News

WIRED Partners Committed to Retaining Regional Talent -

NEWS FLASH

October 9, 2009

WIRED Partners Committed to
Retaining Regional Talent

During the last year, too many talented engineers found themselves out of work or questioning whether they had a place in the region’s economic future. WIRED partners, understanding that engineering talent will help drive economic recovery and growth, are implementing two initiatives aimed at retaining that talent.

Bioscience Foundations

The Oregon Bioscience Association and Linn Benton Community College collaborated to develop Bioscience Foundations, a training program designed to introduce engineers laid off from high tech and other sectors to bioscience and the FDA-regulated manufacturing environment. Participants go through 2-weeks of classes followed by internships and placements with partnering companies. The program recognizes the transferable skills of engineers and the growth of the region’s bioscience industry. This link will take you to a flyer that describes the program for candidates: http://oregonbio.org/BioProTraining/DislocatedWorkersProgram/tabid/292/Default.aspx

For more information please contact:

John Tortorici, Executive Director, Oregon Bioscience Association, john@oregonbio.org
Barbara Bessey, Bioscience Foundations Program Director, barbara.bessey@linnbenton.edu
Cary Harkaway, WIRED Project Manager, charkaway@worksystems.org

Engineering Employment Symposia

The Southwest Washington Workforce Development Council, Worksystems, Inc., the Workforce Investment Council of Clackamas County, Management and Training Corp., and the Enterprise for Employment & Education are inviting dislocated engineers to two highly interactive symposia offering top level industry speakers, coaching, education, and resources. Three presentation tracks will be available: education/training, entrepreneurship, and job seeking skills. The events are scheduled for November 12 at Embassy Suites Hotel Portland-Washington Square, and November 16 at the Hilton Vancouver Washington. This link will take you the Symposia website: http://swwdc.org/events/index.html.

For more information please contact:

Shelley Parker, Engineering Employment Symposia Project Manager, sparker@swwdc.org
Cary Harkaway, WIRED Project Manager, charkaway@worksystems.org

New Resource Guides for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Careers -

NEWS FLASH

June 9, 2009

Newly published Resource Guides

provide comprehensive information on careers in

Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

(STEM)

Three new resource guides are early products of a $2 million U.S. Dept. of Labor STEM grant awarded in November 2008 to the Southwest Washington Workforce Development Council for the WIRED region in NW Oregon and SW Washington. The guides – full of useful information for students, job seekers, employers and workforce development professionals – catalog an array of STEM-related resources:

Regional Resource Catalog: youth organizations, degree and non-degree education, apprenticeships, high school/college/business partnerships and other programs serving the WIRED region.

Career Exploration Resource Listings: links to regional and national organizations, library collections, career exploration tools, lesson plans and classroom activities.

STEM-related Industry Professional Associations: listing of trade associations, advocacy and service groups.

Beyond helping to connect people to STEM careers, these guides are intended to address the need to leverage and connect existing resources and to ensure that new resources in support of STEM are not spent on reinventing the wheel.

All three guides are available on the WIRED NW website: www.wirednw.org. Click on the Strategies tab, then Resource Mapping in the drop-down menu.

For more information please contact:

Lisa Nisenfeld, Executive Director, SWWDC, lnisenfeld@swwdc.org

Shelley Parker, STEM Project Manager, SWWDC, sparker@swwdc.org

Cary Harkaway, WIRED Project Manager; 503-478-7368 charkaway@worksystems.org

Regional Competitiveness Assessment -

NEWS FLASH

March 5, 2009

The Global Competitiveness Challenge

Can the Portland economic region compete with its peers in the U.S. and other nations? Michael Gallis, an international competiveness expert, recently questioned whether Portland is poised to sustain and expand its economic vitality.

Gallis, president of Michael Gallis & Associates, offered his remarks at the January 2009 meeting of the WIRED Regional Workforce Council.

He worries the region is falling behind its competitors and that Portland is in danger of becoming a second-tier city. The Portland region’s cost of living is 120% of the U.S. average. Yet Oregon is the only state in the West with an average income below the national average. He suggests repositioning the bi-state region to become more competitive by:

Moving from local projects to regional strategies;
Shifting from a reactive to a proactive stance; and
Forming new strategic partnerships.

An educated, trained workforce is the linchpin of economic success, Gallis notes. Better educated workers attract high wage industries, earn more and stay employed. “The challenge is to build a high value economy that will support living here.”

Gallis and the FCS Group have been hired through the WIRED Northwest initiative to conduct a regional competitiveness assessment. Their work will:

Identify ways to measure economic and workforce competitiveness.
Compare our region with five peer communities across the U.S.
Define best practices.
Offer strategic recommendations to improve the region’s competitiveness.

