NAM Employer Spotlight: ThyssenKrupp Bilstein

Manufacturers across the United States are using NAM-Endorsed Certifications to identify better qualified applicants for open positions and improve the skills of their existing workforce. The Manufacturing Institute is now recognizing the efforts of these manufacturers through a series of employer spotlights. Click here to learn more about ThyssenKrupp Bilstein's successes in using the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council (MSSC) Certified Production Technician training program. ThyssenKrupp Bilstein is a partner in PCW's Advanced Manufacturing Career Pathway Partnership.

United Way wins global honor for PCW

United Way of Greater Cincinnati recently received the Common Good Award from United Way Worldwide in recognition of the work of Partners for a Competitive Workforce.  This award is United Way Worldwide's highest honor awarded for best-in-class impact, innovation and turning outward to the community.  To learn more, click here and see the coverage in the Cincinnati Enquirer here.

UWGC president Rob Reifsnyder (l) and PCW executive director Ross Meyer (r) accept the Common Good Award at the United Way Worldwide Staff Leaders Conference.

Cincinnati leaders participate in Skills Summit

Workforce and business leaders from Cincinnati headed to Washington, DC for the National Skills Coalition's annual Skills Summit for a day of meetings on Capitol Hill with Congressional offices to emphasize the importance of federal investment in skills training to help get America back to work and help employers access skilled workers.

Members of the Ohio delegation meet with Senator Sherrod Brown. From left to right: Julia Abell of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Ross Meyer of Partners for a Competitive Workforce, Senator Sherrod Brown, Liza Smitherman of Jostin Construction, Sherry Kelley Marshall of the Southwest Ohio Region Workforce Investment Board, and Kerrie Carte of WSOS Community Action.

During the Summit, the National Skills Coalition honored PCW with the "Taking Care of Business" Award for its efforts to engage business leaders in advocacy.

From left to right: Eric Seleznow of NSC, Ross Meyer of PCW, and Andrea Glispie of NSC. 

PCW featured as best practice by Manufacturing Institute

The Cincinnati region's efforts to develop skilled workers for the advanced manufacturing industry was featured as a best practice by the Manufacturing Institute, an affiliate of the National Association of Manufacturers.  Click here to read more.

Cincinnati Enquirer: Roundtable trying to fill IT gaps, jobs

The Cincinnati Enquirer ran a feature story about the new collaborative effort of the CIO Roundtable, PCW, and the Cincinnati USA Partnership to grow the IT economy and develop the pipeline of tech talent.  Click here to read the article.

HCC featured in NBC News Story

The Health Careers Collaborative of Greater Cincinnati was featured in a story by NBC News titled, "Impatient employers step in to educate prospective workers." Click here for the article.

PCW Interview in Cincy Careers

Cincinnati's regional workforce efforts were featured in Cincy Careers 2013, a special publication of Cincy Magazine.  Click here for the article.

Talent Pipeline Director Opportunity

The Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, Partners for a Competitive Workforce, and The Strive Partnership have joined together with many other partners to launch the Talent Pipeline Initiative to strengthen career exploration and readiness to prepare students for in-demand careers. The Talent Pipeline Initiative will build on Strive's work driving student achievement cradle-to-career, PCW's work preparing our workforce for in-demand jobs, and the Chamber's focus on growing key industry clusters in our region. Facing a growing shortage of skilled workers, our partners have identified a need to provide more robust career awareness programming, better connect employers with schools, and expand work experience opportunities for our youth. The Talent Pipeline Initiative promises to be a signature community initiative to better prepare our youth for in-demand careers.

We seek a highly skilled professional to develop and lead the Talent Pipeline Initiative. Working through the Cincinnati USA Partnership in close partnership with PCW and Strive, the Talent Pipeline Director will be responsible for all aspects of developing the initiative, including planning, gap analysis, partnership-building, implementation, and reporting. Click here to download the full position description.

Applications are due February 18, 2013 at 5:00pm EST.

PCW Highlighted for Systems Change Efforts

Cincinnati's regional workforce efforts were highlighted as one of two “highly effective systems change efforts” in the Fourth Annual Evaluation of the National Fund for Workforce Solutions. See pages 33-42 in this report for an in-depth analysis of Cincinnati's systems change efforts.

Living Cities: State and Metro Collaboration Critical to Increasing Middle-Skill Manufacturing Jobs in U.S. Cities

The Greater Cincinnati region's workforce efforts were featured at a convening hosted by Brookings and Living Cities of state and local economic and workforce development leaders. The Brookings/Living Cities State and Metropolitan Prosperity Collaborative meeting focused on the development of effective cross-sector strategies to increase the number of middle-skill jobs in the growing manufacturing sector.   Here is an excerpt from their report on the meeting:

"Deep Cross-Sector Partnerships – Partnerships like the greater Cincinnati’s Partners for a Competitive Workforce, which brings together businesses, workforce investment boards, chambers of commerce, educational institutions, labor, community organizations, and philanthropic funders is an effective model of a partnership for improved population-level results. Cincinnati’s Partners is also an example of a cross sector partnership using the “one table” approach – a leadership table comprised of key decision-makers representing a wide range of institutions coming together to achieve a better result. This partnership allows them to move beyond fragmented systems to increase the region’s success in decreasing the skills gap."

Click here for the full blog post.