For purposes of this part, the following terms have the following meanings:

(a) “Career pathways” means an identified series of positions, work experiences, or educational benchmarks or credentials that offer occupational and financial advancement within a specified career field or related fields over time.

(b) “Career technical education credential” means a workforce certificate, degree, or industry-recognized credential.

(c) “Career Technical Education Regional Consortium,” or “consortium,” means an administrative grouping of community college districts and local educational agencies by the Division of Workforce and Economic Development of the chancellor’s office for the purpose of coordination and joint planning within regions, as defined in subdivision (p). Local educational agencies shall be grouped based on their association with community college districts. In the event that a local educational agency does not fall within the geographical boundaries of any community college district, the local educational agency shall be grouped with the nearest community college district.

(d) “Chancellor’s office” means the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges.

(e) “Community College component” means the funding allocated pursuant to Section 88825.

(f) “Deputy Sector Navigator” means an individual serving as an in-region contact for an industry or occupational cluster, working with the region’s colleges and employers to create alignment around and deliver on workforce training and career pathways.

(g) “Industry” or “industry sectors” means trade associations or those firms that produce similar products or provide similar services using somewhat similar business processes.

(h) “Joint powers authority” means an entity established in accordance with Article 1 (commencing with Section 6500) of Chapter 5 of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code for purposes of providing instruction to pupils enrolled in grades 9 to 12, inclusive.

(i) “K–12 component” means funding allocated pursuant to Section 88827.

(j) “K–12 Workforce Pathway Coordinator” means an individual serving as an in-region contact to provide technical assistance and support to K–12 local educational agencies pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 88833.

(k) “K–14 Technical Assistance Provider” means an individual serving as the in-region contact pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 88833 to provide leadership and technical assistance regionwide on K–14 career technical education programs or pathways.

(l) “Local educational agency” means a school district, county office of education, or charter school.

(m) “Middle skill credential” means a certificate, associate’s degree, or industry-recognized credential that is less than a bachelor’s degree but more than a high school diploma and facilitates student success with workforce outcomes.

(n) “Plan” means the regional plan established under this part.

(o) “Program” means the Strong Workforce Program established under this part.

(p) “Region” means a geographic area of the state defined by economic and labor market factors containing at least one industry cluster and the cities, counties, community college districts, and local educational agencies, or all of them, in the industry cluster’s geographic area. To the extent possible, for the purposes of this part, collaborative regions should align with federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (Public Law 113-128) regional planning unit boundaries specified in the California Strategic Workforce and Development Plan and expand upon existing consortium infrastructure established by the chancellor’s office.

(q) “Strong Workforce Task Force” means the Task Force on Workforce, Job Creation and a Strong Economy commissioned by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges.

(Amended by Stats. 2018, Ch. 32, Sec. 110. (AB 1808) Effective June 27, 2018.)