2009 Excellence in Tech-Based Economic Development Award Winners
The State Science and Technology Institute (SSTI) recently announced the winners of its 2009 Excellence in Tech-Based Economic Development (TBED) Award. The award recognizes outstanding achievements in TBED emphasizing impact, strategic value, and replicability.
Posted On :
10/30/09 12:42PM
/Views :
689
/Downloads :
201
Opportunities for Rural Community and Economic Development
The Rural Sociological Society’s latest Rural Realities publication, “Homegrown Responses to Economic Uncertainty in Rural America,” explores three interconnected "homegrown" approaches for reinvigorating and growing struggling rural economies, which have been particularly hard-hit by the economic recession. The paper also offers several policy and strategic options for fostering homegrown rural development efforts. Related resources: Link to "Innovation in Action" article:http://www.workforce3one.org/view/3000929241996925905 Economic Gardening http://groups.google.com/group/econ-dev?msg=subscribe&hl=en The Farm Act of 2008 established the Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program. This program will provide technical and financial assistance in the form of loans and grants to qualified Microenterprise Development Organizations (MDOs) to support microentrepreneurs in the development and ongoing success of rural microenterprises. An MDO is an organization that provides access to capital and business-based training services to very small (micro) businesses. A microentrepreneur is an owner and operator, or prospective owner and operator, of a rural business with not more than 10 full-time equivalent employees who is unable to obtain sufficient training, technical assistance, or credit. USDA’s Rural Business-Cooperative Service today has published a proposed rule in support of the implementation of this program to meet the goals and requirements of the Act. Comments are due by November 23, 2009. The October 7, 2009 FEDERAL REGISTER" contains the proposed rule.
Posted On :
10/19/09 11:34AM
/Views :
548
/Downloads :
151
From Competencies to Curriculum: Building Career Paths for Frontline Workers in Behavioral Health
This report shows how Temple University Hospital, Episcopal Campus and Public Health Management Corporation, along with their behavioral health employees, have benefited from implementing a new work-based learning curriculum which articulates with a collegiate certificate and Associate?s Degree through Philadelphia University. This initiative is under the auspices of the national Jobs to Careers initiative. The work-based curriculum and individual lesson plans were successfully implemented with diverse populations of youth and adults in mental health, drug and alcohol, and developmental disability inpatient and residential settings. The applicability of the curriculum and accompanying lessons for other behavioral health employers is very promising.
Posted On :
08/06/09 02:11PM
/Views :
406
/Downloads :
156
STEEL VALLEY AUTHORITY-The Strategic Early Warning Network (SEWN)
The Steel Valley Authority (SVA) is a public authority created by union, community and religious leaders to respond to the loss of more than 157,000 high-quality manufacturing jobs in western Pennsylvania. The SVA a regional development entity, intervenes with companies in crisis and employs a range of industrial retention tools, including early warning systems; worker and manager buy-outs; management consulting and financial packaging; training for labor and management. This article describes the Steel Valley Authority as well as its Strategic Early Warning Network (SEWN). SEWN provides distressed manufacturing businesses coordinated access to available resources, and designed to enable management and labor to quickly find common ground.
Posted On :
07/27/09 10:32AM
/Views :
749
/Downloads :
331
Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity
The Kauffman Foundation has released its annual Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity. There was substantial variation in entrepreneurial activity rates across states in 2008. Pennsylvania exhibited the lowest entrepreneurial activity rate with 140 per 100,000 adults starting new businesses each month. Georgia had the highest entrepreneurial activity rate, with 590 per 100,000 adults creating businesses each month. Entrepreneurial activity rates follow strong geographical patterns. Entrepreneurial activity generally is highest in Western and Southern states, and lowest in the Midwestern and Northeastern states.
Posted On :
05/08/09 03:21PM
/Views :
329
/Downloads :
162
Harrisburg Area Community College’s Targeted Retraining for Dislocated Workers Program
Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC) has recently begun its Targeted Retraining for Dislocated Workers (TRDW) program. This special initiative provides targeted short- and long-term training to dislocated workers in Central Pennsylvania. As part of the initiative, HACC will waive the application fee and tuition for courses taken now through December 2011 for eligible applicants.
