NW Roundtable Taskforce: Skilled/Educated Workers

Fellow Member of the Northwest Roundtable of Economic Developers:

You are asked to participate in this “Lack of Skilled/Educated Workers” Taskforce Survey. Your responses will help to validate and prioritize the work to be done by this task force. As you go through the survey questions consider comments or requests you might like to be considered and add them in at the end.

Average completion of the survey will be less than 10 minutes. While comments are not required they do help to measure consensus on the direction you would like to see this taskforce take. Your comments will be included in with the organization of the work to be outlined.

Please plan to complete your survey by 4/13/15. At that time the survey responses will be summarized for reporting at the next Northwest Roundtable of ED’s meeting on April 16th. Know that your responses are strictly confidential and data from this research will be reported only in the aggregate.

The focus of this survey was commissioned by the leadership of the Roundtable in 2014. Your participation is important for moving this work forward in 2015. Thank you for your support and important feedback!

Sincerely,

Monica Bailey
NW Roundtable Chair
Atchison County Development Corporation

Please rate the following strategic goal as a priority against the first 5 goals listed in this survey. Select 5 stars for highest priority; 4 stars for very important priority; 3 stars for important priority; 2 stars for get to it when you can and 1 star for get to it eventually! 0 stars will indicate the goal is not recommended.

Question ONe

Work with MERIC to develop a Workforce Availability Analysis Report for ED projects that speaks to the quality and availability of capable and skilled workers across the NW Region, particularly for new businesses. Skill Gaps noted by the analysis will receive further attention for possible strategies that can help adddress the skill shortages.

Develop a position statement, in partnership with Heartland Foundation that encourages engagement of NW Region schools and our emerging workforce by the business community for the technical and soft skills needed by our growing or expanding business community. Models like the Northland CAPS will be highlighted and encouraged. Include in the position statement, as a way of endorsement, current program initiatives presently going on in various NW Region school systems.

Develop a position statement that encourages recognition of and achievement within the Missouri-sponsored Certified WorkReady Community initiative to help spur on those counties that have not yet engaged the CWRC initiative. Such a statement would be periodically updated as needed.

Increase awareness and usage of the Missouri Works Training and Customized Training programs. This might be done through an annual brochure that highlights the past year's usage of the program.

Should this be a Skilled Workforce Development Goal of the Northwest Roundtable? - Attend workforce specific training programs/workshops (some may be a cost that the Roundtable could vote to cover or help cover) to share / recommend best practices to the full Northwest Roundtable group.

YES

Should this be a Skilled Workforce Development Goal of the Northwest Roundtable? - Attend key workforce sessions at MEDC and the Missouri Governor's Conference on Economic Development (for those that might be attending anyway) to share / recommend best practices to the benefit of the full Northwest Roundtable group?

YES

Should this be a Skilled Workforce Development Goal of the Northwest Roundtable? - Incorporate specialty trainings (i.e. WorkKeys, Talify Missouri, My Success Event, etc.) into the monthly meeting schedule based on need, recommendation and interest to help keep abreast of new developments in the workforce development arena. Establish a convenient means for lifting up training requests or recommendations.

YES

Thank you for your time and participation! Use this box to add your comments or suggestions for inclusion in an overall Lack of Skilled/Educated Workers strategy outline: