News

News

The Keys to America’s Next Manufacturing Renaissance

The Keys to America’s Next Manufacturing Renaissance

Perhaps contrary to popular belief, the United States, in 2022, is at the forefront of experiencing its next manufacturing renaissance. From chemical makers and metal-benders to aerospace/defense and semiconductor chip manufacturers, a recent Bloomberg...

TPMA’s 2022 State of the Workforce in Manufacturing

TPMA’s 2022 State of the Workforce in Manufacturing

Perhaps contrary to popular belief, the United States is in 2022 at the forefront of experiencing its next manufacturing renaissance. The industry has also proven its tenacity - From the seismic shifts experienced during the recession period ten years ago, to the...

Why Now is the Perfect Time to Consider Organizational DEI

Why Now is the Perfect Time to Consider Organizational DEI

How do you optimize your organization’s culture? How do you create an environment where everyone feels a sense of belonging? As we carve out organizational goals and KPI’s for 2022, now is the perfect time to consider diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Data shows...

Strategic Partnerships Fuel Workforce Success

Strategic Partnerships Fuel Workforce Success

Collaborative efforts among organizations are critical for regional economic impact, especially when it comes to workforce. It’s been my experience that regional economic development success comes from strategic partnerships, and it all begins with a strategic plan....

Cast a Wider Net For Curriculum Development

Cast a Wider Net For Curriculum Development

When working on a workforce development strategic plan, it is highly likely that it will involve a need for curriculum development to fill a gap. As a former high school English teacher and charter school curriculum advisor, I know firsthand that designing curriculum...

Optimizing the Potential of Industry Clusters

Optimizing the Potential of Industry Clusters

Industry clusters may hold the key to differentiating a region by defining its uniqueness of offerings, with the potential of leveraging these attributes for a comprehensive economic development strategy. The process of developing this comprehensive strategic plan...

What’s Your Story?

What’s Your Story?

Our task at Thomas P. Miller & Associates (TPMA) is to identify resources and put together competitive approaches to funding. Currently, the market is flooded with grant dollars—the federal government is releasing billions of dollars and foundations are offering...

TPMA Launching New Podcast Series

TPMA Launching New Podcast Series

Good news! This month we are launching 3 new podcasts to help communities locally and across the country approach and solve their toughest workforce, economic development, and community challenges. Each show will highlight a trailblazer making transformational changes...

2021 Prosperity Through Equity Survey

2021 Prosperity Through Equity Survey

TPMA has launched Prosperity Through Equity, a survey which will create a national snapshot exploring pandemic impact on rural communities across the U.S.   The Prosperity Through Equity assessment covers a community’s strengths, areas of need, and local...

Key Information: American Rescue Plan Act 2021

Key Information: American Rescue Plan Act 2021

The American Rescue Plan Act provides $350 billion in emergency funding for state, local, territorial, and Tribal governments to respond to the COVID-19 public health emergency, or its negative economic impacts. Here are a few things you need to know:   Amount of...

The Positive Impact of Apprenticeship Programs

The Positive Impact of Apprenticeship Programs

Apprenticeship programs are often misunderstood, even after existing for 457 years! The old idea that apprenticeship is reserved for the building trades occupations (you know, a carpenter, plumber, or electrical worker) is outdated. Today, an apprentice could come from manufacturing, healthcare, even IT.

ReWire 4.16 How to Leverage the Pandemic for Good

 Many of us are already preparing for the residual economic damage from COVID-19 that is about to afflict every American community. Uncertain days are ahead, whether it be citizens looking for jobs, businesses struggling to get back on their feet, or local and state...

Getting Ahead Of  Student Angst

Getting Ahead Of Student Angst

Leaders in higher education should not think of the recent surveys of worried students as fait accompli. There are solid strategies for persuading incoming freshman and existing college students to overcome their coronavirus anxieties and come to campus. The surveys...

Working in the New Normal

Working in the New Normal

  If you are like most clients of Thomas P. Miller & Associates, you are acclimating to working from outside of the office, probably from home, due to the COVID-19 outbreak. It might be a new experience or an expansion of existing culture, but life is...

