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Minnesota’s Workforce Investment and Competitiveness Strategy. Lee W. Munnich, Jr. and L. Burke Murphy Presentation for session on What the European Social Fund Can Learn from the WIA Experience Washington, D.C. November 7, 2009. Overview. OVERVIEW.
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Minnesota’s Workforce Investment and Competitiveness Strategy Lee W. Munnich, Jr. and L. Burke Murphy Presentation for session on What the European Social Fund Can Learn from the WIA Experience Washington, D.C. November 7, 2009
Overview OVERVIEW • Merging Workforce and Economic Development • Economic Competitiveness Focus • Regional Collaboration • Unified Workforce Investment Plan • WIA Reauthorization: Integrating Workforce Development, Education and Economic Development • Regional Competitiveness Project Led by Metro Mayors • Conclusion
Merging WF and ED MERGING WORKFORCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
DEED’s role in transformation process –Workingacross systems and geo-political boundaries DEED’s role in transformation • Integrating • – Workforce center services provided by DEED and WIA providers at local level • – Adult Basic Education, higher education, workforce & economic development to • improve education and employment outcomes of adult learners • 2. Educating • – Regional leadership regarding best practices and opportunities • – Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs), Foundations, K-12, higher education, • and public & private sector partners regarding role of clusters/industry sectors • in driving regional transformation • 3. Leading • – Development of new /existing partnerships regionally, statewide, across state lines • and internationally • 4. Consulting • – Technical assistance on State and Federal grants management • – Ongoing assistance w/WF Center operations and services • – Regional team building strategies with DEED staff • 5. Documenting • – Regional prosperity networks initiated or strengthened • – Developing rubric to measure regional competitiveness and inform possible • future investments
ECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESS FOCUS Economic Comp Focus • Microeconomics of Competitiveness: Firms, Clusters and Economic Development (MOC) – Professor Michael Porter, Harvard Business School • 110 DEED, higher education and local government employees take MOC course in 2006 and 2007 • Teams completed 21 cluster projects in 13 Minnesota regions
REGIONAL COLLABORATION Regional Collaboration
Unified Workforce Investment Plan UNIFIED WORKFORCE INVESTMENT PLAN
WIA REAUTHORIZATION: INTEGRATING WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT, EDUCATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WIA Reauthorization • Overarching emphasis on regional, inclusive and innovative approaches to workforce development • Minnesota Fast TRAC is an innovative model of this newly integrated and aligned approach • Targets and leverages resources from multiple agencies to enhance employability of low-wage working learners • State competitiveness depends on this seamless alignment
REGIONAL COMPETITIVENESS PROJECT LED BY METRO MAYORS Regional Comp Project • 36-member Twin Cities Regional Council of Mayors (RCM) organized by Urban Land Institute (ULI) • Central city and suburban mayors collaborated in winning $133 million USDOT Urban Partnership Agreement (UPA) grant for I-35W in 2007. • DEED and University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute conducting a two-year Regional Competitiveness Project for RCM. • Business leaders involved through Itasca Project.
EVALUATION AND SELECTION OF COMPETITIVE CLUSTERS Cluster Evaluation & Criteria • Six Key Criteria • Strength of competitive advantage • Potential gain from private- public collaboration • Degree of geographic distribution in the region • Potential to spur innovation • Potential to spur entrepreneurship • International strength
Project Timeline REGIONAL COMPETITIVENESS PROJECT TIMETABLE
Conclusion CONCLUSION • Regional competitiveness and institutional collaboration are critical ingredients for the evolving workforce development, education and economic development strategies in Minnesota. • Regional industry cluster strategies may offer an effective new model for linking business, government and education strategies within a region and state. • These strategies offer a promising new model for WIA reauthorization in the U.S. and may offer an opportunity for benchmarking with European workforce investment and cluster initiatives.