State Workforce Investment Board - 5/17/07

The State Workforce Investment Board

Thursday, May 17, 2007

9:00 am

Timber Ridge Conference

5601 North Allen Road, SE

Mableton, GA 30126

www.timber-ridge.org

Agenda

 

9:00 Opening Remarks    

Chairman Mark Musick

9:30 Southern Growth Policy Board Forum

10:00 Briefing – WIA Unified Plan               

Mary Margaret Garrett, WFD Consultant

10:30 Transitioning Role of SWIB 

Mark Musick

Debra Lyons

11:45 Lunch                          

12:30 Branding Georgia’s Workforce          

MS&L

1:30 Work Ready Update                          

Fred McConnel, WR Coordinator

2:00 Closing Remarks & Adjournment 

Chairman Mark Musick

 

Future Meetings Dates:

September 20, 2007

November 15, 2007

 

 

Governor’s Office of Workforce Development

State Workforce Investment Board

Timber Ridge Conference Center

May 17, 2007 Meeting

Meeting Minutes

Board Attendees:

Mike Harrison Jackie Rohosky Bruce Coles Allen Rice

Wendell Dallas Mike Beatty Albert Murray Mike Garrett

Kenneth Cannestra Mark Musick Debra Lyons Marsha Moore

C.E. Gus Whalen Rep. Terry England Valencia Adams Bebe Heiskell

C.B. "Bix" Rathburn Frank Barron Roger "Bo" Ryles

Guests:

Andrea Harper Linda Johnson Roger Brown Sarah Berg

Larry Weatherford Pete Flemming Mike Klein Jan Kettlewell

Mary Margaret Garrett Mac Brown Joy Wilkins Anne O’Neil

Ellen Schneidau Fred McConnel

________________________________________________________________________

Opening Remarks

Mark Musick, Chairman of the Workforce Investment Board, called the meeting to order and welcomed attendees and special guests. Chairman Musick briefly discussed the Southern Growth Policies Board Workforce Forums – 12 Forums in 12 days. He also discussed attending the National Work Keys Conference and stated that Debra had done a superb job in presenting.

Updates

Debra Lyons gave GOWFD updates and stated that the Strategic Plan had been published and should have been received by all board members in mail. She spoke briefly about now moving the board from a strategic planning role too an oversight role and that board structural items such as by-laws, etc would be accomplished.

Debra Lyons announced that Mary Margaret Garrett was on loan to GOWFD from the Atlanta Regional Commission to help transition the board into an oversight role. She announced that GOWFD would be hiring a summer Fellow to help out with the CWRC.

Debra Lyons announced that GOWFD had a US DOL monitoring review in April. This is the first review since being reconstituted under the Office of the Governor. Pete Flemming interjected that DOL had receive excellent information and that US DOL was pleased with GOWFD accomplishments.

Debra Lyons announced that GOWFD would be posting the Strategic Plan on the website. She stated that she had briefed the Governor on the Strategic Plan and said the Governor was very appreciative of the very hard work the board had completed. She announced that GOWFD would be sending copies of the Strategic Plan to all legislators.

Debra Lyons announced that he Governor will announce the Work Ready demonstration counties and all of the counties participating in the Certified Work Ready Communities Program. Chairman Musick stated that "When we first started this program we spoke of what we thought might be a successful start – maybe if ten (10) counties would sign up that would be good ---Well, I will just say it will be a lot more than ten (10)".

Chairman Musick stated that at the National Work Keys Conference in 2006, Georgia was in the fact finding mode and in one year Georgia is operating in the "Best Practices" mode.

Debra spoke briefly about the sector strategy initiatives that GOWFD office is supporting and that two of the four were submitted as WIRED Grant applications. Georgia has two (2) applications:

1. Chattahoochee River Valley (West Georgia) - WIRED grant submitted

2. Innovation Crescent (Athens/Gwinnett -5 County Region), not submitted, but currently Mary Margaret Garret is searching for funding for this project.

3. Energy Industry – this effort is moving forward.

4. Tri-State WIRED (Alabama, Georgia, & Tennessee) – WIRED grant submitted

Debra stated that this is the third round of WIRED Grants submitted and that Georgia has not been awarded as of yet.

