Blog

  • Five Steps to Address Regional Workforce Challenges Surrounding the Substance Use Disorder Crisis

    Five Steps to Address Regional Workforce Challenges Surrounding the Substance Use Disorder Crisis

    Substance Use Disorder (SUD) has impacted nearly every community across the United States. Few regions, however, have felt the brunt of this impact as strongly as Appalachia. According to our partners at the Appalachia Regional Commission, overdose-related mortality rates for people ages 25–54 in 2021 was 72 percent higher in Appalachia than the rest of the country.

    To address the SUD crisis, the ARC hired CREC (through its Development District Association of Appalachia network) to create a Recovery to Work Ecosystem Builder’s Guide. This innovative guide helps LDDs and various stakeholders develop holistic support systems to address preparation for employment, housing, and transportation needs for individuals in recovery.

     There are five phases in building an ecosystem for your region:

    1. Defining Your Ecosystem: collaboration is critical in building effective recovery-to-work ecosystems. By bringing together diverse organizations and services, ecosystem champions can better support individuals in recovery from substance use disorder, underscoring the need for strategic planning and leadership to create strong regional ecosystems.
    2. Getting Organized: move from vision to action in organizing regional stakeholders for a comprehensive recovery-to-work ecosystem. After initial connections with other organizations, convene a broader group to identify gaps and collaboration opportunities within the regional ecosystem. By addressing these issues early on, you can lay the groundwork for effective engagement with employers and other key stakeholders.
    3. Preparing People and Companies: shift the focus to understanding the needs of both job-seeking individuals in recovery and employers in the region. By collaborating with ecosystem partners, practitioners should aim to identify candidates for employment and facilitate connections with suitable job opportunities. Engage in discussions with companies about hiring individuals in recovery prompts ideas for enhancing workplace support and policies.
    4. Support Continued Success: sustaining long-term success requires comprehensive support. Research highlights the strong correlation between employment and recovery outcomes, emphasizing the need for integrated services. Expanding partnerships becomes imperative to address these needs, especially in rural areas, emphasizing the collaborative effort required for long-term success.
    5. Sustainability: the focus now shifts to ensuring sustainability within the recovery-to-work ecosystem. Regular meetings of ecosystem champions can serve as a platform to identify gaps, explore opportunities, and discuss strategies for long-term viability. It’s crucial to leverage both local and external resources, including government entities, foundations, businesses, and educational institutions, to sustain ongoing efforts.

    By leveraging the ARC’s Recovery to Work Builder’s Guide, you can start creating and sustaining an ecosystem that values all your citizens and creates a more prosperous future for your region.

    If you want to learn how your region can tackle its complex workforce and economic development challenges, email Brendan Buff, Director of Rural Development, at bbuff@crec.net.

  • How Arizona Is Boosting its Semiconductor Advantage

    How Arizona Is Boosting its Semiconductor Advantage

    The semiconductor industry, and its entire value chain, is critical for US national security and economic competitiveness. Currently, Arizona is primed to boost its leadership in this sector given their existing footprint in semiconductor research, design, and production stretching across the state.

    To build on Arizona’s existing strategic advantage, the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) hired CREC and SRI to understand how innovative facilities and training opportunities statewide can advance Arizona’s leading position in the semiconductor industry.

    Kolu Wilson, Chief Workforce Officer for ACA, said the comprehensive inventory of education and training assets helped ACA take advantage of immediate opportunities to develop these assets. “CREC and SRI’s detailed report came at the exact right time. Thanks to their work, we can now fortify Arizona’s strategic advantage in this mission-critical sector with training and education partners.”

    The semiconductor and microelectronics ecosystem in Arizona is supported by 630 unique assets, including 90 education and training providers, including post-secondary institutions, career and technical education districts, and private training providers. In addition to highlighting important R&D specializations at four-year universities, the team identified a critical role for community colleges and CTE programming in strengthening collaboration statewide.

    CREC partnered with tech-based economic and workforce development strategists in SRI’s Center for Innovation Strategy and Policy to produce the inventory and accompanying report. By taking a holistic look at the semiconductor education and training assets in the state, Arizona is better positioned than ever to leverage their existing advantage in the sector and understand what data sets are required to make strategic long-term decisions.

    For more information about analyzing industry sectors and regional economic activity, contact Allison Forbes at aforbes@crec.net.

  • Expanding Access to LMI Data for Labor Market Practitioners Through Interstate Collaboration

    Expanding Access to LMI Data for Labor Market Practitioners Through Interstate Collaboration

    In the Spring of 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) funded the Labor Market Information (LMI) Institute and Projections Managing Partnership (PMP) to develop a project aimed at enhancing the ability of LMI data users to access, collect, analyze, and communicate high-quality labor market information to their stakeholders. As a part of this project, the LMI Institute and PMP have engaged six state teams in the Data User Insights Academy, a nine-month process that convenes state LMI agencies and their data users to develop collaborative solutions addressing important data access and usage challenges in their state.