Posted On :
05/08/09 01:10PM
/Views :
898
/Downloads :
460
The Delaware Valley Innovation Network (DVIN) Talent Gap Analysis Report
The Delaware Valley Innovation Network (DVIN) Talent Gap Analysis Report Description: The Delaware Valley Innovation Network (DVIN), which encompasses Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, has unveiled the tri-state region's first comprehensive Talent Gap Analysis Report that will help the region assess how the talent needs of its life science industry are changing and how its workforce must adapt to remain competitive in the 21st century.
Posted On :
02/09/09 03:06PM
/Views :
881
/Downloads :
296
Report: Job Opportunities for the Green Economy: A State-by-State Picture of Occupations that Gain from Green Investments
Job Opportunities for the Green Economy: A State-by-State Picture of Occupations that Gain from Green Investments, a report released in June from the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, examines 12 states and the people employed in occupations affected by six green economic strategies: building retrofitting, mass transit, energy-efficient automobiles, wind power, solar power and cellulosic biofuels. Sponsored by NRDC as part of the Green Jobs for America campaign, the report shows millions of U.S. workers will benefit from a movement to defeat global warming and transform the United States into a green economy.
Posted On :
02/02/09 01:48PM
/Views :
1835
/Downloads :
1179
Coping with Layoffs: Current State Strategies for Better Rapid Response
This brief published by the John J. Heldrich Center Workforce Development in November 2008, examines state rapid response practices that are designed to coordinate the delivery of a wide array of services to displaced workers. It summarizes the efforts of several states, identified by national experts as having promising practices, in the service delivery, organization, and evaluation of rapid response activities. It highlights states that combine post-layoff activities with proactive layoff aversion approaches and worker transition assistance. Overview provides state workforce professionals additional tactics and strategies to consider for their state workforce systems.
Posted On :
01/29/09 09:21AM
/Views :
969
/Downloads :
370
Pennsylvania Industry Partnerships
An industry partnership is a multi-employer collaborative effort that brings together management, labor and public services around the common purpose of improving the competitiveness of a cluster of companies or organizations. This article describes Pennsylvania's statewide sector strategy of Industry Partnerships targeted to sectors identified as the best candidates to grow and provide high skill and high wage jobs. The article also provides a link to a guide titled "How to Build an Industry Partnership" published by Workforce Learning Strategies.
Posted On :
11/07/08 03:02PM
/Views :
546
/Downloads :
539
WIRED Wall Street West Promotes Regional WIB Collaboration
Wall Street West has accomplished a significant achievement by enhancing collaboration among the five Workforce Investment Boards in the region. By building on prior relationships and identifying a champion to create change within, WSW united the WIBs around the objectives of WIRED and is making substantial progress on its workforce development goals.
Posted On :
08/07/08 02:18PM
/Views :
562
/Downloads :
237
Job Opportunities for the Green Economy: A State-by-State Picture of Occupations that Gain from Green Investments
The University of Massachusetts’ Political Economy Research Institute has released a new volume examining the “Green Economy.” Co-Director Robert Pollin and Assistant Research Professor Jeannette Wicks-Lim provide a snapshot of the kinds of jobs that are needed to build a green economy in the United States in “Job Opportunities for the Green Economy: A State-by-State Picture of Occupations that Gain from Green Investments.” According to the research, the six green strategies are: building retrofitting, mass transit, energy-efficient automobiles, wind power, solar power, and cellulosic biomass fuels. Pollin and Wicks-Lim show that the vast majority of jobs associated with these strategies are in the same areas of employment in which people already work in today, in every region and state of the country. The authors present data on employment conditions in twelve states: Florida, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin. For each state, they report the number of people employed in each of the occupations affected by the green economy strategies, and what the average wages are in each state for each of these jobs. They also describe the national employment picture for each of the job categories.
Posted On :
07/14/08 02:38PM
/Views :
1631
/Downloads :
870
Pittsburgh Regional Compact
The Allegheny Conference on Community Development in Pennsylvania launched a regional work force initiative aimed at creating a pipeline between area students and companies looking for workers. The initiative, called the Pittsburgh Regional Compact, is a multi-faceted approach so students can get a sense of the career and its opportunities even develop relationships with area business people. Article describes the underlying research regarding the regions workforce, the activities and services designed to connect students, educators and employers and related links.
