A coalition of Sioux Falls area leaders is setting priorities for workforce. Business, education, government, and community stakeholders are applying national and local economic data to develop a plan for sustainability.
Forward Sioux Falls and a company called Market Street services collected data for six months. The information spans across platforms: innovation, economic performance, workforce capacity, quality of life, business environment, labor market, public education, technical programs and higher ed.
The Workforce Strategy Task Force now has three categories of goals that break down into 11 focus areas. They highlight four of those action steps that stakeholders must take in the next year. Co-Chair Rob Oliver details one of them.
"Designing and implementing that talent marketing campaign – which is a challenge in and of itself, to have an effective marketing campaign, but with the added necessity of incorporating and already underway by area employers, by city and state governments," Oliver says. "Again, coordination and collaboration are key to being both efficient and effective in this effort, because we cannot afford to waste precious resources working against each other."
Other immediate goals include collaboration on a talent marketing campaign and a cradle-to-career coalition to ensure people who live in the area grow up with opportunities to develop skills and have a desire to live around Sioux Falls.
The fourth goal is to ensure targeted international populations can secure higher levels of employment.
"One area of significant growth in our community and in our area is the immigrant population. We need to address the needs of this group beyond their initial arrival and stabilization and provide targeted support to this population so that they have greater access to upward mobility in their work lives and within our community," Oliver says.
Advocates for the strategic action agenda say facets of the plan require continued cooperation amongst organizations – and new partnerships that may be difficult, unfamiliar, and challenging.