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In
this Issue |
Welcome | ||
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Regional
Entrebash Talent
Supply Regional
Career Academies Secretary
Solis Visit |
You have just
received the August issue of the iNode for the Iowa Innovation Gateway
(IIG) region which includes Jasper, Mahaska, Marion, Marshall, Poweshiek,
Story and Tama counties in Iowa. This region
represents the first region in the nation to have received a Department of
Labor Regional Innovation Grant and the first RIG region to complete its
regional innovation plan. We now need
the help of our entire network to implement the plan.
Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a network to
implement a regional innovation plan. The quarterly
distribution of the iNode will be used to seek your assistance in
implementing our strategies and growing our network as well as updating
you on successes in the region. For more
frequent updates on our work and success in the Iowa Innovation Gateway
region, join the network on www.LinkedIn.com. We have created
an Iowa Innovation Gateway group to keep our network engaged and
informed. The group now exceeds 125 members. If you are not
a member of the group yet, join us today. | ||
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First Regional Entrebash Event Coming September
8th | |||
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All
entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout the Iowa Innovation Gateway
(IIG) region are invited to the Iowa Valley Community College campus in
Grinnell on September 8th from 5 to 7 p.m. for the
region’s first collaborative Entrebash. The IIG region is partnering
with the UNI Regional Business Center and the MyEntre.Net program to host
the event. The Entrebash
event will provide our regional entrepreneurs and small business owners an
opportunity to network with one another and to talk one-on-one with
seasoned business counselors. A regional calendar of all
entrepreneur and small business support provided by IIG partner
organizations will also be available that evening.
The
MyEntre.Net program of the UNI Regional Business Center has been employing
the Entrebash format throughout the State at the county level for over a
year now. This will be the first multi-county regional Entrebash in
Iowa and implements strategies 1.2 and 1.3
of Goal 4—“Creating a Culture of Entrepreneurism” in the regional
innovation plan. Action
Item: Help us make this event a success and personally invite one
entrepreneur or small business owner you know to attend or forward this
newsletter to them!
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Supply is Barrier to Growth According to Regional
Businesses | |||
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Preliminary
analysis of the regional Synchronist data collected from on-sight
interviews with over 115 businesses in the 7 county region, reveals that
businesses themselves are concerned about the workforce and see it as the
single largest barrier to their growth in the region. Specifically,
it is the inadequate supply of both skilled and unskilled labor that
businesses believe will prevent them from expanding in Central Iowa.
Regional businesses report that they are experiencing the most difficulty
in filling talent needs for engineers, machinists, and factory maintenance
workers. These findings
and additional findings will be included in the “Workforce Pipeline”
report that is being compiled now for the region using the Synchronist
data, and additional data sources from IIG partner, Iowa Workforce
Development. The Workforce Pipeline report is strategy 3.2 of Goal
1—“Analyze worker pipeline supply and demand issues to help create a
collaborative, regional talent development system” in the regional
innovation plan. Earlier in the year, strategy 3.1 was completed
when economic developers in the 7 counties conducted the business
interviews and entered the data into the Synchronist Business Retention
database. Upon
completion, the Workforce Pipeline report will be shared with regional
businesses and education, workforce development, and economic development
partners in a summit where additional steps will be identified to address
key findings of the report and where research-informed, data-driven
partnerships will be formed. The use of the
Synchronist data for the “Workforce Pipeline” report was recently
highlighted as a best case example at the BEST of Iowa workshop held in
Marshalltown. BEST of Iowa is a strategic partnership of Black Hills
Energy, Alliant Energy-LPL, Iowa Area Development Group and MidAmerican
Energy Company in collaboration with the Iowa Department of Economic
Development to provide a state-wide existing business
strategy. Partial
funding for the compilation of the report is provided by the Center for
Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS) at ISU and the NIST Manufacturing
Extension Partnership. | |||
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Regional
Career Academies |
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Linking High School Students to Post-Secondary
Opportunities | |||
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With Iowa
Innovation Gateway (IIG) businesses indicating that a shortage of skilled
talent may prevent them from expanding in the region, the effectiveness of
our regional talent development system takes on greater importance.
