Located in:
- III. Operational Planning Elements
The Unified or Combined State Plan must include an Operational Planning Elements section that supports the State’s strategy and the system-wide vision described in Section II(c) above. Unless otherwise noted, all Operational Planning Elements apply to Combined State Plan partner programs included in the plan as well as to core programs. This section must include—
- a. State Strategy Implementation
The Unified or Combined State Plan must include–
- 2. Implementation of State Strategy
Describe how the lead State agency with responsibility for the administration of each core program or a Combined Plan partner program included in this plan will implement the State’s Strategies identified in Section II(c). above. This must include a description of—
- 2. Implementation of State Strategy
- a. State Strategy Implementation
III. a. 2. I. Coordinating with Economic Development Strategies
Describe how the activities identified in (A) will be coordinated with economic development entities, strategies, and activities in the State.
Current Narrative:
For the first time in more than 20 years, Maine has a ten-year economic development plan. This plan for 2020-2029, created by the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) with input from many other government agencies, business leaders and private organizations, focusses on the state’s economic growth, particularly in rural Maine, and includes language that resonates with the goals and priorities of this state plan.
“By 2030, Maine will be an international leader with a vibrant, sustainable, environmentally-responsible economy. All across the state, the people of Maine will have access to an unmatched quality of life and good-paying jobs”( Maine Economic Development Strategy 2020-2029).
The hinge points of the DECD Plan are talent and innovation. This WIOA state plan includes several steps to address the DECD near-term recommendations and it will be important that related activities are coordinated on state, regional and local levels. Those include the development of a system of stackable, micro-credentials, increasing the availability of online learning, and instituting statewide a variety of real world, on the job learning opportunities.
Maine’s economic development strategy focuses on three overarching goals: grow the average annual wage by 10 percent, increase the value of products sold per worker by 10 percent, and attract 75,000 additional people to Maine’s talent pool. Seven core strategies have been outlined to achieve these goals:
- Grow local talent
- Attract new talent
- Promote innovation
- Support universal connectivity
- Provide supporting infrastructure
- Maintain a stable business environment
- Promote hubs of excellence.
Workforce and economic development partners will work collaboratively to implement several action steps outlined in the State economic plan with a focus on four key industry sectors: Healthcare, Clean Energy, Manufacturing and Tourism.
Steps will be taken to promote career exploration, apprenticeship and internship opportunities and engage workers in continuing education that will result in attainment of stackable credentials for career advancement. Education partners will work to align curriculums to the digital economy and articulate career pathways that support workers along the continuum of careers in high-demand industry sectors. Providers working with diverse populations will strive to increase their participation in the workforce through specialized outreach, development of paid work experience opportunities, provision of service supports and promotion of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit and Federal Bonding programs to name just a few.
Workforce and economic development leaders at the State level will work to achieve structural alignment of workforce and economic development priorities, joint business engagement responses, and to establish regular use of a common database of employer contacts and service responses.
Workforce and economic development leaders at the state level will work to achieve structural alignment of workforce and economic development priorities, joint business engagement responses, and to establish regular use of a common database of employer contacts and service responses.
In addition to this, the State Workforce Board and the workforce development system will be working with the Children’s Cabinet to work with other state agencies to address other issues which impact Mainer’s abilities to find and maintain employment such as housing, transportation and childcare.
Regional collaborations between workforce, education, and economic development partners continue to work to align resources and address the needs of local and regional employers.
ATEC is a collection of WIOA partners, higher education, legislator representatives, employers, and other relevant agencies like New Ventures. The leadership is a collaborative effort to “tackle” regional workforce and education issues and to identify and braid services to address business workforce needs.
In the tri-county area of Penobscot, Piscataquis and Hancock counties, Title IB services are provided by Eastern Maine Development Corporation (EMDC) which is also the lead regional economic development agency. In these complementary roles, staff from each part of the agency are able to integrate a wide range of services to businesses and community partners, including work to assist the regions recovery from the demise of traditional manufacturing industries (paper, textiles, shoes, etc.) and the associated dislocation of workers and community infrastructure. EMDC was instrumental in leading the charge to revision economic assets in the region leading to identification of new uses for abandoned mill sites, including site clean-up, to pave the way for new business development and launch retraining efforts to reposition the regions workers for new job opportunities resulting from those investments.
Similar collaborations between employers, education providers and workforce programs occur in the Central Western and Coastal Counties regions. Central Western service provider, Western Maine Community Action Program, promotes each collaboration through public media and on their website, publishing testimonials from participants, employers and partner agencies regarding each collaboration. Publications such as these promote additional employers and training providers to follow suit and because the projects often result in direct employment and credentials, it is an efficient way of recruiting prospective job seeker participants into the training initiatives.