Coal Communities Diversify Toward Bright Futures

Coal Communities Diversify Toward Bright Futures

  Coal is in retreat in the United States, with nearly 30% of mining jobs vanishing in the past five years alone. But some coal communities are taking command of their futures through determined innovation. In southwestern Wyoming, a partnership of Sweetwater...

Higher Education Innovates Through a Perfect Storm

Higher Education Innovates Through a Perfect Storm

  Colleges and universities are experiencing challenging times. Online learning is rising at a time when the number of available 18-year-olds is shrinking due to declining birth rates. Traditional colleges and universities also are working to service debt due to...

My Expectations Were Limiting the Potential of My Team

My Expectations Were Limiting the Potential of My Team

Evelyn Burnett Co-founder and Partner, ThirdSpace Action Lab Why can’t my business partners and others around me move more quickly? Why can’t they make snap decisions? Why can’t they sacrifice more, work longer hours and understand the urgency of the problem we’re...

Opportunity Zone Survey Reveals Optimism, Confusion

Opportunity Zone Survey Reveals Optimism, Confusion

A new survey designed to assess the status of Opportunity Zones in Indiana shows a high interest in the economic development incentive. However, the survey, conducted by Thomas P. Miller & Associates with support from the Indiana Economic Development Association,...

Workforce Development In 2020

Workforce Development In 2020

Regardless of industry, workforce and talent have been driving forces in recent years. Thomas P. Miller & Associates believes this trend will accelerate in the next decade and continue to disrupt post-secondary education, workforce development, and talent...

IHCDA Workforce Housing

IHCDA Workforce Housing

The Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority (IHCDA) has partnered with Thomas P. Miller & Associates (TPMA) to pilot an Anchor Employer Workforce Housing program for the State of Indiana. The program encourages anchor employers across the state to...

WIOA State and Regional Planning Update

WIOA State and Regional Planning Update

A system with many silos also has many plans, but the ‘intent’ of WIOA has encouraged stakeholders in the talent development ecosystem to play in the sandbox and play nicely! As the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act (WIOA) is ending its first four-year State Plan...

TPMA Had a Staff Retreat!

TPMA Had a Staff Retreat!

TPMA employees from around the country gathered in Indianapolis earlier this month for an all-staff training focused on strategic planning; race equity and inclusion (REI); and cross-team collaboration and team building. STRATEGIC PLANNING We turned our strategic...

Tenacity and Trust: A Recipe for a Powerful Partnership

Tenacity and Trust: A Recipe for a Powerful Partnership

By Betsy McIntyre Director, Tristate Energy and Advanced Manufacturing Consortium I have had the privilege of working with many partnerships over the years. Each has been similar in terms of purpose (workforce development) and structure (with public and private...

Government Should Empower Citizens to Dream

Government Should Empower Citizens to Dream

By David Henke 3rd District, Elkhart City Council, Elkhart, Indiana  Sometimes government is the barrier. I have been a city councilman in Elkhart, Indiana, for 16 years and chair of the Finance Committee for most of those years. Few of us are experts in finance,...

Let’s Celebrate Workforce Development!

Let’s Celebrate Workforce Development!

It is Workforce Development Month and what did TPMA do to celebrate? Participate, participate, participate. Recognizing the importance of workforce development, specifically the crucial role of federal investments, and its most precious resource, workforce development...

CLIENT SPOTLIGHT: City of Paducah

CLIENT SPOTLIGHT: City of Paducah

Activities: Communities that invest in the arts reap the additional benefit of jobs, economic growth, and a quality of life that positions those communities to compete in a 21st century creative economy. Paducah has built an entire economic sector around artists,...

A Sweeping Look at Micro Credentials

A Sweeping Look at Micro Credentials

Some of the best workforce training comes in small packages. Bite-sized credentials designed for students with barriers to education and employment can open doors to otherwise difficult-to-reach jobs. Thomas P. Miller & Associates has nearly completed a...