Coalition Backs Patrick's Community College Reforms

Even with 250,000 people in Massachusetts looking for jobs, employers say they simply cannot find the highly trained workers they need to fill 100,000 job openings. A new, statewide coalition of businesses and non-profit groups wants to tackle the problem by getting behind Gov. Deval Patrick's new plan to strengthen community colleges by centralizing their management.

The group is called the Coalition for Community Colleges. Jim Klockee is one of the members of the new coalition. He's the executive vice president of public policy for the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, and he joined Morning Edition Tuesday to discuss the group's mission.