Economic development and workforce development collaborate in many different ways, from developing one program or initiative together to working in new, transformative and even technological ways to assure that the skills qualifications of workers match employer's needs in their regions. This slideshare provides a cornucopia of examples from across the country that demonstrate some of the many unique ways economic development and workforce development are learning to work together. If after reviewing this, you would like some assistance in how to create a strong economic development and workforce development collaborative strategy in your region, please email colleen@nereta.org or call me at (908) 995-7718.

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Economic Development and
Workforce Development Collaboration-
Some Best Practices and Case Studies
March 5, 2014
Presented by: Colleen LaRose

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Camoin Associates (www.camoinassociates.com)
specializes in providing economic development
solutions to both public and private sector clients,
serving economic development organizations
(EDOs), local and state governments from Maine to
Texas, private sector corporations, and developers.
The firm’s work includes economic development
strategies where we build consensus among
leadership around critical opportunities and issues
in communities across the country, from small,
rural communities to large metropolitan areas and
entire states.
The North East Regional Employment and Training
Association (www.nereta.org) provides professional
development training to economic development
organizations (EDOs) and workforce investment
boards (WIBs) throughout the country and has
significantly opened lines of communication between
professionals in economic development, workforce
development, education, and business through
LinkedIn groups and professional development
webinars that NERETA provides on a national basis.

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Nobody knows what they are doing…
Once you are comfortable with that idea,
anything is possible.

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Education Philosophies Tensions
Academic Knowledge
vs.
Skills Based

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Economic Development:
Implementation of business
development and quality of
life policies that influence the
growth and restructuring of a
region to improve its overall
economic well-being.
Workforce Development:
Coordination of skills
development initiatives that
prepare individuals for current
and future occupations, giving
businesses the human capital
necessary to meet demand.
Organization that concentrates on
business attraction and retention
issues.
Government system that
puts people to work
Conflicting Priorities
Sustainable
wages
Business
profit
Quality of life
and
environment
Business
growth
Right leaning
philosophies
Left leaning philosophies
Buy American Globalization
But they both want a
capable workforce

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ESMORES
1. ENGAGE EMPLOYERS
2. SMART CHOICES
3. MEASUREMENT MATTERS
4. OPENING DOORS
5. REGIONAL PARTNERSHIPS
6. EARN AND LEARN
7. STEPPING STONES
Job Driven Checklist

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Best Practices
1. Collaboration on programs/initiatives
2. Creating a common baseline
3. Vision alignment
4. Developing a common strategy
5. Use common tools
6. Philosophical ideology restructuring
7. Organizational structural change

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Collaboration on Programs/Initiatives
• Westchester, PA – Hire One Initiative
(www.hireonecc.com )
• Entrepreneurship program- Volunteer program
Worcester, MA
• Talent retention – Campus Philly

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Talent Retention

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Massachusetts-
Work Readiness
Credentials
ACT NCRC being adopted
for statewide use with:
• TANF
• Adult education
• High school
• Community college

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Creating a Common Baseline
• Agreement on major
industry sectors
• Supply/demand
issues
• Share Labor Market
Information (LMI)
Four cross-industry skill areas identified by
employers, educators, economic forecasters,
and industry experts as critical in the labor
market of today and tomorrow.
1. Math and technology skills
2. Communication and teamwork skills
3. Problem solving and critical thinking
skills
4. Entrepreneurship and business skills
Ready for the Job:
Building Skills and Alliances to Meet
Demand in New Jersey’s Labor Market
Heldrich Center Study - 2004

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Economic Developers…
take your WIB director to lunch day is:
Friday, June 5, 2015

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Ten Steps to Aligning Workforce
Development and Economic Development
1. Evaluate local economic/workforce strengths and weaknesses.
2. Evaluate community’s place in the broader regional economy.
3. Evaluate community’s economic development and workforce development vision and goals.
4. Evaluate community’s strategy to attain its goals.
5. Evaluate connections between economic development, workforce development and other local
policies.
6. Evaluate the regulatory environment.
7. Evaluate local economic development and workforce stakeholders and partners.
8. Evaluate the needs of your local business community.
9. Help create an environment that supports the start-up, growth and expansion of local businesses.
10. Evaluate community’s economic development and workforce development message.
Inspired by a report from National League of Cities and IEDC: “The Role of Local Elected Officials in Economic Development. 10 things
you should know.”

