PORT OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGES TEAM UP ON WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
Agreement Focuses on Building Skills and Career Pathsin Goods Movement Industry, Environmental Stewardship
Feb. 4, 2025 – The Port of Los Angeles and the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office have signed an agreement to collaborate on initiatives to better prepare community college students for careers in the evolving goods movement industry. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) brings together the resources of America’s busiest container port with a college system that is the largest provider of workforce training in the nation.
The MOU focuses on critical issues facing the maritime industry, including zero-emission operations, decarbonization, environmental stewardship and changing technologies.
“The California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office partnership with the Port of Los Angeles, a large employer in the region, will help position our colleges to support students for good jobs and careers in the climate economy,” said California Community Colleges Chancellor Sonya Christian. “This collaboration exemplifies Vision 2030’s focus on Workforce and Economic Development recognizing that employer engagement is an essential component.”
“The goal of this MOU is to provide students with the education, skills and pathways they’ll need for future careers in our industry,” said Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka. “The impetus behind this partnership is to ensure that our local colleges remain up to date with changing technologies, and that students are prepared for future job opportunities as our industry evolves.”
Partnership activities outlined in this MOU include:
• Collaborating on how to create career path opportunities for community college students
• Improved job-seeking processes for community college students and alumni, especially in high-demand job categories
• More opportunities for community college students to participate in user experiences and research activities
• Port informational sessions at community college career centers
• Providing Port experts for career and recruitment fairs on community college campuses
• Improved job-seeking processes for community college students and alumni, especially in high-demand job categories
• More opportunities for community college students to participate in user experiences and research activities
• Port informational sessions at community college career centers
• Providing Port experts for career and recruitment fairs on community college campuses
The agreement builds on the Port’s ongoing efforts to promote workforce development and build clear connections between skills learned in today’s colleges with the skills in demand by employers in the goods movement industry. In November 2024, the Port and UCLA signed an agreement to foster collaborations with neighborhoods and communities around the Port, and create new learning, research and workforce opportunities for UCLA students and faculty.
Other workforce initiatives underway at the Port include the opening of a new $16 million International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU)-Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) Maintenance and Repair Training Center on Terminal Island, offering programs to reskill and up-skill ILWU workers. The Port of Los Angeles, Port of Long Beach, ILWU, PMA and California Workforce Development Board are also in the process of building a 20-acre training facility. When completed, it will be the only workforce training center in the U.S. dedicated solely to the goods movement sector.