Chevelle Harrison, Director of Workforce Development

City of Philadelphia Department of Aviation

Chevelle E. Harrison is the Director of Workforce Development for the City of Philadelphia Department of Aviation. She is responsible for leading the airports’ Bridge Program, a workforce development initiative that creates internal/external pipelines and career mapping pathways for employees and job seekers. Her role includes reskilling and upskilling employees to staff critical and hard-to-fill positions, employee retention, and succession planning by addressing knowledge transfers and skill gaps.

Ms. Harrison has 29 years of civil service experience with the City of Philadelphia, working in departments including the Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia Water Department (PWD), Department of Human Services, Office of Economic Opportunity, and Philadelphia Parks and Recreation. During her years of service, she has been instrumental in the areas of community relations, opportunity development, and diversity and inclusion projects and program management. She successfully reestablished and strengthened PWD’s apprenticeship program through the formation and cultivation of strategic partnerships with the School District of Philadelphia’s Office of Career and Technical Education, other area vo-tech schools, and the Community College of Philadelphia. Through these partnerships, needs-specific training programs were developed thereby creating a direct student/candidate pipeline into PWD trades positions. Ms. Harrison was also PWD’s liaison/coordinator for their co-op program with Drexel University and PowerCorpsPHL, an AmeriCorps program designed to support the City of Philadelphia’s environmental stewardship initiatives and youth violence prevention and workforce development priorities.

Throughout her career, Ms. Harrison has been a leader in her commitment to community development, and is dedicated to empowering minority youth through education, mentorship, and apprenticeship opportunities. Her unwavering belief is that “Knowledge is Power” and exposure to information provides an opportunity to improve one’s situation. Her leadership and dedication to minority youth development is evidenced in her volunteerism and participation in the My Brother’s Keeper initiative, the Project U-Turn collaboration, Philadelphia Works, Inc., Philadelphia Youth Network, and The School District of Philadelphia’s Career and Technical Education Industry Advisory Committee.

Ms. Harrison is a lifelong resident of Philadelphia and first-generation college graduate. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Management from Peirce College, where she graduated magna cum laude, and an MBA from the University of Phoenix. She is also a Certified Compliance Administrator (CCA) by the American Contract Compliance Association. In her spare time, Ms. Harrison loves spending time with family and friends, helping with cat rescues, gardening and being the ultimate foodie.