Summit addresses future of education

By Pamela G. Dempsey
Diné Bureau

GALLUP — Education and industry are the foundations of economic growth, something both Navajo Nation Vice President Frank Dayish Jr. and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson are working toward.

During Dayish's human resource summit on Tuesday the second in a series he plans for this new year New Mexico Secretary of Labor Conroy Chino told educational leaders and industry representatives that education is key in luring companies to the state.

"New Mexico's biggest challenge for competing in the global economy is really developers and maintaining an educated work force," Chino said.

While the mining industry has seen a "lot of peaks and valleys" during the past 25 years, jobs mechanized now require skill and training, Chino said.

"Without a formal education, the (job) prospect for New Mexico's workers in the 21st century are, unfortunately, that of low-wage, low-skill employment," he said.

Right now, more than 560,000 New Mexico adults over the age of 25 have no more than a high-school education, Chino said.

"In the next 15 years, you will see a serious 'browning' of not only America but of New Mexico," he said. "If the current trends aren't combated, the work force will be limited to a high-school education."

Hispanics make up 42 percent of New Mexico population and Native Americans make up 10 percent.

Richardson, Chino said, wants to increase New Mexico's skilled, literate work force and bring high-end, decent paying jobs to the state.

It's a vision that Dayish shares as well.

Dayish wants regional colleges and universities to create programs that gives students the skills they need to find jobs within the reservation and he wants companies to supply those jobs.

Richardson, through his WIRED initiative, has already begun to implement this idea.

Chino said that Richardson plans to partner with schools in Utah, Arizona, and the Navajo Nation to offer a type of program that assesses, trains, and certifies students to give them job-ready skills.

"They need skills transferable to another state within the region we're identifying," he said.

Dayish's summit attempts to bring colleges and companies together so colleges can see what companies are looking for and companies can see how colleges will provide the work force.

Jeff Barrett, dean of Trades and Technology at San Juan College, said that universities and colleges aren't as "student-friendly" as they should be.

"We need to be giving students success and retention," he said. "We need to give real-world experience."

Going out and getting an education is something that Navajo Nation Division of Natural Resources Director Arvin Trujillo is proud of.

The tribe has been pushing its residents to get educated now; however, 125,000 Navajos live off the reservation.

"We're looking at ways to bring middle class back to the reservation," Trujillo said. "We're losing them at 22 percent a year."