National Business Learning Partnership Prepares Region for Economic Development Transformation
The Southwest Missouri WIB was one of only 21 protege groups selected nationwide to participate in the National Business Learning Partnership (NBLP). Through the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration, NBLP uses a peer-to-peer learning approach to transform state and local workforce investment boards so they are truly a player in developing and implementing regional economic growth strategies. Workforce investment boards should be facilitating innovation by integrating workforce and economic development with education at the regional level – where companies, workers, researchers, entrepreneurs, and governments come together to build and sustain strong economies and promote job growth. Southwest Missouri is matched with a mentor WIB in South Central, Pennsylvania in a mentor-protege pairing.
Talent development is a key factor in our nation’s economic competitiveness. The goal of the National Business Learning Partnership is to enhance regional and national competitive strength and improve labor market outcomes by engaging the workforce investment system in effective partnerships, fostering innovation, and integrating community strategies and resources to develop talent as a community asset.
Many states, local areas and regions have made considerable progress in integrating talent and skills development into larger economic strategies and in transforming their workforce development, economic development, and educational systems into one which is both flexible and responsive to the needs of businesses and workers. The National Business Learning Partnership (NBLP) pairs local, regional, and state governance entities that have proven track records with areas seeking assistance on particular issues. Through this peer-to-peer learning structure, workforce practitioners learn from one another and replicate best practices across the system.
The Board named an experienced Economic Development professional from the region as the organization’s Executive Director in late 2003. Southwest Missouri has since led the state in the collaboration of economic development with local workforce development. A statewide grant competition in 2004 demonstrated the region’s successful integration of the demand-driven models for business services in the One-Stop system as well. Among Missouri’s fourteen workforce region’s, Southwest Missouri came in a close second-place in the competition, surpassing much larger and more experienced regions across the state. State agency administrators routinely acknowledge the WIB for its local innovation and resourcefulness.
Within state and federal WIA guidelines, the Board operates the WIB as much like an Economic Development organization as possible. Considerations for return on investment, economic impact, and performance excellence always drive the decision-making process for the WIB. The organization is a prominent partner with Economic Development Organizations (EDOs) and Chambers of Commerce for business attraction and expansion activities. The WIB and One-Stop are always represented as high-profile business prospects visit the region. The Chambers and EDOs often turn to the WIB and the One-Stop’s Business Services Team to aid in the analysis of market intelligence, workforce skill issues, and training/development resources for community-based strategic planning.
The WIB’s earliest expeditions into cross-state regional development are found in two key initiatives embraced by the Board. The Four-State Health Professions Consortium comprises leading healthcare employers, educators, and community leaders throughout the four-corner areas. Since the WIB’s involvement, the consortium has stepped up its organizational efforts and is preparing to name the WIB as its fiscal agent to compete for, and oversee, regional grant and project opportunities.
The second cross-state opportunity is the Missouri-Arkansas Partnership (MAP). The partnership comprises the WIB’s two most southern counties, Barry and McDonald, together with Benton County in Northwest Arkansas. MAP has been formed to collaborate and channel the phenomenal economic momentum of Benton County and its resulting impact on Barry and McDonald counties. Benton County comprises the corporate headquarters location for Wal-Mart™ and numerous other subsidiary sites for Wal-Mart™ vendors. This extraordinary economic growth provides challenges and major opportunities for the three-county area. The WIB currently represents the workforce skill issues for Barry and McDonald counties as part of the overall economic development approach for the area. As MAP continues to evolve, the WIB has eyed the opportunity to collaborate with Arkansas-based workforce partners for projects of significant impact.
Southwest Missouri’s Strength
Local Economic Development Organizations (EDOs) and Chambers of Commerce truly embrace the national trends that workforce skill and availability rate as the top site selection issues considered by decision-makers for business attraction and expansion. The WIB’s economic development operational focus positions the WIB as a viable partner and extension of economic development services for EDOs and Chambers across the region. The WIB steps in to assist the smaller communities without a full-time economic development operation and provides a valuable workforce enhancement to the EDO operations in larger communities.
A new initiative developed by the WIB that launched in July of 2006 brings together the Chambers and EDOs across the region to collaborate on Business Retention and Expansion. Through a competitive grant with the state workforce agency, the WIB has implemented a full-time Business Retention specialist to assist the communities with their business visitation and engagement efforts. The specialist also coordinates the region-wide collection of analysis of business retention intelligence gathered during the local visitation campaigns and surveys. The regional intelligence package will assist in local and regional strategy development that reduces the risks for business closures and maximizes the opportunities of growth-minded businesses.
