(Santa Ana, CA)—Rancho Santiago Community College District (RSCCD) has named Lorena Chavez as the new director of special programs to coordinate activities related to the development of career technical education (CTE) programs among all ten Orange County community colleges and adult education partners through the Strong Workforce Initiative.
In 2016, the Governor and Legislature approved the Strong Workforce Program, adding a new annual recurring investment of $200 million to spur CTE in the nation’s largest workforce development system of 114 community colleges. The Orange County Regional Consortium is part of the statewide initiative.
In her new position, Chavez will work closely with the CTE programs among all Orange County Regional Consortium members in the areas of curriculum development and alignment, developing marketing strategies for non-credit and credit career pathways, and establishing partnerships with business and labor organizations, workforce development centers, community agencies and other stakeholders. She works out of the Santa Ana College School of Continuing Education.
Chavez has a skill base that closely aligns with the many responsibilities of her new position, and comes most recently from Loyola Marymount University where she served as the assistant director of community engagement for the Center for Service and Action. There she established and managed new and existing university partnerships, wrote and managed grants, and provided training, recruitment and development strategies for a campus program that placed students as employees and liaisons at nonprofit organizations.
Concurrently with that role, Chavez was the founding director of the Loyola Marymount Food Pantry, where she created an operational plan for the program, developed donation and recognition procedures, coordinated a marketing effort, oversaw budget and expenditures, and coordinated staff trainings.
Chavez earned a Bachelor of Arts in psychology with minor study in business administration and alcohol and drug studies at Loyola Marymount University, and a Master of Public Administration at California State University, Long Beach.
About the Rancho Santiago Community College District
Santa Ana College and Santiago Canyon College are public community colleges of the Rancho Santiago Community College District, which serves the residents of Anaheim Hills, Orange, Santa Ana, Villa Park, and portions of Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Irvine, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, and Tustin. Both colleges provide education for academic transfer and careers, courses for personal and professional development, and customized training for business and industry.
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