    The Academy kicked off with teams from all six states gathering in June for an in-person, cross-state strategic planning workshop. Since then, state teams have been making strong progress on projects ranging from user-informed data dashboard development to training local data advocates. Positive feedback from participating states and strong interest from others has led to the selection of an additional Academy cohort, which will likely begin in Winter 2025 – check back for more details!

    For more information about aligning your regions for greater prosperity, email Tucker Plumlee at tplumlee@crec.net.

  • Enhancing Education and Workforce Development Initiatives in Support of Defense Industries

    Enhancing Education and Workforce Development Initiatives in Support of Defense Industries

    Under a cooperative agreement with the US Department of Defense Manufacturing Technology (ManTech) program, CREC is helping to leverage Education and Workforce Development (EWD) resources to leverage a stronger defense manufacturing workforce development ecosystem. Through this effort, CREC is tasked with developing a clearer sense of how the Manufacturing USA institutes approach EWD, including their capacity and priorities; 2) creating a database of stakeholders to include government partners / programs, industry and industry representatives, federal programs’ state-level networks, investment boards, and community colleges; 3) supporting communications and outreach; and 4) working to expand regional workforce development initiatives. 

    Senior Workforce Fellow Mike Gilroy will lead CREC’s work on this effort. If you have any questions about ManTech or any DOD related workforce development issues, please email Mike at mgilroy@crec.net. 

     

     

  • Facilitating the Alignment of State and Regional Strategies

    Facilitating the Alignment of State and Regional Strategies

    CREC recently completed a three-year work program under a grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) to develop and support best practices in how states and regions can work more collaborative to align and integrate their economic efforts. CREC worked closely with the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) Research Foundation, the State International Development Organizations (SIDO), and the American Manufacturing Communities Collaborative (AMCC) to make stronger connections between states and Economic Development Districts (EDDs).

    As part of that work, CREC coordinated a cohort learning academy involving six states and their local partners, aimed at better aligning state economic development strategies with EDD Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies.  Through this project, CREC sought to establish a new culture of state and regional collaboration to support economic recovery and growth. CREC conducted research on strategies in all 50 states, six territories, and nearly 400 economic development districts, creating a taxonomy and database of economic development strategies for further analysis. 

     

    For more information on this project or any project regarding economic development and regional alignment, please email SVP Bob Isaacson at bisaccson@crec.net. 

  • Expanding the Capacity of Key Workforce and Economic Development Organizations to Use Data to Inform Regional and Local Economic Decisions

    Expanding the Capacity of Key Workforce and Economic Development Organizations to Use Data to Inform Regional and Local Economic Decisions

    In August 2024, CREC received a two-year grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to increase the capabilities of data users and data providers to inform education and training investments that strengthen regional economies. CREC will work to create a pipeline of organizations – including economic development organizations, community colleges, and workforce boards – to improve their regional data systems by providing learning and assessment opportunities via eLearning, live instruction, webinars, and technical assistance. This builds on a previous initiative aimed at helping to provide workforce development professionals the data they need to build more equitable career and education pathways for Black and Latinx youth.

    Through this and related efforts, CREC will work closely with field leaders to describe and advance data sharing models that address input, access, and interpretation challenges, ultimately identifying a few regional hubs for further exploration. Through this work, CREC hopes to identify a regional solution that provides access to restricted wage data and helps strengthen post-secondary pathways.

    Contact SVP Allison Forbes for more information on the Gates Foundation project or any workforce and economic development questions you might have: aforbes@crec.net.

  • Mapping Workforce Initiatives for Semiconductors with the Arizona Commerce Authority

    Mapping Workforce Initiatives for Semiconductors with the Arizona Commerce Authority

    In July 2024, CREC wrapped up partnering with SRI to identify and map semiconductor education and training assets for the Workforce Subgroup of the Semiconductor Task Force at the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA). ACA is using the information to engage companies in the semiconductor supply chain to motivate continued foreign direct investment (FDI) based on its ability to respond to the talent needs of this critical US industry.

    For context: The ACA focuses on recruiting quality companies and jobs for Arizona as well as the expansion of companies already there. ACA is a quasi-governmental public-private collaboration serving in the role as the state’s Commerce agency.

    Contact SVP Allison Forbes for more information on the ACA project or any workforce and economic development questions you might have: aforbes@crec.net.

