It is with great anticipation and excitement that CABA announces the Educational Outreach Program that will begin to connect our members with bright young talent that are interested in pursuing careers in aviation. Our overarching mission is to help enrich our membership with the great industriousness and ground-breaking innovations of younger generations-the program's aim, to give a voice to enlightened ideas, while also extending a mentoring hand.

The CABA Educational Outreach Program is specifically designed to feed the intellectual and professional advancement of Colorado university/college students interested in pursuing careers in aviation. Tapping into the vast wealth of CABA members' expertise and emerging business needs and opportunities, this program will facilitate profitable relationships between our members and academic institutions, acting as a 'talent conduit' for bringing students and businesses together so that all might benefit. Our desire is to strengthen and revision our futures, so that our industry can continue to grow and prosper in a global marketplace.

CABA is charged with promoting the service and longevity of the Colorado aviation industry on behalf of both the business operators of the Centennial Airport and the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport. It is the mission of our working group to provide 'opportunity' networks between aviation centered disciplines and members' business developmental needs. Our members employ atmospheric scientists, engineers, cartographers, GIS specialists, finance/accounting specialists, legal experts, pilots, mechanics, FAA certified dispatchers, human resource/psychologists, mathematicians/statisticians, logistics/operations management specialists, sales and marketing experts and many more. Because of our broad and diverse membership, many potential academic and professional synergies exist, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Representing many of the most important business organizations in aviation, CABA is well positioned to function as the 'central terminal' for connecting all stakeholders. To date, there exists no single place where business needs on behalf of Colorado aviation companies large and small, can be communicated and managed for multiple interests. Instead, individual businesses typically communicate their specific needs to cooperative education offices, which then have the sole responsibility of matching students with those needs. This practice can become cumbersome for academic institutions. It also has the unintended effect of marginalizing smaller businesses who may offer significant opportunities and financial reward for students but who do not have the knowledge or resources for cultivating these relationships with academic institutions. CABA gives these businesses more visibility, simultaneously increasing the number and quality of opportunities for students. Not only does this program benefit our membership and the university/college students in our state, it also streamlines the cooperative education/research site process and has the economic potential to provide, enhance and protect future employment opportunities.

Having spoke with many members and students, and having done independent research during the course of this envisioning process, it became clear that the current structure (or lack thereof) of mentorship in our regional aviation community, and the business aviation industry at large, is probably costing us dearly. Younger generations are either avoiding the profession altogether due to current economics, or they have found little avenue for their innovative ideas and talents, while other industries have embraced them. Dr. Annika Hylmo (2009) of Insight Generation, a generational research organization states that Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics degrees (STEM) earned by U.S. Citizens embarking upon an aviation career has dropped dramatically over a 20 year period, likely as a result of many economic and work-life declines.

Of the four distinct generational groups identified, only two, the Traditionalists and the Baby Boomers witnessed industrial growth and wage advancement considering inflation. Generation X and the Millennials have witnessed their parents endure substantial corporate downsizing, displacement from achieving advanced positions due to prior generational longevity in those jobs, and stagnant if not negative wage growth. Not surprisingly, the Millennials have developed a value system that puts greater emphasis upon work-life balance and schedule flexibility. This is often at odds with the realities of most aerospace/aviation employers. They are also shrewd in their demand for wage and professional advancement opportunities, and are far less likely to remain loyal to an employer. This is thought by experts to be the result of observing their parent's diminishing professional 'buying' power in these fields. While some argue that perhaps these youth are less willing to invest in a professional future that has a large financial barrier to entry, data shows and research suggests that this is not true, in that both Generation X and the Millennials are entering the marketplace with greater interest in technological innovation and entrepreneurship. Clay Collins, the author of the Productivity Manifesto lists a number of distinct 'properties' that an organization may need to embrace in order to take advantage of the innovative minds of youth today:

An organization must embrace modern tools and technologies
An organization must value a balance between work and life, and encourage remote electronic commuting when possible
An organization must understand that professional advancement and fulfillment equate to loyalty, and not job security. Stagnation or indifference to innovation equates to talent loss. (Millennials are more willing to face unemployment in their field than endure difficult conditions-they are far more likely to leave a job for other opportunities)
An organization must embrace the knowledge and creativity of its employees. It must also value cross-functional teaming.

Given this research, the CABA Educational Outreach Committee proposes a plan to address these industry needs and our specific members' demands. It is important to remember that this plan is a work in progress. We need active participation from all members' and their ideas if we are to succeed in making this a model program. I greatly encourage you to consider the profound benefits to your organization with a mentorship program like this. Many of you can attest to the fact that some of your most productive and profitable employees today were at one time involved in a university cooperative education program. But we also aim to take this several steps further, much further in fact. Please click on the link below to view the first proposal of our strategic plan for 2009/2010. We have also constructed a letter of introduction that will be sent to a number of key academic institutions and departments after we receive and incorporate feedback from you regarding this initial envisioning.

Thank you for your kind participation in advance. I believe this is one more foundational step that CABA will take that solidifies not only the future of our organization, but the futures of those that will someday run it.

All Best

Donovan DeVasher
CABA Educational Outreach Chairman
Board Member, CABA