While the Southwest Missouri WIB is among the smaller organizations in the state in terms of both funding and geography, these characteristics have positioned the WIB as extremely nimble, innovative, and responsive to challenges and opportunities. The WIB’s organizational structure as an independent 501-C-3 Board allows for the greatest degree of flexibility with minimal bureaucracy. This agility of the WIB is further enhanced with its balanced organizational focus. The WIB balances its energies between the strategic development and promotion of a successful demand-driven one-stop together with an always-attentive eye toward opportunities for regional expansion and growth as a workforce intermediary.
NBLP Areas of Interest
The National Business Learning Partnership (NBLP) presents the ideal learning and development venue for Workforce Boards and other economic development collaborations that are truly on the verge of greatness. As a prospective protégé, the Southwest Missouri Workforce Investment Board has embraced the next round of the NBLP opportunity to be paired with mentor organizations of similar size, geographic scope, and like-minded drive to innovate and succeed.
For the NBLP, the WIB has identified the Strong and Sustained Strategic Regional Partnerships and the Talent Development Strategies Driving Regional Economic Competitiveness categories as the two with the most synergistic alignment with the WIB’s current position and future prospects for regional impact. While these are separate and unique categories, they closely share the regional development focus to create the impact desired by the WIB.
SW MO Expertise Shared in National Economic Development Webinar
More than 175 participants across the country learned of Southwest Missouri’s best practices in economic development through a webinar hosted by the United States Department of Labor (DOL). National Business Learning Partnership (NBLP): Promising Practices; Accomplishments; Reflections; and Next Steps is the title of the webinar streamed through the Workforce3one web portal.
Jasen Jones, Executive Director of the Workforce Investment Board (WIB) of Southwest Missouri, discussed the WIB’s experience with NBLP and the gains made in regional economic transformation. Progress came as a result of tools gained in the project and the momentum generated by the WIB and related stakeholders locally in education and economic development.
As part of a panel of workforce/economic development professionals, Jones covered the WIB’s development of a toolbox of market intelligence tools to define and analyze the broader labor market that expands beyond Southwest Missouri’s geopolitical border and includes portions of Southeast Kansas, Northeast Oklahoma, and Northwest Arkansas. Brokering of the resources and meeting local market demands helped established the WIB as a leader in regional economic transformation. Jones also covered an industry sector partnership framework now under development to optimize the resources of economic development and education to help business create global competitiveness and economic prosperity for the region.
The 90-minute webinar profiled two other mentor-learner profiles, together with Southwest Missouri’s, that shared experiences in five key topic areas, answering such questions as: How to use data to develop high-growth job training initiatives; how to recruit and collaborate with strategic partners; how to identify, secure, and align leveraged resources; how collaboration leads to curriculum development and training; and how to become a leader and significant player in regional economic development. Selected teams represent a diversity of regions and high-growth industries such as Healthcare, Bioscience, Ecotourism, and Renewable or Green Energy. All the presentations shared replicable or tangible assets and resources.
NBLP championed a peer-to-peer learning approach to transform state and local WIBS to excel in developing and implementing regional economic growth strategies. High-performing WIBs are those that facilitate innovation by integrating workforce and economic development with education at the regional level – where companies, workers, researchers, entrepreneurs, and governments come together to build and sustain strong economies and promote job growth. Southwest Missouri connected with a mentor WIB in South Central, Pennsylvania in a mentor-protégé pairing that brought new insights into regional transformation.
The resources and progress gained through NBLP helped established the framework to design and deploy the Quad-States Regional Transformation (QSRT) initiative. QSRT unites stakeholders to design a regional strategy for global competitiveness and economic prosperity. More information on the regional initiative is online at www.qsrt.org.
DOL archived the audio and video from the webinar to publish online at www.workforce3one.org. Presentation slides are now available for download at http://www.workforce3one.org/view.cfm?id=5551&info=1.
In conclusion, the WIB built a solid foundation for economic development and skill enhancement in the seven-counties that comprise Southwest Missouri. This effective NBLP match propeled the WIB past the cutting-edge of impact as a powerful workforce intermediary at the crossroads of a Four-State region. The WIB is appreciative of the consideration of the NBLP and the vital direction gained through the protégé-mentor pairings.