Region 1 Represented at Governor’s Summit

Posted by on March 17, 2015

Amy ClicknerIn the past I have talked about how our state is broken up into 10 regions for service delivery.  The Upper Peninsula is Region 1 and it moves south with Detroit being Region 10.

Last week, a large contingent from Region 1 headed to Detroit for the Governor’s Economic Education Summit.  We had a very diverse group representing education, economic development, workforce development and private sector that attended in person, as well as via five video conference links across the Upper Peninsula.

In the past, the Governor had hosted separate summits, one for education and one for economic development.  This year was the first combined event acknowledging how critical it is that all these sectors collaborate to ensure our current and future talent needs are being met.

Aside from great sessions and speakers throughout the two day event, each region was also responsible to prepare a short presentation highlighting efforts in their area.  The presentation was to be given by a “regional business champion” and be no longer than five minutes.  As we are Rregion 1, we of course were first to take the stage in front of 800 attendees.  Jesse Schramm, CEO of Checker Transport and an LSCP board member, nailed the presentation and set the bar high for the following regions.

While it is impossible to share all the great things going on in the region in less than five minutes, we were able to highlight many of them including:

  • Square One Partnership
  • First Robotics – Delta County
  • Invent@NMU
  • Sault Ste Marie SmartZone
  • MTEC SmartZone
  • Geometry in Construction
  • Skilled Trades Training Fund
  • RPI Asset Mapping
  • Marquette Alger Technical Middle College

One highlight shared was the collaboration between the three universities in the U.P.  In fact, the university presidents received a special award from the Governor during the summit recognizing their efforts.

During our regional breakout sessions, discussions revolved around the need businesses have for those in the skilled trades and career tech fields, the lack of young people in the pipeline and the incorrect perceptions many parents and students have about these job prospects.  Eventually, the Region 1 contingent agreed on the need for a public relations campaign to create awareness and correct misconceptions.  It is important for parents and students to understand what jobs are available, how advanced these jobs have become from generations past and that they are family sustaining jobs in the region.  Also, we want them to know how to connect with appropriate training and educational opportunities and how these professions are not stagnant but rather can be “laddered” to higher levels with additional education.

A great example of this type of information at your fingertips is the recent Mining Journal insert created, designed and funded by a variety of LSCP partners via the Career Technical Education Committee sponsors.  If you missed it, never fear, the electronic version can be found here.

I urge you to stay tuned as Region 1 continues to work together to solve our workforce challenges.  Want to be a part of the solution?  Give our office a call at 906.226.6591.

Amy Clickner, CEO, writes a bi-weekly column in the Mining Journal.

 

Content