Work force preparation and educational excellence

It seems that the region is now fully awakening to the talent imperative. Yes, we’ve aall known of the need for some time. And our educators and work force intermediaries have been working extremely hard, and companies have voiced their challenges for years. However, the topic has only recently risen as a true civic priority that is on everyone’s mind. Much is behind this, including the severe labor shortages in our health care sector (and even manufacturing), the economic research of the Dashboard/other studies, the strong call for action out of Voices & Choices, the attention given by the new Governor, and the progress being made in other parts of the country.

 

In recent weeks, the Fund has been out trying to connect with various groups tackling the topic, ranging from higher education leaders, union leaders, literacy professionals, work force investment boards, employers, and economists. These conversations have been encouraging but they provoke several observations:

 

1.)    The community not only lacks an overarching strategy for addressing the region’s talent needs, we do not yet share s common definition of the needs and priorities, nor do we have a shared framework or even vocabulary for discussing the situation. The situation is like the proverbial story of the blind men and the elephant – each touches a different piece of the problem and therefore perceives the situation distinctly. 

Several of us at the Fund have been spending considerable time of late on the issues of talent (i.e., work force preparation and educational excellence). In conjunction with The Cleveland Foundation, the Jennings Foundation, and the Gund Foundation, we have just launched Education Works, which is intended to identify and sponsor innovative collaborations between high schools, higher education, and work force programs to increase the rate at which students go on to higher education, are prepared when they arrive, and graduate successfully. This program hopes to build on successful models such as Youngstown’s Steel to Scholars, the Stark Education Partnership, and some of the creative programs of our community colleges. As end products, it aims to highlight best practices (nationally and regionally), fund a series of pilots, build a regional network of players across the sectors, and set forth a program to bring what works to scale.

 

The planning committee is led by Bill Hiller of the Jennings Foundation, a seasoned educator (a former high school principal) and one of the most active philanthropists in Ohio education. The project manager is Ann Smith, who also has experience as a middle school teacher (Montessori!), and whose professional background spans law, consulting, and more recently, executive search. Assisting the team will be Cambridge Leadership Associates, a firm that specializes in “adaptive leadership,” which focuses on building networks of the type targeted in this work.