A Knowledge Exchange for State Policy Makers and Sector Leaders
Welcome to the Sector Strategies Blog!
Below, you'll find reports, news items and original articles that we think are of particular interest to sector strategy leaders. We encourage you to check in regularly for the latest updates. When you register for the site, you can subscribe to get notifications of updates sent directly to your email inbox. Submissions are encouraged! Just email us with your links, reports, articles, questions, and suggestions for making sectorstrategies.org the best resource for State sector strategy leaders. Lastly, we encourage you to comment on the posts you see here, adding your opinions, insight and experiences.
July 31, 2008: Today, Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) announced legislation – developed by The Workforce Alliance (TWA) and other experts in the workforce field – which, if passed, would represent the first Congressionally authorized investment in sector partnerships. The SECTORS Act of 2008 (S. 3368) will help prepare workers for middle-skill jobs by providing grants for sector partnerships that create customized solutions for specific high-demand industries at the regional level. The bill would create new, unique capacity within the federal workforce development system (through the Workforce Investment Act).
This white paper, co-authored by the National Network of Sector Partners (NNSP) and Southern Growth Policies Board (SGPB) highlights the success of five Southern states with workforce development efforts that are leading to the establishment and success of high-growth, high-wage industries. The report describes both policy and local program models that provide guidance for states throughout the South in the redesign and re-deployment of workforce development, education, economic development, and social service assets. This roadmap includes recommendations for the adoption of “sector-friendly” policies and describes ways in which philanthropy and interested advocacy groups can provide support.
Many states are looking to renewable energy and other "green" industries as potential targets for sector strategies. Greener Pathways: Jobs and Workforce Development in the Clean Energy Economy was released by the Center on Wisconsin Strategy, The Workforce Alliance, and The Apollo Alliance, and looks like a great resource for states tackling these issues.
Across the country—in the media; in boardrooms, think tanks, and community organizations; in local and state government; in Congress and on the campaign trail—people are talking about the economic promise of clean energy. Greener Pathways: Jobs and Workforce Development in the Clean Energy Economy puts jobs at the heart of this animated national conversation. This report talks about the kind and quality of jobs in the clean energy economy; the skills needed to fill these jobs; and how existing businesses and their workers—especially those in the beleaguered industrial heartland—can move to the center of the clean energy economy.
From July 21-23, teams from six states around the country met in Madison, WI as part of the Policy Academy portion of the Accelerating State Adoption of Sector Strategies project. The teams – from Maryland, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, and Wisconsin – included representatives from Governor’s offices, state workforce and economic development agencies, education and training institutions (both K-12 and higher ed), labor unions, employers, and wide variety of other stakeholders. Across the three days, the teams engaged in intense strategic planning designed to help them get their state sector strategies from ideas to action, and also spent time learning from one another and from states in the project’s Learning Network.
Highlights from Monday included a panel of Learning Network representatives from Michigan, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and Massachusetts. Attendees told us that they found the session especially valuable because of the advice about what NOT to do, as much as for the specific examples about how sector strategies have been implemented in those states. The experience of these leading states is pointing to some interesting evolution in thinking about how sector strategies can have the most impact, and we’ll be inviting representatives from our Learning Network to share some of those lessons here at sectorstrategies.org.
Wisconsin Governer Jim Doyle addressed the group in the afternoon. Fresh from lunch with the Dalai Lama (also visiting Wisconsin that week, and staying in our hotel, in fact!), the Governor spoke passionately about how sector strategies are being implemented in Wisconsin and the kinds of impacts on workers, businesses, and systems that he expects to see from this work.
Tuesday morning kicked off with a panel presentation about the use of sector strategies to advance low-wage workers. This is a key focus of the second phase of the project. Brandon Roberts from Working Poor Families Project set the stage. Next, Tom Dubois from Instituto del Progresso Latino talked about the work they are doing to provide bridge programs in the health care industry for low-wage and low-English proficiency workers in Chicago (watch a video about this program below). Finally, NNSP presented on the ECCLI program in Massachusetts, and the great success the program has had in incenting employers to create career paths within the extended care industry.
Those are a few highlights from the program. Then attending teams worked really hard on their plans, and everyone seemed to leave the meeting feeling energized and ready to get sector strategies moving in their states. And if any members of the policy academy are reading this, please feel free to add a comment to this post about your experience at the meeting!
Alignment of stakeholders is a key challenge and opportunity for sector strategies, both at the state policy level and at the regional initiative level.
Yet despite the growing connection between regional development and higher education,there is a clear consensus that regional developers have not, as a rule, captured the full benefit of their higher education institutions. !ere is a growing realization among academic leaders too that more can be done to optimize local and regional relationships. One recent report refers to higher education as the “sleeping giant” with the potential to transform community development.
Article from Steven Hendrickson (chairman of the Governor’s Council for Workforce and Economic Development) on Oklahoman's four "super sectors."
There’s no bursting bubble in our housing market. We rank among the top 10 job-producing states.
Our unemployment rate is a third below the national average. And our largest city is judged the most recession-proof in the U.S. So what’s driving this resilient Oklahoma economy?
Sum it up in four key sectors: energy, manufacturing, aerospace and health care. These Oklahoma “super sectors” combine the dollars, the people and the growth that keep the state’s economy purring. With more skilled people in these super sectors, we could turn this purr into a roar.
Visit our ARRA Resource page for essential resources for state policymakers thinking about how to use ARRA funds to help enhance their sector strategies.
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Tammy Coxen
Policy Associate, Corporation for a Skilled Workforce tcoxen@skilledwork.org
734-769-2900
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