After a campaign that included educating County Supervisors about the economic (and life) impact of JobPath workforce development program, leaders of Pima County Interfaith won a 18% increase in funding for the program, from $423 thousand to $500 thousand. Pima County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 for the increase after Pastor Steve Springer of Dove of Peace Lutheran Church and Lindsay Leonard, a JobPath graduate, spoke.

Former students like Patty Popp credit JobPath for helping them bridge the gap between minimum wage work and a living wage career. After training for an associate's degree in radiologic technology, she kept on advancing to her current position as Director of Clinical Operations at Radiology Limited. Her story can be read in the first article below.

Southern Arizona Training Program Lifts Students Out of Minimum Wage, Arizona Daily Star

Long Term Impacts of JobPath Graduates on Pima County, Applied Economics

Board of Supervisors Vote to Increase JobPath's Funding by 16%, PCICEO

An economic impact study examined almost 400 people who graduated from JobPath in the last five years to track their progress. They found that the vast majority of people who graduated from JobPath still have a job five years later in the Tucson area, and that many have tripled or even quadrupled their pre-training wage.

Said Applied Economics researcher Sarah Murley, "That is a huge increase over a relatively short period of time." JobPath was established by Pima County Interfaith as part of a multi-pronged living wage strategy.

Local Job Training Program Lifts Incomes, Arizona Daily Star

Tucson's JobPath: Most Grads Better Off Than Before, Arizona Public Media

 PCIC executive team member Ernesto Lujan and Literacy Connects Executive Director Betty Staufer called on the public to support local economic development through investments in institutions like the Pima Community Colleges and job training program JobPath. They praised the efforts of PCC Chancellor Lee Lambert under whom they see "renewed emphasis on adult education and literacy...and a continued commitment to immigrant youth (i.e. in-state tuition for those who have work permits under DACA).

Stauffer and Lujan urged the public to pay attention to the contested race for PCC Board members, and to attend the upcoming PCIC accountability assembly with PCC Board candidates September 28 at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Tucson.

Support PCC, Arizona Daily Star