Posted On :
07/07/08 11:20AM
/Views :
279
/Downloads :
163
Northwest PA Regional Workforce Development Network
The Northwest Pennsylvania Workforce Investment Board has developed the Regional Workforce Development Network that joins economic development, workforce investment and education providers to serve employer’s new and incumbent workers’ employment and training needs. The Network includes 14 counties, 13 industry sector partnerships (representing over 180 employers), a K-12 education partnership, regional and county-level teams, the youth service system, welfare programs and innovation zones.
Posted On :
05/23/08 12:12PM
/Views :
339
/Downloads :
174
Identification Clinic Re-Entry Services in Lancaster County, PA
Workforce Investment Areas struggle to serve those people who have been on the margins of the workforce. One of the most difficult groups to assist are those who are re-entering the workforce after being involved with the criminal justice system. This article describes the Lancaster County’s Workforce Investment Board and the PA CareerLink program’s Identification Clinic. Not having proper identification is often a barrier to securing employment, credit and housing. The workforce entities and faith and community based providers created the Identification Clinic to remove this barrier and as a way to engage this population in the community and reduce recidivism. The Identification Clinics program started in Spring 2007, and offers the adjudicated and hgomeless access to representatives from the Social Security Administration, the PA Department of Transportation, and the PA Department of Public Welfare. Good article to learn about ways to engage ex-offenders. To view another article about engaging ex-offenders go to http://www.workforce3one.org/view/1220/info
Posted On :
05/02/08 09:32AM
/Views :
352
/Downloads :
187
Lehigh Valley Workforce Investment Board, Inc. Pennsylvania Career Gates
The Lehigh Valley Workforce Investment Board, Inc., together with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry and public television station PBS 39 (WLVT), collaborated to create Pennsylvania Career Gates, a 25-part statewide educational media series that provides middle and high school students with a glimpse, via video, of emerging industries across the state and the career opportunities they present. The series is not only a valuable tool for educators and employers, but is also used in regional economic development and state brain gain initiatives. Link to videos is included. For another career awareness example (Greater Peninsula Workforce Investment Board) go to: http://www.workforce3one.org/view/3495/info
Posted On :
04/11/08 01:34PM
/Views :
469
/Downloads :
163
Industrial Maintenance Training Center (IMTC) Cross County Sector Strategy
Over the last four years, three Workforce Investment Boards in south central Pennsylvania – Berks, Lancaster, and South Central – that serve ten counties have worked with more than 25 employers, eight Career and Technology Centers (vocational technical schools), and two community colleges – Reading Area Community College and Harrisburg Area Community College - to develop a system to train high school students and incumbent workers to become entry-level industrial maintenance technicians. To view a PowerPoint titled “Positioning the WIB as a Sector Strategy Leader” go to: http://www.workforce3one.org/view/1962/info
Posted On :
04/08/08 01:36PM
/Views :
554
/Downloads :
215
Sector Strategies in Brief
This publication is by the Workforce Strategies Initiative provides a concise overview of the elements and outcomes associated with sector strategies. The piece includes a concise definition of the sector strategy, key outcomes achieved by sector program participants and examples of several state innovative sector initiatives operating today. For an NGA report about state sector strategies go to: http://www.workforce3one.org/view/2944/info
Posted On :
01/09/08 02:35PM
/Views :
422
/Downloads :
187
Regional Technology Councils: A Strategy for Community and Economic Development
Regional technology councils assemble, energize, and empower those individuals and entities interested in pursuing technology-based economic development in their community or region. This paper, published by the Trent Lott Center, discusses the potential roles of Regional Technology Councils (RTCs) in community and economic development. Five RTCs are briefly examined. Four mechanisms of successful RTCs and recommendations for future research are provided. List of Technology Councils is on p.17 (Appendix A)
Posted On :
11/05/07 10:14AM
/Views :
609
/Downloads :
214
Workforce Intermediaries: Powering Regional Economies in the New Century
This report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation describes the indispensable role that workforce intermediaries play in the evolution of workforce services to balance the competing needs of workers and businesses; leverage millions in new dollars to pay for increased training programs; and link diverse players including nonprofits, colleges, and business associations through common goals and interests. The report shares programs and lessons learned at 3 distinct intermediary organizations: —The Reinvestment Fund, a social-purpose lender and financier of community revitalization in Philadelphia; Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership, a labor/management partnership in Milwaukee; and the Seattle Jobs Initiative.
