Getting to Pre-Eminence:

Minnesota's Strategic Vision for Workforce Development

Vision, challenges, goals and strategies for Minnesota
July 2001 - June 2003

Prepared by the Governor's Workforce Development Council
in consultation with Local Workforce Councils and others.

To Governor Jesse Ventura and Members of the Legislature:

We are pleased to forward Getting to Pre-Eminence: Minnesota's Strategic Vision for Workforce Development to you for your consideration.This document sets forth the state's plan to support Governor Ventura's two long-term goals for the state's workforce and economic development system:		To GWDC members: This column contains annotation reflecting discussions among committee members to date as a guide to how this document was developed.
1) Keep Minnesota businesses competitive by supporting a flexible, skilled workforce. 2) Support efforts to increase personal income.		These are the two goals Gov. Ventura articulated in the "workforce development framework" (9-99)
We have identified three challenges that require our attention if we are to meet our goals.
Challenge One: The Skills Shortage Enable Minnesota employers to succeed in this dynamic global economy by closing the gap between the needs of employers for skilled workers and the supply of Minnesotans prepared to meet those needs.		These challenges were intended to address employers needs, workers needs, and our system view, respectively.
Challenge Two: Income and Career Progression Ensure Minnesota workers have opportunities to advance their skills and earning potential.
Challenge Three: System Building Facilitate the integration of workforce, education, and economic development in Minnesota to maximize the return on our investment.		The challenges and accompanying objectives are intended to be reviewed and changed regularly (every biennium?)
Goals, Objectives and Strategies for Minnesota's Education, Economic and Workforce Development Systems		The format (and some of the language) for this document was modeled on Washington State's strategic plan and subsequent progress report. For more detail, go to their web site at www.wa.gov/wtb.
An Agenda for Action
The Governor's Workforce Development Council has developed the following objectives, and strategies to meet Governor Ventura's two goals.
Challenge One: The Skills Shortage Goal 1 - Enable Minnesota employers to succeed in this dynamic global economy by closing the gap between the needs of employers for skilled workers and the supply of Minnesotans prepared to meet those needs.		Systems Excellence committee members felt that "public-private partnerships" made clear that our interest is in both the publicly-funded system as well as efforts in the private and nonprofit sectors.
OBJECTIVE 1.1 Strengthen public-private partnerships that enable individuals to move up job and career ladders throughout their lives.
Strategies Support industry initiatives to assess skill needs and develop training programs Provide high-quality labor market information Develop modular curricula linked to industry skills standards Strengthen joint labor/management education and training		Acknowledgment that there are often industry standards that must be met if training is to be valued.
OBJECTIVE 1.2 Increase the number of people who understand and act on career opportunities available through vocational-technical education and training programs. Strategies Enhance career guidance. Increase mentor and work-based learning opportunities. Create state education policies that support work-related education.		There was concern that the reference to "vo-tech educ" was too specific. Consideration of an objective that aims to increase the number of people with marketable skills…regardless of sector?
OBJECTIVE 1.3 Increase the capacity of high schools, community and technical college, apprenticeship, and other training programs to provide high quality workforce education and training experiences. Strategies Partner with industries to provide facilities, faculty, and equipment in high-wage, high-demand fields. Expand apprenticeship training and apprenticeship preparation programs. Increase the number of individuals prepared to teach in high-wage, high-demand fields.		Committee members have discussed the need for stronger linkages between K-12, MnSCU, and other institutions to deliver training. Discussion about the need to produce and support people willing to teach in critical fields.
OBJECTIVE 1.4 Encourage Minnesotans with disabilities, recent immigrants, and other "untapped labor pools" who are unemployed or underemployed to enter and advance in the labor force. Strategies Make Minnesota WorkForce Centers and other points of entry for potential workers more accessible and welcoming, e.g., further simplify language and approach. Research populations who have poor wage/career progression to identify what steps can be taken to facilitate their entry and progression in the labor market. Encourage "occupational literacy" training and support adaptive work environments and other efforts to reduce workplace barriers.		Strong support for expanding the opportunities and support we provide populations who are consistently underemployed or unemployed.     Two themes emerged here: improved coordination of information and also the need to truly support front-line staff to have access to (and understanding of) that information.
Challenge Two: Income and Career Progression Goal 2 Ensure Minnesota workers have opportunity to advance their skills and earning potential. OBJECTIVE 2.1 Improve access to information about career and training opportunities, financial assistance, and related support services. Strategies Expand and strengthen Web access through ISEEK and other electronic portals. Continue to strengthen statewide and local/regional marketing efforts to workers, students, employers, and others.		Support consistent and systematic training of front line staff in WorkForce Centers, schools, and other venues where workers seek information.
OBJECTIVE 2.2 Assist unemployed individuals to gain and retain competitive employment quickly. Strategies Promote workplace practices that enhance competitiveness and flexibility for workers for future transitions. Provide (reduced cost?) retraining for high-demand fields.		There was much discussion about the value of helping people return to work quickly, while still acknowledging need for choice. Balance between promoting career exploration and steady employment. Wayne DeBruin's example of the laid off welders is always an illustrative example of this.
Challenge Three: System Building Goal 3 Facilitate the integration of workforce, education, and economic development in Minnesota to maximize the return on our investment. OBJECTIVE 3.1 Clarify roles of institutions within the workforce system to strengthen effectiveness and reduce duplication of effort. Strategies Recognize and link "first chance" (K-14 education and other traditional paths to employment) strengths and direction with "second-chance" programs, e.g., training and support services. Improve and support the strategic use of nonprofit, union-based, and other service providers through affiliate relationships Minnesota WorkForce Center system and other programmatic opportunities. OBJECTIVE 3.2 Define system-level measures and methodologies to assess statewide progress toward workforce outcomes. Strategies Develop a continuous improvement process to reevaluate goals, outcomes, and measures. Build support for a common performance management system that produces a "report card" on Minnesota's progress Create incentives for Local Workforce Councils, state agencies, and others to share data and measure progress.		Systems Excellence committee discussed value of using return on investment at the system level but not necessarily at the program level. There was discussion about how best to engage and make use of the many resources of nonprofit and other service providers in partnership or at least complementary to workforce centers.         From these objectives, we will define specific performance measures that fall into the broad outcome areas we have previously discussed (per the Washington State example).
CONCLUSION Our progress toward these goals and objectives is measured against the broad outcome areas discussed previously and which serve as the framing categories for our specific performance measures.