     

  • Request for Qualifications: Policy Academy Facilitation

    Download PDF Copy of RFQ

    Updated March 23, 2023

    The Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC) is requesting proposals from interested parties to serve as a facilitator for team discussions in a Policy Academy over a period of ten months – April 1 to January 31. The selected facilitators will lead a core team (4 members) and a home team (up to 10 members) made up of state and regional (Economic Development District) representatives from a single state to drive strategic and programmatic alignment between the participating entities. CREC is seeking the services of two facilitators through this request for proposal (RFP).

    Background

    The Policy Academy process is a collaborative learning environment in which teams from a state come together to work on a problem with external facilitation support. The Academy is an opportunity for states, economic development districts and other key stakeholders to drive strategic alignment and improve respective returns on investment (ROI) with enhanced economic development outcomes and overall higher economic performance.

    The teams work at their own pace with a facilitator and with teams from other states going through the same process, learning from peers and experts. Participants come together to examine state/local relationship opportunities, educate stakeholders on the value of strategic alignment, and receive technical assistance.

    To achieve this performance level, the facilitator will work with a state’s team to customize the Policy Academy process for a state’s team and develop proposed outcomes that build upon current efforts by:

    • Generating ideas about how to improve the impact of your existing collaborative approaches,
    • Providing access to national subject matter experts; and,
    • Creating a mechanism to deliberate on ideas with peers from other states.

    The engagement will be multi-faceted with the facilitator leading several in-person and virtual meetings:

    • Two in-person meetings in Arlington, VA and one virtual meeting with peers from other states and regions;
    • Two site visits and occasional virtual visits to coordinate planning initiatives;
    • Monthly facilitator conference calls with all team leaders to discuss progress and opportunities to learn from each other’s experiences; and
    • Ongoing technical assistance such as webinars, consultations, and background research.

    Each facilitator will complete preparation materials, work with CREC to provide technical assistance and research, and lead the in-person and virtual meetings. The expected time commitment is 125 – 150 hours over the ten-month period noted above

    Required Expertise

    Facilitators should have comprehensive understanding of state and local economic development and a demonstrated ability to bring together diverse clients and policymakers. Knowledge of economic development trends and related issues is important to provide context to the Academy.  Demonstrated skills in research and technical assistance are also fundamental to the role. Proven expertise in leadership, training and facilitation is essential for Academy success.

    Proposal Scoring

    Proposals will be evaluated using the following criteria as demonstrated in submitted materials:

    • Comprehensive understanding of state and local economic development,
    • Ability to bring together diverse clients and policymakers,
    • Knowledge of economic development trends and related issues,
    • Understanding of and experience with state and regional economic development planning, with emphasis on EDA-supported Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies,
    • Comprehensive understanding of the Economic Development Administration (EDA) and the role EDA plays with the EDDs (see https://www.eda.gov/about/economic-development-glossary/edd for additional background),
    • Experience in economic development research and technical assistance,
    • Ability to lead, train and facilitate diverse policy leaders at the state and regional level, and
    • Fee schedule.

    Proposals

    Interested individuals should submit a: (1) suggested scope of work, (2) statement of qualifications, (3) fee schedule, and (4) statement of interest to Bob Isaacson at bisaacson@crec.net by 5:00 pm (ET) on April 7, 2023. Written questions will be accepted if submitted to bisaacson@crec.net by March 31, 2023.

     

    Download PDF Copy of RFQ

  • Strategic Positioning of MEP Centers in Providing Workforce Services

    Small Manufacturing Enterprises (SMEs) fuel the U.S. economy. They compete through innovation, energy, and agility in response to rapidly changing global supply chain requirements and they take risks by introducing new processes and products. The vital role of SMEs, however, depends on a strong manufacturing workforce, and the challenges that SMEs face are particularly acute in finding, retaining, and skilling up workers. This working paper and accompanying presentation document how MEP Centers are well positioned to address a range of workforce challenges faced by SMEs and facilitate effective talent development. Produced by CREC for NIST MEP.

  • Incentives Roundtable: Remote Workers Impact on Compliance

    Incentives Roundtable: Remote Workers Impact on Compliance

    Tuesday, March 16, 2021
    2:00 pm – 3:00 pm ET

    Remote work became a more important part of the economic landscape in 2020. In response, many state economic development organizations are considering the impact of remote work on existing incentive performance agreements as companies endeavor to remain compliant with the terms of their contracts. Now that compliance reporting deadlines are approaching, how should economic development organizations adjust incentive program compliance procedures in response to last year’s upheavals?

    Join CREC and Roundtable leaders Ellen Harpel, Founder, Smart Incentives and Jane Vancil, CEO, IncentiLock on March 16 for a 60-minute presentation and discussion. More information