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Vision Alignment
Data vs. Local vision/ideals/goals
• Barriers to employment
• Education and training opportunities and career
pathways in the region
• Sustainable living?
WARNING: Vision is not the domain of business interests alone.
• Tulsa, Oklahoma – CAEL and Avalanche
Consulting

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Career Services Must Die – Andy Chan
TED Talk, Wake Forest University,
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
College to career: Does a liberal arts
college education help you get a better
job?
Personal and Career Development
• Career education and counseling
• Employer relations
• Mentoring resource center
• Leadership Development
• Family Business Center
• Innovation, Creativity
and Entrepreneurship
Career services activities for each year in the university
Special LinkedIn group…

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Community College
Strategic Planning
• Kankakee, Il
• Cumberland City, NJ
• Atlantic/Cape, NJ
• Harper, Il
• Triton, Il
• Salt Lake, UT

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Career Source Florida
Talent Supply Chain Council created Agreed that Business is the customer
Using - Suppliers, Inputs, Processes, Outcomes, Customers – as common language between education and employers
Higher Education reforms
• Performance funding models – Target, improve, excel – measures, placements and wages
Developing a Market Intelligence Portal
• Education program designers can look holistically at supply/demand data
• Student/counselor interface that highlights in-demand occupational groups
• For economic developers, allows you to compare regions and states quickly and effectively
• Analyst tool that allows data analysts to efficiently design a custom data series leveraging background
forecasts
2006, Banner Centers- Industry certifications - IEDC award 2008 – Improve collaboration (industry, economic
development, workforce boards and educational)
• Problems: Curricula too general? Lacked sustainability.
Career and Professional Education Act
• Problems: Certifications led by providers? Passing tests or getting jobs?

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Developing a Common Strategy
• Create leadership capacity for the
region
• Lake Nona
• Envision Alachua
• Mobilize Eastern Maine

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Lake Nona
• 7,000-acre, master-planned community within the city
limits of Orlando.
• One of eight “iconic connected cities,” (energy
management, unified communications, etc.)
• Home to world-class educational and medical facilities
as well as a mix of residential options, retail centers,
preservation areas, the new home of USTA, and a
championship golf course.
• Lake Nona is being developed by Lake Nona Property
Holdings, owned by Tavistock Group, a private
investment founded by British billionaire Joe Lewis.

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Community
Development
Tools

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Use Common Tools
• CRM
• Grant writing
• CEDS plans
• Marketing
• Industry sector
initiatives/pathways

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Grant writing
• CEDS - Economic Development Administration
(Department of Commerce)
• To access the webinar recording, go to the
website: http://jobt.tv/nereta/workforce-ceds
After you register, you will be redirected to the recording
page where you can input your email address as the
username, and the password is workforce-ceds (Note*-
the password is case sensitive).
• ETA - Employment and Training Administration
(Department of Labor)
• Foundations

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Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy
(CEDS) Plans
Alexandria/Arlington, VA Centralina, NC and Catawba, SC

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Marketing

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Texas HOT jobs - Health Opportunities in Texas

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Ideology Restructuring
• Education philosophy alignment
• PA Jobs 1st
• Ford Foundation – Next
Generation Learning

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PA Jobs First
• Strategic Planning RFP’s
to bring workforce
development and
economic development
together
• Industry sector based
initiatives

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https://fordngl.com/

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Organizational Structural Change
• NJ Consortium of Community
Colleges
• NJ Talent Networks
• Kinexus, SW Michigan
• RETAINS
• Metrix Learning

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• Advanced Manufacturing
• Retail, Hospitality, Tourism
• Financial Services
• Technology and Entrepreneurship
• Healthcare
• Transportation, Logistics and
Distribution
• Life Sciences

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RETAINs
(Regional Talent Innovation Networks)
- Ed Gordon
“U.S. business culture has traditionally treated
its involvement in schooling as a part-time
charitable activity.
But now, even the largest corporations are
beginning to realize they cannot solve their
talent shortages by themselves, without
participating in regional workforce systemic
change."

