The Aerospace Education Program Alliance (AEPA) is urging industry to support the enactment of legislation that would bring government, industry and education together to address critical shortages in the aviation and aerospace workforce. Support for the Aerospace Workforce Development Program would grow the workforce and increase access for those interested in aviation/aerospace careers.
AEPA is urging aviation, aerospace and defense companies and associations to support the Aerospace Workforce Development Program, which is on the cusp of being introduced in Congress.
“While educational funding for aviation/aerospace education is a major issue for aerospace education programs, funding alone will not solve the workforce problem,” said AEPA CEO Dr. Ralph K. Coppola, in describing the reason behind the initiative. “The key to solving the workforce problem is developing a process for focusing resources on the programs that are successfully addressing the workforce issue.”
The Aerospace Workforce Development Program has two parts. (1) Modification of Department of Defense aerospace contracts to include aerospace education programs as subcontractors; and (2) Establishment of an Aerospace Education Program List on the DoD website where companies will find effective education programs to partner with and invest in as subcontractors. The list will rank aerospace education programs based on their contribution to the workforce.
The legislation grew out of the Congressionally-mandated youth task force. To be eligible for education subcontracts, aerospace education organizations must show that they are effective in addressing workforce shortages in pilots, aircraft maintenance, aerospace engineering, manufacturing and other technically related fields.
AEPA is asking aviation, aerospace and defense companies and organizations to join more than 20 organizations and businesses who have already signed on to a letter supporting this program, which is below.
To support the introduction of this legislation: click the link to the Google form to add your organization’s name to the letter or scan the QR code. https://forms.gle/Ag5rJW4e5LNPTeRy7
About AEPA
The Aerospace Education Program Alliance brings aerospace education programs together, giving these programs a collective voice so they can better help youth succeed in pursuing careers in aerospace. AEPA represents the interests of aerospace education programs. The AEPA aerospace education programs have for decades been inspiring and preparing students for the workforce. These programs are a critical part of the nation’s need to build a robust workforce. Aerospace education programs, while part of the STEM/workforce pipeline, have been operating independently. The pipeline is narrow and leaky, and industry is not getting enough students through the pipeline to address the workforce need. The AEPA is focused on bringing aerospace education programs together to plug the leaks and expand the number of students in the STEM/workforce pipeline and ensuring they join the workforce.
Letter to Congress
Re: Letter of Support for Aerospace Workforce Development Program
As representatives of hundreds of thousands of individuals, companies, schools, and other entities involved in all segments of aviationand aerospace, we are writing to express our strong support to enact legislation that would create the Aerospace Workforce Development Program.
We strongly support the establishment of the national Aerospace Workforce Development Program to facilitate collaboration and cooperation among key sectors of government, industry and education to address the aviation and aerospace workforce issue. The Aerospace Workforce Development Program will address three strategic issues for the United States by ensuring: safe commercial aviation; strong national defense capabilities; and enhanced global economic competitiveness. These strategic issues are negatively impacted by the aviation and aerospace workforce shortage.
This initiative addresses current and projected critical commercial aviation and aerospace and defense workforce shortages. Congress mandated an FAA Youth Access to Aviation Jobs in America Task Force to develop a report with recommendations on how to address the aerospace workforce issue. The report was submitted to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation; the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the FAA/DOT in September 2022.
Task Force Recommendation 18: Aerospace Workforce Development Program is designed to address the U.S. aviation and aerospace and defense workforce shortages by using the current government contracting process to fund the development of the aviation and aerospace workforce.
We greatly appreciate your leadership in helping to enact this important and much needed legislation. It will establish a collaborative process to promote our industry and assist in the development of the next generation of aviation and aerospace workforce.
Sincerely,
Click the link to the Google form to add your organization’s name to the letter or scan the QR Code.
For more information contact:
Dr. Ralph K. Coppola, President & CEO
Phone: 703-298-6630; Email: rkcoppola@yahoo.com
