Hello To the List:
I don't remember exactly how I began receiving this list, but I've never
posted to it. I'm offering a post I made to the Learning Org list hosted by
Rick Karash <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations --
<http://www.learning-org.com>. It includes some introductory material and a
viewpoint on how the region I serve is using the regional resources to
improve workforce quality and become sustainable.
Dear LO list readers:
I'm director of a regional Planning District Commission in Virginia. In
other parts of the county they are Councils of Government, Development
Districts, etc. You can get some orientation though the website in my
signature block. The Northern Shenandoah Valley had been primarily
agricultural - though marginal - since reconstruction. Being 60+ miles west
of Washington, D.C., the Interstates and wealth of the 1960's spawned second
homes and growth. We have become an increasing piece of the Washington,
D.C./Northern Virginia housing market, though still fringe. People commute
60 to 90 miles one way for jobs. Our employment base is manufacturing and
distribution, now growing because of the excellent mid-atlantic location.
The metro area growth has driven up the cost of land and housing, but the
local job base does not pay enough for new workers to get into the housing
market, so they buy further west - West Virginia - or already live there. As
a region, we import labor from the west and export to the east. Like most
southern states, particularly rural areas, investment in education was low
and remains so, relative to suburban areas.
The local governments, in seeking to broaden their economic base, have
learned from the existing industry and businesses of all sizes that they
need a better workforce. To upgrade the skills of those already in the
workforce, many with low literacy as a result of historical educational
investment, and the job readiness of new high school graduates. Though the
Regional Partnership program, the region's strategic plan set workforce
development as its primary strategy. The Lord Fairfax Community College -
which had been working with employers for years, found interest in the Work
Keys program. Through Partnership Funds, they've been able to invest in the
staffing for it and are working to leverage with corporate training budgets
of the companies with plants in our region.
We interviewed candidates the other day for the position and have, I think,
a promising person who is currently a Quality Technician. He's completing
his MBA and wants to get off the floor. In the interview he said he was the
beneficiary of his employer's great training program. He said, "80% of the
training in the U.S. is done by 20% of the companies."
It seems that most of the readers of this list are in that market. These are
the markets for learning organizations and knowledge based companies. The
gap in a region like ours - or any area really, is that small, single site
firms - 500 to 300 to 100 to way under 50 have no corporate training.
My vision has been that the region become the corporate training department
through the cordination of Community College, job skill training programs,
private providers, corporate training departments, public schools - etc. The
Workforce Investment Act which provides Federal funds for Job Training is
intended to focus the now more limited Private Indusry Council programs on a
local basis, though for training resources, a region is more reasonable.
Virginia is using WIA as a base and focus for all training resources. It is
encouraging a regional approach through out the state. The region for which
I work is seeking to have a common board for the Workforce Investment Act
and the Regional Parnership - which is also co-terminus with the Planning
District. The alignment of resources has the makings of our becoming a
"learning region." As long as the workforce quality in our region is on an
upward curve, its people will be able to handle shifts in the industrial
base and, ideally, create their own. This is the vision and the strategy. It
will only take about 20 years.
So - the Northern Shenandoah Valley is bootstrapping to grow its 90+% of
median Adjusted Gross Income when our Northern Virginia neighbors are 150%
of the State median and there are new IPO millionaires every day. The
difference between the regions? Higher rates of long term public investment
in education and infrastructure by people who were themselves the product of
such investment in other areas of the U.S.
Sincerely
Tom Christoffel
Tom Christoffel, AICP * e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Futurist, Facilitator & Regional Planner - My mission: "Value Regions
because Regions Work!" Why?
The economy is global; production is local; all markets in-between are
regional. Check my region's website: http://www.lfpdc7.state.va.us
Regional alignment of public data sets enables creativity and supports
sustainabilty.
*TJCdesigns * Box 1444 * Front Royal, Virginia (VA) 22630-1444 * Ph:
540-635-8582*