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Metrix Learning
5000 courses! More than 1200 certifications.
Self assessments. Self-directed.
• ONET
• Skills soft
• Medcom trainex
• Certiport
• Kenexa ProveIT
• Pearson Vue
• Khan Academy
• Goodwill foundation

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1) The legal aspects of hiring interns
2) How to improve WIB websites
3) Engaging the business sector
4) Talent retention
5) Why Good People Can't Get Jobs
6) Facilitating Volunteer opportunities through the One Stop
7) Smarter Incentives for Good Jobs - Good Jobs First
8) Successful Strategies for workforce and economic development collaboration
9) Wired Grants update and What's next?
10) Teaching soft skills...yes it is possible
11) Comprehensive Economic Development Planning Strategy Process
12) Competency Model Clearinghouse
13) What are "workforce readiness credentials" and do they really help employers?
14) Prospective job BEFORE the workforce system pays for training!
Past NERETA webinars

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Upcoming NERETA webinars
• IEDC report on economic development/workforce development best
practices case studies
• Using LMI information
• Strategic planning
• Choosing a consultant for strategic planning services
• NJ Talent Networks
• Entrepreneurship support through the career center
• Career pathways
• Ed Gordon – RETAINS
• Entrepreneurship training ..at the career center?

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Project Reference List
Initiatives & Projects
• Westchester, PA- Hire One Initiative( www.hireonecc.com)
• Worcester, MA- Entrepreneurship program
• Philadelphia, PA- Campus Philly, http://campusphilly.org/
• Tulsa, Oklahoma- CAEL and Avalanche Consulting,
http://www.cael.org/ and http://www.avalancheconsulting.com/
• Career Source Florida, http://careersourceflorida.com/
• Lake Nona, Florida, http://www.lakenona.com/
• Envision Alachua, http://www.envisionalachua.com/
• Mobilize Eastern Maine, http://www.mobilizeeasternmaine.com/
• Maher & Maher, http://www.mahernet.com/
• Talent Crosspoint, http://www.talentcrosspoint.com
• Texas Hot Jobs, http://www.texashotjobs.org/
• PA Jobs First, http://jobs1stsummit.com/
• Community Development Tools, http://www.abcdinstitute.org/
• Ford Next Generation Learning, https://fordngl.com/
• Community College Network Consortium,
http://www.njworkforce.org/
• Talent Network,
http://jobs4jersey.com/jobs4jersey/toolkit/talent/whatistn.html
• Kinexus, http://kinexus.org/Pages/default.aspx
• Metrix Learning, http://www.metrixlearning.com/
• NERETA, http://www.nereta.org/
Reports, Books, Talks
• Reclaiming the American Dream: Community Colleges and the Nation’s
Future
https://www.insidehighered.com/sites/default/server_files/files/21stCentReport.pdf
• Heldrich Center Study (2004), Ready for the Job:
Building Skills and Alliances to Meet Demand in New Jersey’s Labor Market,
http://www.heldrich.rutgers.edu/sites/default/files/products/uploads/RFTJ_Summary.pdf
• Career Services Must Die (Ted Talk)- Andy Chan,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Tc6GHWPdMU
• CEDS Economic Development Administration, webinar,
http://jobt.tv/nereta/workforce-ceds
• CEDS Plan Alexandria/Arlington, VA, http://www.alexandriaarlingtonwib.com/
• CEDS Plan Centralina, NC and Catawba, SC, http://www.nado.org/wp-
content/uploads/2014/08/NC-Centralina-Council-of-Governments-2012-2017.pdf

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Presentation by:
Colleen LaRose
Founder & CEO | North East Regional Employment & Training Assoc.
Workforce Development Specialist | Camoin Associates
For questions or comments, please
contact:
Colleen LaRose
Camoin Associates & NERETA
E-mail: colleen@nereta.org
Phone: 908-995-7718
Website: www.nereta.org
Twitter: @neretaorg
For more information about Camoin
Associates:
Visit our blog for information about upcoming
webinars: http://www.camoinassociates.com/blog/
Visit our website: www.camoinassociates.com
Follow us on Twitter: @camoinassociate
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