Southern Growth Policies Board Forums - Update

Chairman Musick introduced Joy Wilkins with Georgia Tech and Mac Brown with the Fanning Institute of UGA to update the board on the Southern Growth Policies Board Forums hosted by the Local Workforce Investment Boards and sponsored by Governor’s Office of Workforce Development, State Workforce Investment Board, Georgia Department of Labor, and U.S. Economic Development Administration. Highlights for each of the five discussion themes included:

Educational Attainment:

• Educational attainment is a cyclical issue – with parents themselves lacking basic skills as well as an awareness of career opportunities

• Continued stigma of technical college education

• Need for targeting career exploration, soft skills, etc. the middle school level prior to high school

Workforce Traits:

• Workers lack soft skills, work ethic, problem solving abilities teamwork skills, loyalty of employers, job pride and accountability and self-confidence

Serving Industry:

• Many businesses not knowledgeable about programs and support available

• Need for greater business to youth connectivity.

• Some regions fall short on entrepreneurial and minority business development.

• Lack of transportation continues to be barrier in many regions.

Regional Issues:

• Aging population

• Demographic changes

• Transportation

• Entrepreneurial skills development

Creative Solutions:

• Certified Work Ready Community Program

• Stakeholder meetings on emerging industries

• Alignment of school curriculum with industry needs

Conclusions and Next Steps:

• Promote and Inform the value of education and work

• Train in Soft Skills

• Strengthen Home Environments

• Engage Employers

• Collaborate and partner

• Reemphasize Technical Education

• Tie K-12 education to "real life"

• Investigate Regional solutions

• Focus on Specific workforce segments

• Strengthen Mentoring

WIA Unified Plan - Briefing

Mary Margaret Garrett briefed the Board on the State Unified Workforce Investment Act Plan. This year’s changes and revisions update the 5 year plan. The plan describes the State Workforce System that includes State Workforce Investment Board, Governor’s Office of Workforce Development, Department of Labor, Local Workforce Investment Boards, Education and Economic Development programs and initiatives, service delivery and programs offered by the system. A major addition to this update is the inclusion of the State WIB‘s Strategic Plan, initiatives and recommendations, including the Georgia Work Ready Initiative.

Transitioning Role of State Workforce Investment Board

Chairman Musick and Debra Lyons ledthe Board in a discussion of transitioning the role of the State WIB. In reviewing the By-Laws provided in the board packets, Article III – Article XIII was discussed. It was noted that the Board currently has two vacancies and will start the process to have the seats filled. At the end of the discussion, Chairman Musick asked for approval of the By-Laws with the noted changes. A motion was made by C.E. "Gus" Whalen and seconded by Bebe Heiskell to accept the By-Laws with the noted changes.

It was suggested that board members bring recommended dates for our 2008 State WIB Meetings to the next board meeting to be held in September.

Branding Georgia’s Workforce

MS&L presented a "Branding" strategy for the Georgia Workforce System -Georgia @Work. The development of the branding initiative was discussed, as well as those agencies involved in the development of the new brand. Branding will focus on benefits to business rather than focus on programs.

Immediate next steps

√ Send update of today’s discussion to board

√ Distribute guidelines & key messaging to all partners

√ Launch

√ Monitor and start Phase II

Debra Lyons remarked that we will make it simpler and have new messaging points developed and get out to members for comments. She stated that it has to work for everyone and be relevant. She also stated that there are two (2) other states using comprehensive workforce development branding: Florida and Texas.

Work Ready - Update

Debra Lyons introduced Fred McConnel to the board; Fred was hired at the end of January. He previously worked on Governor Perdue’s re-election campaign. Fred gave an update of the Georgia Work Ready Initiative included an upcoming announcement by the Governor of the Certified Work Ready Community Demonstration counties and the counties which have applied to be Certified Work Ready Communities. Examples of actual county data and numbers of work ready certificates to be obtained by population segments, such as Technical College graduates, were highlighted. Board members were reminded that the website for Georgia Work Ready will provide real time data on actual assessments achieved by each county toward the Community certification requirements. Debra stated that Georgia was the only state to partner with a state chamber of commerce. She stated that South Carolina is contemplating replicating and that other states such as California and Oklahoma have contacted GOWFD seeking information.

Next meeting – September 20, 2007

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 2:15 p.m.