The Chairs Report

Activity in support of developing vision and policy direction for Minnesota’s workforce system

1. Roger Hale has met with key stakeholders throughout the past several months to discuss Minnesota’s long-term labor market concerns. Roger has spoken in several venues recently about how we can best address our long-term demographic and economic challenges and has also submitted an opinion piece to the Star Tribune on this topic.

2. The Executive Committee has approved the GWDC’s participation in a Memorandum of Understanding between the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) and the Departments of Economic Security and Trade and Economic Development. The MOU is designed to strengthen the partnerships among those agencies in effectively delivering education, workforce, and economic development services throughout the state.

3. Work has continued on the Workforce Center Strategic Plan under the leadership of the Systems Excellence Committee. The primary focus of the Committee has been on the continuing development of an updated credentialing process for the WorkForce Center System. Staff and Systems Excellence committee members have met with eleven of the sixteen Local Workforce Councils (some twice) during the past several months. Considerable time has also been spent in meetings with members of the MN Workforce Council Association to advance this work.

4. At the direction of the GWDC, the MDES Policy, Planning and Measures Office has continued to lead the revision and update to the "Gunther Report" that outlines the individual federal and state programs contained in Minnesota’s workforce development portfolio. The same MDES group has also been been leading efforts to produce a graphic illustration of the individual programs in the portfolio in a format designed to convey quickly and easily how various programs work together to form Minnesota’s workforce development system.

5. Roger Hale and Luke Weisberg participated in national discussions at the meeting of the National Association of State Workforce Council Chairs sponsored by the National Governors Association in August. Kathy Sweeney participated in national discussions at the National Association of State Workforce Liaisons in August.

Strengthening Local Workforce Councils and other Stakeholders as Strategic Community Leaders

6. Roger Hale spoke at an event in July hosted by the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce that highlighted the GWDC-sponsored regional scan for the metro area. The metro area scan has just been completed and is now ready for distribution and followup. The Saint Cloud regional scan was completed in June, reported out to the community, and is now in the preliminary stages of followup. Both demonstrations have helped inform next steps to be taken in the regional planning effort envisioned in “Putting It All Together”, the DTED/MDES Agency Transition Team report.

7. LaDonna Boyd spoke on behalf of the GWDC at a regional summit hosted by the Southwest Minnesota Private Industry Council in July. This event highlighted local visions for the intersection of workforce, education, and economic development for that region.

8. Roger Hale spoke at the Minnesota Workforce Council Association summer meeting and also met with Local Workforce Council leadership (Chairs, Vice-Chairs) as part of that event in Detroit Lakes.

9. Families Forward, the partnership between the McKnight Foundation, the GWDC and 17 Program Partners across the state continues to evolve toward an effort with tremendous potential for offering insight into solutions for workforce strategies which assist low income working families climb skill and career ladders. After one year of operations, early indicators about what kinds of barriers at both the individual and policy level are beginning to emerge. A proposal is under review by the McKnight Foundation to continue support of the GWDC's role through 2004. It is anticipated that the GWDC Supporting Self-Reliance Committee will provide oversight and support for this work.

10. Workforce Development, Inc hosted a successful Workforce Literacy and Culturalization conference on September 24 and 25 in Rochester. The event was attended by over 300 persons and was rated highly for its effectiveness in raising awareness of strategies for success in welcoming new Americans into the workforce in Minnesota. The GWDC was a principal sponsor of the event.

11. MnSCU and the UofM hosted a successful “Workforce Minnesota: Education At Work” conference on October 9 and 10 in Saint Paul. The event was attended by more than 400 people and received strong reviews from attendees for effectively linking education and workforce issues. The GWDC was a principal sponsor and also presented its “Setting the Community Table” award to partners in Saint Cloud for their work in jointly developing and completing a 2002 community assessment.