Minnesota Sector Partnerships
Eight workforce development initiatives around the state have received a portion of $475,000 in one-year Minnesota Sector Partnership Grants.
Select this link to see a map identifying Minnesota Sector Partnerships.
Minnesota received the federal incentive funds used for the grant by meeting performance goals in Adult Basic Education, Carl Perkins and Adult, Dislocated Worker and Youth Title I programs administered among partner agencies.
The Minnesota Sector Partnership Project is being administered by the Governor’s Workforce Development Council, which convened the state-level partners in this endeavor: Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, Minnesota Workforce Council Association, and the Minnesota Department of Education.
The grants were established to promote employer-driven, industry sector workforce development initiatives around the state. Sector initiatives are industry-specific, regional partnerships that address employers’ needs for skilled workers and workers’ needs for good jobs.
The sector initiatives that received the grants are:
Renewable Works, $50,000. The geographic region: Southeast, South Central, Southwest and parts of Central Minnesota (Renville, Kandiyohi, Meeker, McLeod, and Western Stearns Counties.) Convener: Southwest Minnesota Private Industry Council.
As the emerging renewable energy industry is growing throughout the region, employers are struggling to recruit and retain qualified technical and operational employees. This project, which is in the planning state, will focus on identifying and synthesizing the research that has been done on workforce development needs in the renewable energy industry, identify gap areas, and compile data on jobs in the industry, skill sets needed, career laddering opportunities, and education opportunities available and needed.
The primary goal for the one-year planning grant is to develop a knowledge base of core skills needed for the industry, of career pathways within and across the industry, and of workforce needs. The secondary goal is to develop a plan to market the career opportunities and skills needed in the renewable energy industry to high school students and the general public, thus starting to develop and enhance a pipeline of future employees.
M-Powered Plastics, $50,000. The geographic region: Twin Cities Metro Area. Convener: HIRED, Minneapolis.
M-Powered is a program that offers multi-level training for three occupations in the metal manufacturing sector, including 40 employers in the Twin Cities Metro Area. Under this grant, HIRED, Hennepin Technical College and plastics manufacturers will collaborate to expand M-Powered to include training for plastics injection molding technology to address the shortage of skilled workers in the plastics industry.
The primary goals of the plastics injection molding training project are to engage a minimum of six additional employers; develop a leadership team made up of employer representatives and other stakeholders; train 46 workers; and place 90 percent of graduates at an average wage of $10.75 per hour.
Manufacturing Partnership of Central Minnesota, $75,000. The geographic region: Stearns, Benton, Sherburne and Wright Counties. Convener: Stearns-Benton Employment & Training Council, St. Cloud.
Manufacturing is a diverse sector with changing employment opportunities and many employers who are concerned about finding a skilled workforce. The project will build on core competencies and provide for differentiation into career pathways across and within manufacturing industries, providing an opportunity for worker advancement.
The primary goals of the project are to integrate advisory committees and membership organizations around common workforce development issues in manufacturing; build on core competencies that create career pathways in printing, woodworking, and metalworking jobs; expand and support existing strategies to grow the pipeline of students/workers for manufacturing jobs; and share models for addressing manufacturing workforce development.
Rural Minnesota Healthcare Collaborative, $50,000. Geographic region: Cass, Crow Wing, Morrison, Wadena and Todd Counties. Convener: Rural Minnesota CEP, Detroit Lakes.
This region’s health care industry is facing a high current and projected demand for health care due to population and industry growth. Health care employers share a common concern about the skill level of their current and potential employees. Employers have agreed to collaborate to identify the causes of gaps in the skills needed by employers and those workers actually have, in addition to the shortage of skilled workers in health care occupations.
Preliminary strategies include enhanced skill development and awareness of health care occupations and opportunities at the high school level; an increase in the quantity and quality of nursing occupations; and improved career laddering within the system.
The primary goals of the planning grant are to identify and validate the root causes of workforce gaps; evaluate career pathway and latticing strategies; develop an implementation plan that includes strategies for filling skill gaps; and expand the partnership membership and build teamwork to tackle common challenges among employers.
Metropolitan Manufacturing Sector Initiative, $50,000. The geographic region: Twin Cities Metro Area plus Meeker, McLeod, Renville, Kandiyohi, Kanabec, Wright, Sherburne, Mille Lacs, Isanti, Chisago and Pine Counties. Convener: Ramsey County Workforce Investment Board (WIB), North St. Paul.
The project will build on the strength of the M-Powered program—a nationally-recognized precision metal forming sector training initiative in the west and south twin cities metro area operated by Hennepin Technical College and HIRED—to address manufacturers’ workforce needs.
The primary goals of the project are to identify common needs of precision metal manufacturers for entry-level workforce training; create a fast-track model for recruiting and training low-income adults (including a career ladder); create additional training capacity in precision metal forming at Anoka Technical College and St. Paul College; and create a larger hub of manufacturers (anchored by precision manufacturers) to address common workforce and manufacturing needs.
The expansion of training capacity will provide employers with skilled workers and trainees with new placements and/or opportunities for advancement within the industry. Up to 36 adults will be trained and at least 90 percent of them will be placed into job openings identified by participating precision metal-forming businesses.
Lakes Area Manufacturing Partnership, $50,000. The geographic region: Becker, Clay, Douglas, Grant, Ottertail, Pope, Stevens, Traverse and Wilkin Counties. Convener: Rural Minnesota CEP, Detroit Lakes.
The project will focus on the manufacturing industry in nine counties in West Central Minnesota facing high industry and population growth on the one hand and problems around retention, recruitment, wages, lack of skilled mid-level workers, and difficulties like succession issues and high attrition on the other. The project builds on a survey of 39 manufacturing firms in the region who expressed demand for a comprehensive, shared workforce recruitment and retention strategy and a central clearinghouse for recruiting new employees.
The primary goal of this planning grant is to provide leadership, understanding and strategies to overcome root causes of workforce recruitment and retention barriers.
Four preliminary strategies will be addressed: Increase awareness about technical and manufacturing occupations in rural areas; identify paradigm shifts in workforce development, including issues around older worker needs, alternative ways to recruit, and restructuring benefit packages; enhance the workplace environment by gaining an understanding of generational differences; and explore training alternatives, especially to tap the surplus of unskilled workers.
Minnesota Energy Consortium, $75,000. The geographic region: Statewide. Convener: Xcel Energy.
The Minnesota Energy Consortium was created to provide a connection point for the energy industry, state government and higher education to work together to pursue actions that will meet the immediate and future needs of the energy industry workforce. The partners of the consortium have identified the aging workforce within the energy industry and future recruitment to be the major challenges ahead.
The primary goals of the project are to: Implement a ready-tested training model for successful knowledge transfer between senior workers and those near retirement, as well as newly-hired workers in five to 10 energy occupations; create a successful energy industry core curriculum and K-12 apprenticeship that establishes a pathway into energy careers at the secondary and post-secondary levels; and enhance capacity of partners to address workforce challenges.
Building Healthcare Workforce in West Central Minn., $75,000. The geographic region: Becker, Clay, Douglas, Grant, Otter Tail, Pope, Stevens, Traverse and Wilkin Counties. Convener: West Central Initiative Foundation, Fergus Falls.
Two barriers that hinder health care workforce recruitment and retention in these counties are high turnover within facilities due to workload misconception and the inability for colleges to expand their student capacity due to the limited number of clinical sites available.
The primary goals of the project are to increase recruitment for entry-level positions for Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs), Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), dietary aid and home health aid positions; develop and provide qualified Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) with leadership training to decrease LPN turnover; and train existing facility nurses as preceptors.