For more information please contact:

Cary Harkaway, WIRED Project Manager

charkaway@worksystems.org; www.wirednw.org

503-478-7368

Todd Chase, Senior Project Manager/Economist, FCS Group

toddc@fcsgroup.com

503-353-7440

STEM Grant to Enhance Regional Training Capacity -

NEWS FLASH

February 26, 2009

$2 million grant boosts resources for

workforce education and training

A U.S. Department of Labor Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) grant brings $2 million over three years to the WIRED region in NW Oregon and SW Washington. The purpose of the grant is to improve training to prepare individuals for jobs involving science, technology, engineering and math.

The SW Washington Workforce Development Council (SWWDC) took the lead in pursuing the DOL grant and will manage the three year initiative. Lisa Nisenfeld, SWWDC executive director, states:

“This is a fabulous opportunity to strengthen our workforce

development system. The grant will enhance regional partnerships and improve the capabilities of our WorkSource Centers to provide education and training leading to STEM careers. This is especially important at a time when the U.S. is lagging behind other countries in developing skills involving science, technology, engineering and math.”

The overall goal of the STEM grant is to better understand and meet the needs of the region’s STEM-related industry employers for a highly skilled workforce. More than 615 youth and dislocated workers will benefit from the expanded education and training options.

For more information please contact:

Lisa Nisenfeld, Executive Director, SWWDC

lnisenfeld@swwdc.org

Shelley Parker, STEM Program Coordinator, SWWDC

sparker@swwdc.org

Cary Harkaway, WIRED Project Manager

charkaway@worksystems.org; www.wirednw.org

503-478-7368

Regional Workforce Funding -

New Study Sheds Light on Regional Workforce Funding and Programs

February 18, 2009

An assessment of the workforce development system in the WIRED region indicates that today’s services reach less than one-quarter of the population identified as most in need of job training support.

The gap is forecast to widen over the next 10 years, with growth in funding resources not expected to keep up with rising demand for workforce development services.

*******

ECONorthwest, consultants to the WIRED initiative, presented early results of their Resource Mapping assessment at the January meeting of the Regional Workforce Council (RWC). Preliminary findings:

· The workforce development system in the WIRED region accounts for $270 million in services annually, including: basic work readiness and advanced competencies programs; occupational training; job programs aimed at youth; and stabilization assistance.

· Half of all funding for these services comes from the federal government;

· Community colleges currently provide half of the region’s workforce training and education services – though many agencies are involved.

This comprehensive look at the region’s workforce development resources yields a better understanding of a critical component of the area’s economy. It highlights the need for regional collaboration and careful planning to maximize limited resources – ensuring that collective investments result in a skilled workforce that meets the needs of regional employers.

For More Information and To Comment:

www.wirednw.org

Cary Harkaway, WIRED Project Manager

503-478-7368; charkaway@worksystems.org

ECONorthwest: Andrew Dyke, Senior Economist

503-222-6060; dyke@portland.econw.com

WIRED Information Center -

New WIRED Data Tools Ready for Immediate Use

November 19, 2008

The WIRED Information Center is now on-line and ready to use. This new resource has the best labor market tools and information available on the 10-county, bi-state WIRED region, stretching from Salem to Longview. Here's the link:

www.qualityinfo.org/wiredinfo

Features include: employment trends and projections, occupational staffing patterns, training providers, wages, employment service job applications, skill requirements and more… all on a regional basis.

The customized data resource will support important initiatives for workforce development and education in the Northern Willamette Valley and Southwest Washington WIRED region). Developing a coherent, regional approach to economic development is a key goal of WIRED, the U.S. Department of Labor’s “Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development” Initiative. The region was awarded a $5 million WIRED grant in 2007.

“Regional Partners are excited about this new tool. When recruiting new employers to our region, I know they want succinct and specific information about the local workforce and what training programs exist. This site is custom-made for regional economic developers' use.”

- Pamela Treece, Executive Director

Portland Regional Partners

“As we think and plan regionally, community colleges need information at our fingertips about employer needs and the types of training and education programs that are in place. WIRED and this new Information Center will help us to collaborate to efficiently meet future demand.”

- George Reese,

Director of Instructional Planning and Innovation

Clark College Vancouver, Washington

The WIRED Information Center was created for the Northwest Region’s WIRED program by the Workforce and Economic Research unit of the Oregon Employment Department, in collaboration with the Labor Market and Economic Analysis unit of Washington’s Employment Security Department. Cary Harkaway, WIRED Project Manager, is enthusiastic about the partnership, “I had no doubt that the data was available, but I was truly impressed by how flexible they were in customizing all of the information for us.”

For More Information and To Comment:

Cary Harkaway, WIRED Project Manager charkaway@worksystems.org (503) 478-7368

Worksystems, Inc.

For WIRED labor market information: www.qualityinfo.org/wiredinfo

For information about the region’s WIRED initiatives: www.wirednw.org