 1965, VICA has been serving students, educators and business and industry by being responsive to employers' needs and education mandates and trends. Business, industry and education partnerships thrive in contests as well as curricula programs that require industry input in classroom standards.

To keep this partnership strong, VICA has released the totally revamped employability skills training curriculum, the Professional Development Program (PDP). Funded in part by J.C. Penney Company, Inc., and Sears, Roebuck and Co., this latest edition was updated to meet employers needs and streamlined for easier implementation. The program guides students through more than 70 employability skills activities that are covered in seven levels of the program. These activities help meet the competencies outlined by the U.S. Secretary of Labor's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS).

Use of VICA's aware winning (winner of the 1996 Oracle Award from the International Association for Continuing Education for best publication or production focused on the application of the Principles of Good Practice.) Professional Development Program (PDP) curriculum encourages local business involvement in the training of tomorrow's entry-level workers. Pennzoil has found PDP to be a perfect match for reaching future employees at the local level. The company has donated$48,500 to supply curriculum and training to selected sites nationwide. PDP is also endorsed by General Motor Youth Educational Systems, AlliedSignal Youth Apprenticeship Program, the National Institute for Metal Working Skills and the Association for Manufacturing Technology, to name a few. They use it as the gold standard for teaching employability skills. In fact, they advocate adopting PDP as a national standard, because there's more to success in the work place than hands-on skills or academics.

Like the PDP, the VICA Total Quality Curriculum (TQC) was developed by a partnership - this partnership included educators and quality experts. The TQC incorporates Total Quality Management (TQM) principles into daily classroom activities. The TQC also meets the requirements of new education legislation while giving students skills that apply to their general education, career training and everyday life. The TQC prepares students for a TQM environment while they're still in school.

PUBLICITY

VICA had unprecedented publicity this past year.

The highlight was nationwide coverage with a four-page advertorial insert in USA Today over Labor Day Weekend. Traditionally the largest circulation of America's second largest newspaper, VICA estimates that 2.5 million people received the paper; the estimated "pass-along" readership is 6.5 million. What readers saw was a full-color insert covering the value of vocational-technical education, success stories of students, information on America's need for skilled workers, and the importance of industry partnerships in vocational education. The insert was made possible through the generous support of our VICA partners: SERVISTAR, Coast to Coast, DeWALT, and Stanley Tools.

VICA also enjoyed a 28 percent increase in its column inches of news coverage this year in newspapers, business and education press. Additionally, our circulation number increased by eight percent (not even counting the USA Today insert).

FUNDRAISING, INDUSTRY INVOLVEMENT

VICA, through the Youth Development Foundation (YDF), raised $539,157 in cash in FY 1996. Additionally, VICA added 24 new sponsors and upgraded the level of support from seven others.

Industry support of VICA spans financial support, technical committee involvement, donations of materials and supplies for use in the Skills USA Championships, assistance in the review and evaluation of curriculum materials, institutional planning and more. VICA's philanthropic arm is the Youth Development Foundation.

The purpose of the YDF is to seek the financial, in-kind and volunteer support of corporations, associations, organized labor, foundations, individuals and other interested parties for VICA's programs and activities. An active committee of volunteers from business and industry oversees the Foundation.

The Foundation has an ambitious goal to raise $750,000 in cash contributions in FY97. With the help of generous partners among corporations, associations, organized labor, foundations and individuals, VICA will successfully address the needs of our students and provide an even more qualified skilled work force for America.

MEMBERSHIP

Membership remained steady in 1996. VICA serves nearly one-quarter of a million students, instructors and administrators. We are expanding our market of members to include not only students in secondary and postsecondary vocational education, but also students involved in School-to-Work.

The big news in membership is the reorganization of National VICA. VICA staff at headquarters were reorganized to become more customer driven. First, VICA gathered and analyzed information on how to better serve customers through surveys, focus groups and site visits. National VICA staff were consequently reorganized into groups focused on the needs of specific customer segments: Secondary, Occupational Programs, Postsecondary/College, Business and Industry, and New Markets.

VICA's new publications and our World Wide Web page on the Internet cater to the interests of our customers. Communication with existing student and professional membership is essential to assure continuation of services and to keep them informed of changes and current issues.

The loyalty of our chapters never ceases to amaze us. According to an independent poll, 80 percent of our chapters are 10 years or older. We always, however, seek ways to expand our membership. The New Markets department was created to reach customers not traditionally open to VICA membership.