Workone-northeast

21st Century Talent Conference Recap

 
The Partnership staff helped area Mayors, WorkOne Northeast, and the Talent Initiative kick off the 21st Century Talent Conference on Wednesday, October 5. Regional Mayors Suzanne Handshoe of Kendallville, John Schultz of Decatur, Tom Henry of Fort Wayne, Norm Yoder of Auburn, John Minch of Berne, and Richard Hickman of Angola, along with Senator Kruse stood behind this effort as we brought together over 200 area educators and business persons to talk about the importance of developing a top-rated workforce. The event was headlined by two dynamic keynote speakers; Ian Jukes; Director of InfoSavvy Group, an international consulting group that provides leadership and program development and Dewayne Matthews; Vice President of Policy and Strategy for the Lumina Foundation.
 
The conference’s main goal: educate the region on the BIG Goal and importance of education and business to work together to achieve this bold initiative. The BIG Goal; first developed by the Lumina Foundation for Education (out of Indianapolis) challenges the region to increase the proportion of American’s with high-quality degrees and credentials to 60% by the year 2025.
 
Why does this matter? While the unemployment rate in Northeast Indiana and across the nation is still high; we have employers with jobs openings that they are unable to fill due to the lack of appropriate skills and education. This trend is only just beginning and is projected to get much worse.
 
The conference touched on a broad spectrum of issues related to developing our 21st Century Talent. John Stafford, Director of Community Research Institute for IPFW, and his business panel discussed the current reality of the workforce in Northeast Indiana. Mark Michael; President and COO of Fort Wayne Metals, and Scott Maddox; Site Executive for Northrop Grumman Corp. talked about the current and long-term skill needs of their companies and the difficulties of finding those skills in our region today.
 
Leonard Helfrich, Director of the Talent Initiative, shared “What is Happening Regionally”, highlighted programs of the Talent Initiative and other strong regional programs.
 
Ian Jukes keynote address titled, “Disruptive Innovation,” illustrated the rapid nature of change in today’s world and the critical need for the evolution of training and education to keep pace with this change. Jukes stated that “everything has an expiration date; including education… get ready for the reset button, it is time for a complete overhaul.” The audience enjoyed his enthusiasm and ideas about change.
 
So here comes the question of: are we heading in the right direction? According to the various business owners, politicians, and educators who attended, the answer is a firm “yes!” We, as a region, need to change now before we get left behind. Dewayne showed the importance of education and how the previous recession accelerated a longer-term decline in middle-skilled, middle-waged jobs. According to studies, 735,000 working-age adults have attended college, but don’t have a degree. Wow! This just proves that we need to act now and the BIG Goal should be the driving force of our action.
 
By: Erica Hahn, Vision 2020 Project Coordinator
Photo By: Daniel Scheerer (Pixel Perfect Photography)
 

Collaboration = Success for Garrett Community

Increasing postsecondary attainment levels is all over in the news. President Obama has said that he would like the United States to rank number one in college graduation rate by 2020. Given that the United States currently ranks 12th that would require a 60% increase. Although not an insurmountable task, this will require a great deal of effort. On the state level, the Lumina Foundation has adopted this goal of a 60% increase, which it dubbed the Big Goal, and has extended the timeline to 2025.

 
On a regional level, several area organizations are joining together to do their part in attaining this 60% goal. Ivy Tech Community College-Northeast, Garrett-Keyser-Butler Community School District, WorkOne and Freedom Academy are partnering to form Project Millennium. This project works to increase the awareness and availability of postsecondary opportunities for students, parents and adults. Ivy Tech will offer courses at Garrett Learning Center starting in the fall. To make the classes easily accessible, they are offered in face-to-face as well as online format and many classes are in the evening which makes work schedules less of an issue. This program has the potential to make a huge impact on the Garrett community as well as make a difference on the 60% goal.

 
And in yet another effort to make these opportunities available to everyone, Project Millennium is in line with the “Anytime/Anywhere” Initiative funded by the Classroom Innovation Grant which works to provide all students in the Garrett community with Internet access. If you can’t make it to the Learning Center, then you will have the opportunity to take the classes online from the comfort of your own home.

 
This is such an amazing opportunity and at the root of it all is collaboration. What can be accomplished when people get together is truly motivational and the impact of Project Millennium will be felt for years to come.

 
Read more about Project Millennium.

 
Visit the partners’ websites:
Freedom Academy
WorkOne
Ivy Tech Community College – Northeast