Manufacturing Selected for the new "Tampa Bay Works" Project

Tampa Bay Works is a new project being funded by a JP Morgan grant through the Tampa Bay Partnership. The objective is to use the national Talent Pipeline Management Academy model to establish a true employer-led, demand driven talent pipeline through the development of a clear, unified voice on needs that can be used to drive change within our current education, training and workforce supply system. This model is being used in 27 states and has been adopted by three states as their workforce development model. This is the first time this model will be used in Florida.

The Tampa Bay Partnership had determined through their prior Economic Development studies of our market against 19 similar regional markets across the country that we were well behind those markets in talent development and management. They determined five industry sectors (construction, healthcare, hospitality, IT and manufacturing) as most in need and most likely to provide immediate and long-term economic development opportunities. Through a competitive process, both healthcare and manufacturing were selected as the two sectors to support in this pilot project.

We need regional manufacturing leaders to commit to participating in this one-year process. Commitment means attending monthly meetings to identify future needs, current pain points in the talent acquisition process, defining the strengths and gaps in the current acquisition and management process and setting the goals and metrics to drive change. An initial team has been established but ultimately need to add knowledgeable voices and engage a meaningful number of our manufacturing businesses. If you are willing to commit or have an interest in tracking progress but not able to fully commit at present please contact Jerry Custin at 813 855-4233 for additional details.  (reposted from the Suncoast Manufacturing News)