Businesses, schools invited to address workforce gaps

Local business owners, managers, school and college personnel and community members are invited to attend the National Joint Powers Alliance® “Building the 21st Century Workforce Conference” Friday, Dec. 16, at NJPA in Staples. The event is free and includes lunch.

NJPA Education Consultant and event coordinator Bart Graves says there’s a gap in the Region Five workforce between skills needed and skills available. Graves sees this as an opportunity for professionals on both sides of the issue to come together and develop creative solutions.

“We want to look at this from the business side and from the education side to see how we can pull things together to help students make career choices that meet the labor demands in our region,” Graves said.

He’s looking for attendees that represent the areas of high demand in the Region Five workforce: agriculture, energy, transportation, manufacturing, robotics, culinary arts and health care.

“We’re trying to bring more businesses in for this conference and have discussions by industry,” Graves explained. “We want to know the needs of the workforce and how we can address them.”

 Kristi Westbrock, Chief Operating Officer at Consolidated Telecommunications Company (CTC) in Brainerd will open the conference with a brief presentation.

Updates from area programs, post-secondary institutions from across the state will follow, providing a better understanding of what’s currently being done to address the workforce gap and what resources are available.

In the afternoon, attendees will divide into career cluster collaboration - small groups organized by industry and made up of educators, program directors and employers - to discuss best practices, challenges, partnership opportunities and regional program planning.

“We hope local businesses and educators will come with ideas for planning and this will help build off what’s currently available, plus provide a way for people to get more involved,” Graves said. “We want to set area students up for success; get a start in a good job, in a training program or set up with a mentor.”

For information and registration, visit www.njpacoop.org/edregistration, or contact Bart Graves at 320-349-0161.