A vital link in the region’s system is the career academies that are
introducing our high school students to post-secondary opportunities
whether that be direct employment in the workforce or enrollment in degree
programs. Career
academies are a defined sequence of technical
and advanced studies offered to high school students through an agreement
or contract between their high school and a community
college. During
the 2009-2010 academic year, the three community colleges (Des Moines Area
Community College, Indian Hills Community College, and Iowa Valley
Community College) serving the Iowa Innovation Gateway region will enroll
over 700 students in the region’s career academies.
Programming
for the academies is developed based on business and community needs as
well as students’ interests. Many of the region’s students will be
enrolled in programs such as welding, auto collision, industrial
maintenance technology, health occupations, and entrepreneurship to name
just a few of the programs in our region. In addition to coursework,
students also have the opportunity to visit worksites, participate in
internships, and job-shadow those already in the profession.
The two newest
career academies to open this fall are the Mahaska County Career Academy
and the Jasper County Career Academy. The Mahaska County Career
Academy will be housed in the former Webster Elementary school building in
Oskaloosa which is being remodeled for the Academy. The Jasper
County Career Academy will make its home in the renovated former Maytag
buildings that were donated to DMACC by the Whirlpool
Corporation. Action
Item: Help celebrate one of the region’s newest career academies by
attending the open house for the Jasper County Career Academy on September
20th from 1-3 p.m. on the DMACC/Newton Campus.
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Iowa
Innovation Gateway Board Members Meet Secretary Solis | |||
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Members of the
Iowa Innovation Gateway (IIG) Executive Board spent some time with
Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis on July 22nd during the
Secretary’s visit to Iowa. Secretary Solis was in Iowa to tour the
new health sciences facility at the DMACC Ankeny Campus and announce
grants for displaced Iowa workers. Solis
complimented the IIG members on their role as the first Regional
Innovation Grantee and its ongoing success in implementing the regional
innovation plan. Solis’ conversation with the members focused on
green jobs, the transference of other manufacturing skills to new green
industries as seen already in the IIG region, and the leading role that
companies like MidAmerican and other IIG partners are taking in renewable
energy sources. The IIG Regional Innovation Plan identifies
renewable energy sources as one of its strategic industry clusters for the
7 county region. The IIG
Executive Board will have the opportunity to tour the newest renewable
energy facility in the region this month as it visits the NextEra Energy
gear box repair facility in Story City after its August Board
meeting. Story Construction is the lead contractor on the building
of the facility and Story Construction President, Mike Espeset is the
Story County business representative on the IIG Executive
Board.
IIG Leaders
with Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. From left to right:
IIG Co-Chair Rob Denson, Carla Eysink, Kim Didier, Mark Reinig, Deb
Calvert, Secretary Solis, Harvey Sprafka, Walt Smith, and IIG Co-Chair
Paul Gregoire | |||
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WHY
iNode? | |||
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Perhaps some
of you are asking the question “Why iNode” for the name of our regional
newsletter. The name goes back to our vision of creating a dynamic,
vibrant network that works collaboratively in creating a globally
competitive region in Central Iowa. In a
communications network, a node (Latin
nodus, ‘knot’) is an active electronic device that is attached to a
network, and is capable of sending, receiving, or forwarding information
over a communications channel. The “i” then represents both Iowa and
Innovation. We do hope
that indeed within the communications network of the Iowa Innovation
Gateway, the iNode will become a central point of sending, receiving, and
forwarding information to all of you who are supporting our vision and
collaborating to bring the vision alive. Archives of iNode can be
read by clicking this link: iNode
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Walnut Street Des
Moines, Iowa 50309 515-235-0576 | |||
