Building Regional Economies Through Targeted Workforce Development

If you want to know how to target Federal Economic Stimulus money to produce the most jobs long term, or define the path to developing Green Jobs, or channel your economic development and workforce development efforts together to build on your region's particular strengths, this report (PDF: 11M) is important reading. Commissioned by the New York State Association of Counties under a grant from the New York State Department of Labor, this case study in the Capital Region of Upstate New York drew upon earlier work in other regions of the state directed at reforming the workforce development system.

But in its methods, this study has broader application. It shows how to use statistical information to draw the big picture of a regional economy, coupled with qualitative techniques and analysis to interpret the meaning of that picture and target future efforts. It also illustrates how the research phase of a project can serve as the lead-in to building crucial personal relationships that will support cross-agency cooperation and cross-sector partnerships, and deal with the commonplace skepticism of business about collaborating with government. Ultimately, it advocates an ongoing "industry partnership" approach to shaping the resulting course of action.

In all of these features, this report is a useful guide to carrying forward the implementation phase of a Regional Strategic Plan. For more on that subject, see the complementary work from the same team, Laying The Foundation For A Meaningful Regional Strategic Planning Process (PDF: 1.2M) (a report to the leadership of the Pipeline 4 Progress Regional Action Now Initiative in the Southern Tier region of New York).