Navigating Ohio Super RAPIDS and How to Make each Dollar Matter
Columbus, Ohio: Industries are evolving. Technologies are evolving. Consumer habits, workforce demands, global economies, and students are all changing. Ohio is embracing these changes will simultaneously planning for the future, in particularly in regards to its future workforce.
Ohio’s workforce is the backbone of the economy, and ensuring its continued growth and competitiveness is a top priority for the state. In pursuit of this goal, Ohio has introduced the opening of the Regionally Aligned Priorities in Delivering Skills (RAPIDS) RFP, a strategic funding source aimed at cultivating a robust workforce ecosystem. Through Super RAPIDS investments, postsecondary institutions will be able to purchase high-value equipment that will facilitate the growth and strengthening of workforce development endeavors in key economic areas.
For Who: Ohio Technical Centers, Community Colleges, and Universities
Amount: $100 million
Purpose: to align the state’s investments with the needed, verified regional workforce needs and demands by providing schools with “enhanced opportunity to prepare their students for high-demand jobs.”
Goals: Desired Outcomes
- Support and strengthen the industry sectors most in need at the regional level.
- Drive local and regional partnerships in areas that make the most sense.
- Develop regional strengths in delivering sustainable, equipment-dependent workplace education, training, and skills.
- Address duplication, adhering to strategies that focus on sharing, transferability, quality, and value.
- Develop strategies to build internship and co-op programs that encompass a diverse population of students and careers, positioning these programs as value-added talent resources for local and regional businesses.
- Inventory assets in these key areas, creating regional profiles that can serve as blueprints for ongoing strategic investment.
- Enhance the impact of statewide equipment and work-based learning investments by incorporating community development block grants, foundation, federal, and other funded strategies that build on economic development strategies fueled by workforce priorities.
Key Takeaways:
- “This program helps Ohio Technical Centers, community colleges and universities purchase the latest equipment to educate more students on the most up-to-date technology needed for the 21st century economy.” – Lt. Governor Husted
- This funding is to purchase equipment that immediately makes an impact on student learning.
- This equipment should be high-value equipment; this is not designed for consumables and every-day equipment purchases. Think of this as high-dollar, capital expenditures that would otherwise be near-impossible to purchase.
- This is your training program’s opportunity to be forward-thinking.
- “To continue Ohio’s momentum, students must be trained and ready for jobs in tech and advanced manufacturing,” said Governor DeWine. “We championed Super RAPIDS in the state budget to ensure that training providers have the right kind of resources and equipment needed to educate the next generation for the jobs of the future.”
- Advanced Manufacturing is a KEY-FOCUS of the Ohio Economy. Without a strong pipeline of top-tier workforce for this state-of-the-art manufacturing future, we will fail to reach our potential, and we will struggle to continue to attract key, top-tier businesses to build in Ohio.
- It is the time to ASK for what you need and want in your classrooms. The funding is available and this is exactly why it’s available.
- “As we prepare for computer chip and advanced manufacturing supply chain jobs, it’s crucial to support and create new lab and manufacturing technology spaces for educating graduates with the most advanced skills through higher education.”
- Think BIG. Ohio has acted BIG, so we in education can think, dream, and train BIG. Don’t set limits by only viewing this as a way to purchase a single training system or simulator; view this as a way to outfit an entire training lab that one-for-one emulates the working technologies and environments that students will experience in their careers.
- According to the RFP, “these funds shall be used to support efforts to build capacity, remove employment and training barriers for prospective and unemployed workers, develop and strengthen business-led strategies in the impacted industries and provide local guided solutions to employment for communities in economic transition.”
- There’s a lot to un-pack here. Let’s start with the phrase “build capacity”. In this context, “capacity” refers to the school’s overall capability, resources, and infrastructure to achieve its objectives of training/preparing future generations for this new workforce. Building capacity often involves activities such as:
- Increasing Expertise: Developing the skills and knowledge of staff members to better address the project’s goals or mission.
- Expanding Resources: Acquiring the proper equipment, technologies, and training tools to provide more access to hands-on learning. This could be seen as improving student-to-equipment ratios by increasing the number of individual training systems or technologies in the classroom, or by adding new technologies in greater scope and scale.
- Enhancing Infrastructure: Improving physical limitations impeding a school’s ability to provide training. Perhaps that is by expanding a lab space so more hands-on learning can take place or perhaps it is by investing in mobile training labs or trailers that can expand the reach of training.
- Strengthening Partnerships: Forming collaborations with other organizations or stakeholders to broaden the organization’s reach and impact. This is key. The state wants to see schools partnering with local companies and industries to prove support, improve students’ visibility to high-impact careers, and provide a valuable career path and lifeline to these companies.
ABOUT TOOLKIT TECHNOLOGIES
Toolkit Technologies is a proud distributor of hands-on training tools and curriculum for both industry and education. We provide state-of-the-art and intuitive training solutions to schools in the following areas, along with curriculum and life-long support:
- Manufacturing
- Transportation
- Construction
Manufacturing
We are proud to be the exclusive education partner of SMC. SMC is the world’s largest manufacturer of automation and pneumatic control technologies for industry. Our industrial technologies are trusted and relied upon by companies such as Intel, Rockwell Automation, Boeing, Apple, Abbott, Cummins, Dell, Honda, 3M and more. Thus, we guarantee the training technologies we provide in the classroom are industrial, made to last, and are exactly what a student can expect to see when they enter the workforce.
SMC areas of specialty:
- Advanced Manufacturing
- Industry 4.0 and Industry 5.0
- Mechatronics and Industrial Maintenance
- Robotics
- Artificial Intelligence
- Fluid Power
- Industrial Troubleshooting
Transportation
Toolkit is proud to bring leading technologies from manufacturers including ConsuLab, Switch Electric Vehicles, ADF, and FPTI into schools across the country for best-in-class training in:
- Automotive Technologies
- Heavy Truck and Diesel Technologies
- Electric Vehicles
- Aviation Maintenance
Our training aids feature state-of-the-art technologies that prepare students for the dynamic challenges faces the marketplace today, including technologies like ADAS, advanced sensors, charging battery management, and more.
Construction
Skilled Trades, Heavy Equipment Operation with laser GPS controls, Concrete 3D Printing and computational design are all industries equally needing increased training. Toolkit is proud to offer training systems from the world’s foremost leaders in these fields to prepare students for these jobs.
We could speak forever about these topics, but in the interest of being concise, reach out to TOOLKIT TECHNOLOGIES directly to learn how we can help you make the most of your Super RAPIDS funding.
Contact Us: info@toolkittech.com / (512) 203-0590