September 2011

Inside This Issue:

TPMA to help Project Lead the Way with strategic framework

Kentucky Rapid Response
Youngstown (Ohio)

Manufacturers Coalition

Midwest Economic Challenges

TPMA to Help Project Lead the Way with
Strategic Framework

Thomas P. Miller and Associates will assist Project Lead the Way, the nation's leading provider of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics curricular programs in middle and high schools, in the development of a new strategic framework and plan.

The not for profit organization recently announced it is moving its headquarters from Clifton Park, New York to Indianapolis. It was founded in 1997 and provides curriculum for engineering and biomedical sciences to more than 400,000 students nationwide. Its science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs are taught in 4,200 schools across the country, including 350 in Indiana. To access Project Lead The Way's Web site, click here.

TPMA and Kentucky's Rapid Response

The Kentucky Workforce Investment Board (KWIB) is working to transform the Commonwealth’s workforce development system into a demand-driven system better aligned with education and economic development priorities. An important goal of the initiative is to ensure that Kentucky’s businesses and labor force remain competitive in today's changing global economy.

As part of this effort, Thomas P. Miller and Associates is helping Kentucky officials redesign the state's Business Services structure. After reviewing the current structure, existing plans and identified goals, TPMA will be gathering input from individuals with on-the-ground knowledge of implementing Rapid Response and other Business Services, the successes they have had and what is needed to improve the services. With a thorough understanding of the Commonwealth’s Rapid Response and business services activities, TPMA will make recommendations for transforming the system and conduct training for state and local personnel on the changes to the system as well as ways to ensure success moving forward.

The KWIB hopes to offer fully coordinated business services that are more proactive to businesses’ needs and offer services not just in the event of a major layoff, but throughout the entire business lifecycle.

For a pdf of the Kentucky Workforce Investment Board's Strategic Plan, WorkSmart Kentucky, go here.

TPMA to Help Lead New Youngstown (Ohio) Manufacturers Coalition

A group of manufacturers from the Youngstown, Ohio area have formally created a new organization called the Mahoning Valley Manufacturers Coalition, and have tapped a TPMA official to serve as the coalition's executive director.

TPMA Vice President Jessica Borza will help the Coalition identify and prioritize the sector's workforce issues, raise support and mobilize a community effort aimed at solving their workforce needs. Borza said the area's manufacturing sector is facing a problem occurring nationwide: finding skilled laborers to work in the manufacturing field. The coalition also will work with regional economic development, workforce development and education and training partners to develop career pathways in manufacturing, ensuring training programs are responsive to industry needs, resources are aligned in support of those programs and new recruitment efforts encourage people to consider opportunities within the industry.

The Challenge of the Midwest to Compete in a Global Economy

We've previously discussed the challenges faced by state and local economic development organizations to compete in a global economy. For another take on this topic, the Chicago Council on Global Affair's blog "The Midwesterner" has a very strong article about the seriousness of this challenge:

We've written in past postings about the inability of Midwestern state governments to meet the challenges of a globalizing economy. For years, these state governments have been too small, too parochial, too dominated by rural interests to respond to the real needs of a global and urbanizing society.

Now, they're just too broke.

This is a national problem, not just a Midwestern one. But the Midwest, which depended for so long on a now vanished industrial basis, is perhaps deeper in the hole than other states and needs more desperately to find solutions, not only to recover from the current recession but to restructure its entire economy. For the full article, click here.

Finally,

Please contact us if we can help you pursue your programmatic or organizational goals. The economic challenges facing our country will continue to require new and more efficient ways of doing things, while encouraging new alliances and collaborations. We can provide you and your senior staff with an objective, outside look of your organization's readiness in today's environment.

Sincerely,

Tom