WHAT IS:
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
|
|
Workforce Development is a collective approach to economic development that recognizes the future of our community's economic stability and prosperity resides in its people. COMPACT brings employers, educators, trainers, not-for-profits, local leaders, and industry leaders together to develop and support the current and future workforce in McLean County through the collective impact of their investments, knowledge, and time.
COMPACT champions the region's educational and training institutions, resources, and programs that enables Bloomington-Normal's existing and future employers to cultivate, retain, and attract the talent that they need.
|
|
COMPACT Stories:
An Impact on the Community
|
|
Leaders on Loan Take on Workforce Development Project
Leadership McLean County participants are taking on workforce development projects for COMPACT and BN STEM as part of
Leaders on Loan. Leaders on Loan is an LMC program that matches an LMC project team with local businesses or organizations to complete projects in technology support, marketing, training and human services, and innovation. This year, projects from COMPACT and BN STEM were selected. The
BN STEM project is to expand the
Content Provider Directory, a repository of partner organizations who will provide career and STEM opportunities to students and educators, from its current offerings to an additional 250 partner organizations. The COMPACT project is to develop the framework and portal for career pathways, a source of information and materials for students, teachers, counselors, and employers to share career information and opportunities to help students. The projects will be completed in April and presented to the LMC Board as part of graduation from the program.
|
|
Country Music Star Support ISU Ag Students
This year Illinois State University’s Department of Agriculture awarded the Luke Bryan Farm Tour Scholarship to graduate student Joshua McWilliams of Fairbury, senior Zachary Rippel of Roanoke, junior Benjamin Temple of Serena, and senior Susie Thompson of Maple Park.
Click here for the full
story.
|
|
At the invitation of Governor Rauner, several members of the BN community and COMPACT attended the Governor's Summit. The community was well represented by leadership from local employers and community organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce, Marcfirst, PrideStaff, SMARTPath Education Services, Rivian, and Advocate BroMenn.
During the Summit, attendees were able to learn about successful workforce development programs from other Illinois communities and make connections with experts in areas such as work based learning, apprenticeships, and using metrics in workforce programs.
|
|
College and Career Connections
COMPACT, the Bloomington Area Career Center, and participating McLean County high schools held the inaugural College and Career Connections, at Heartland Community College on October 29th. The event was designed by high school leaders to provide a forum for high school students to learn more about careers and to help make decisions on entering college or the workforce through interaction with local employers in their fields of interest. Each event in the series is focused on a specific BN Advantage industry and brings those students who are interested in that specific area directly to the employers. College and Career Connections is aligned with the six industry clusters designated in BN Advantage: agriculture, information technology, business and finance, transportation and logistics, health services, entrepreneurship. This is a wonderful opportunity for employers to connect and influence the future workforce and leadership of McLean County.
For more information on College and Career Connections, view the
flyer.
To register your business for the November events, click
here.
|
|
COMPACT Committee Information
|
|
Employer Engagement Committee
|
|
Fourteen state and local workforce development agencies, career service organizations, and not-for-profits came together at Heartland Community College to discuss the Essential Employability Skills program being created at HCC for the McLean County Chamber of Commerce. The Essential Employability Skills program is a COMPACT initiative that was born from the Employer Needs Survey and directly answers the local employers need for the workforce to demonstrate the soft skills needed to be successful.
Amy Humphreys, Dean of Continuing Education at HCC, provided an extensive overview of the training program and how it can be implemented to support the mission of these critical workforce development organizations. The discussion focused on how to use collective impact to make a difference for the underemployed and disadvantaged workers in the community and how to get these valuable skills to those who need it the most. The next steps of the program is to connect with local employers to develop an effective partnership that results in job placement for those who complete the training.
The pilot phase of the EES will begin at Heartland Community College in January. Those interested in participating can reach out to the Chamber of Commerce of Heartland Community College for more details.
|
|
Program Development & Alignment
|
Teachers, Career Counselors, and local employers came together at Heartland Community College for a kick off meeting to develop career pathways for McLean County students. The teachers represented Unit 5, District 87, Olympia HS, and the BACC and were brought together for their expertise in agriculture, information technology and health sciences.
The teachers formed development teams responsible for developing a comprehensive career pathway in their area of expertise. Each of the career pathways must include career focused classes, two career exploration activities, two team based challenges, and 60 hours of paid or for credit career development experiences.
Representatives from local employers such as State Farm, GROWMARK, Microsoft, Normal Gadgets, and Advocate BroMenn from the three industries joined the group for a working lunch session to discuss employer needs and help advise the planning teams.
Funding was provided by a grant from the 60 x 25 Network and will be complete in November of 2019.
|
|
STEM
BNSTEM moves closer to making a cyber academy a reality! BN STEMs partnered with Tri-Valley High School and the BACC to create a cyber program for high school students that provides a dynamic and accessible entry into the growing cyber industry. Through this program BN STEM hopes to build a local talent pipeline to meet the growing demand for skilled cyber specialists and to continue to provide students first class career exploration and development opportunities. The goal is to launch the first class for the Spring 2019 semester.
|
|
For information about COMPACT or information in this newsletter contact
Andy Bender, Manger for Workforce Development.
|
|
Is there someone in your network that might be interested in COMPACT or workforce development? Please forward and share!
|
|
Name | Company | Phone | Fax | Email | Website
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
