State and Regional Roles in Using Sector Strategies to Support Regional Economies

State Role in Using Sector Strategies to Support Regional Economies

The state plays an important role in setting forth a vision and state sector strategy “framework,” but the “rubber hits the road” at the regional level. One state official articulated: “The state should set the vision and framework and provide tools and technical assistance to the regions; then the state should get out of the way and let the regions implement their initiatives.” The key roles the state plays in using the sector approach to promote regional economies include:

Distributing state or federal funds to regions to support regional economies

One of the most direct and concrete ways that a state can promote regional economies is to distribute state or federal funds to regions in support of regional sector initiatives. This can be done by releasing a competitive request for proposals (RFP) or non-competitive grants to regions for start-up or implementation of sector initiatives.

Encouraging regions to look beyond geo-political boundaries when defining their regional economy

Regional economies and targeted industries do not tend to fall within the constraints of geo-political boundaries such as county lines, workforce investment areas, economic development regions, or community college districts. States should help regions to identify and recognize the true geographic area that encompass the labor market of a critical industry, such as labor sheds, supply chain concentration, etc. Most likely the labor market area will cross political lines, and will therefore require partners from multiple counties, workforce boards, colleges, etc. These stakeholders may not be used to working together. Using start-up or implementation funding as described above is a tool that states can use to incent partnerships across these groups.

Providing regions with regionalized labor market data and analysis

State labor market departments can provide valuable information to regions as they go about choosing relevant targeted industries and their true labor market regions.

Removing barriers

Local sector initiatives can provide important information about barriers encountered when multiple public systems or service areas attempt to work together. The state should be diligent in asking local practitioners about these barriers and suggested solutions. Creating this feedback loop will lead to positive changes in policy that affect how systems work together to benefit industry and workers.

Regional Role in Using Sector Initiatives to Grow Their Economies

At the regional level, sector initiative partners must use the true labor market boundaries of their target industry to identify which geo-political boundaries must be crossed to develop and implement an initiative that is responsive to the industry’s needs. Two critical regional roles include:

• Developing strong collaborative relationships efforts across agencies and service areas: The intermediary (or convener) must build and create new relationships with relevant partners identified based on labor market information. This might mean working with more than one local workforce board, community college, economic development agency, chamber of commerce, or other group.
• Eliminating/reducing turf barriers: It is critical to keep the focus on meeting the needs of the target industry and the related workforce, regardless of barriers created by artificial boundaries. It is common for funding streams, performance measures, and comfort zones to get in the way of jointly serving the needs of an industry. The intermediary will need to facilitate cross-system and cross-area problem solving.