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Gino Gemignani called the meeting to order at 3:30pm and distributed the 2007 board meeting schedule. He announced and congratulated Bob Caret, GWIB member and president of Towson University, who would be inducted into the Baltimore County Chamber of Commerce's Hall of Fame on November 9. Mr. Gemignani referred everyone to the letter in the board meeting folder advising them of the outcome of the board meeting's recommended goals and critical success factors. He talked about GWIB's vision and mission and referenced GWIB's responsibilities as outlined in the executive order.
The four goals were reviewed:
Goal 1: Maryland will have a cutting edge system (K-16) that is supportive of the changing workforce needs of businesses in the state.
Goal 2: Maryland will have a fully funded, comprehensive state workforce development system.
Goal 3. Maryland's workforce system will be universally recognized as key to helping the state's businesses grow and thrive in a global economy.
Goal 4: Maryland will have a simple yet comprehensive measurement (report card) to evaluate the success of the state's workforce development system.
Mr. Gemignani said that drilling down into the future workforce was key and that a fully funded system was extremely important. Secretary Fielder acknowledged MWDA's letter in support of additional funding. The goals were unanimously approved by the Board.
Bob Seurkamp reinforced that the four goals were the top priority of the Board and congratulated everyone on the work. The next steps are to keep moving forward by involving the Sub-cabinet. Those members were specifically invited to the board meeting today. Mr. Seurkamp recognized Sub-cabinet members in attendance: Tomi Hiers, DPSCS, Steve Silver, DHCD, Kathy Oliver, MSDE, Molly Dugan, DJS, Bob Burns, DORS, and Bernie Antkowiak, DLLR. Mr. Seurkamp asked for the Board's support to charge the Sub-cabinet with developing and implementing the goals, saying that they had worked together on a report for the General Assembly two years ago, and would develop a similar approach for the goals and strategies. This will be the major topic of discussion at the December 7, 2006 Sub-cabinet advance. There will be quarterly/periodic progress reports to the Board throughout the year. Mr. Gemignani asked if anyone had any questions or comments about a vote of support for this approach. He said that having the Sub-cabinet implement the goals was the better approach. The approach was unanimously approved by the board.
Karen Sitnick asked if private sector members could work alongside the Sub-cabinet since the GWIB is majority private sector. Mr. Gemignani said that she was right but he felt that the Sub-cabinet should first develop the plan and then bring private sector members into the process. John Palmucci asked if there was any thought towards timeline and assessing along the way where things are? Mr. Gemignani said that was a good idea. At the first board meeting in 2007 a timeline will be reviewed.
Marion Pines arrived and asked if the board could discuss the goals. She said that Goal 1 was great to talk about but she felt that there was an additional obligation to recover dropouts and reengage them back into the system.
Ms. Pines agreed with Goal 2 that Maryland does not have a fully funded system. If we are really going to have private sector identify needs then there is no aggressive dynamic to improve capacity of system. Secretary Fielder said that these goals are just a first start. Now we must boil the goals down and be more precise with funding, etc. Ms. Pines said she is concerned about how to make up for the lack of funding and a more aggressive stance is needed. She would recommend to the Governor that the state steps in like other states have done.
Mr. Gemignani said that the strategy is to set goals and ensure that workgroups implement the goals. The Sub-cabinet with board support is the center of this effort. Ms Pines said she does not want to see more rhetoric and wants assurances and a greater level of comfort. George Littrell said that there has been success in areas such as improving the Cade formula so that community colleges receive more funding. Ms. Pines responded that the one-stop system is dying on the vine. Secretary Fielder said other states have revamped their one-stops. In Maryland, for example, the Division of Workforce Development, rather than significantly reduce the pass-through funding to local areas, chose to eliminate positions in the division. Some local areas will not survive, which is difficult, but, for example, one local area elected to have the state take over the LWIB responsibilities because they could not afford to continue. Another issue is that many businesses do not know what a one-stop is and what they do. The question is, can a one-stop afford to deliver services or does it need a new model because funds are being cut. The one-stops cannot survive with just federal funding. Ms. Pines agreed and said that there needs to be improved marketing and capacity to deliver services.
Art Taguding announced that since August 15, an additional five initiatives had been launched. A number of industry leaders have stepped up and each assembled a core group of leaders to begin reviewing the process. Bob Caret is chairing the Education Steering Committee, Kevin Garvey and John von Paris are co-chairing the Transportation & Warehousing Steering Committee, George Littrell is chairing the Finance and Insurance Steering Committee and Daryl Routzahn and Donna Gwin are co-chairing the Retail Trade Steering Committee. Mr. Taguding then introduced the new staff and referred everyone to the newsletter and the executive summary of the industry leaders' process guide.
Mr. Taguding asked each leader from the most advanced industry initiatives to say a few words. Bill Robertson said that the Healthcare Sustaining Committee had accomplished a lot over the last few years. The grant money for the Teach for the Health of It had been fully allocated and provided statistics. Another issue regarding transitioning military healthcare personnel to civilian had not been as successful. In closing he said that one legislative issue that several industry committees were interested in was the military tax exemption issue. The Healthcare Steering Committee is restarting the process with the first meeting scheduled for late October. Two hospital CEOs and a physician member have been added to the steering committee. He expects the process to take about twelve months.
Jim Pitts updated members on the aerospace initiative. He commended everyone for a great summit and thanked Harold Stinger, Anoop Mehta and Harry Solomon. There was a post summit forum on June 26, 2006 to review, affirm and shape the initiatives discussed at the summit. The Plan of Action, resulting from the June 26 forum, was presented to GWIB members. The Plan of Action included the following:
Pipeline development (K-16) - more STEM educators needed, as is improved math/science curricula and more teachers trained in math and science. Also expand internship opportunities and consider centers of excellence.
Workforce Development - Assist incumbent workers, students, etc by showcasing the aerospace industry.
Industry Collaboration - Create an organization called Maryland Aerospace Association, comprised of industry and
government partners. This would be a catalyst to strengthen the aerospace industry in Maryland as it interfaces with the federal government and other entities.
Security Clearances - This is a more difficult issue. The problem is the lack of individuals who have security clearances. Is there a way for the state and industry to work together on this and eventually satisfy a national need? Secretary Fielder said that during a recent meeting with the US Department of Labor they discussed the BRAC process. DOL's BRAC person has liaison responsibility for security clearances.
Brendan Keegan said that the Hospitality & Tourism Steering Committee was finishing the monograph. The industry summit will set the stage for the plan of action. The committee hired a technical writer for the monograph. The final draft will be presented at the November committee meeting with the publication planned for December. Bill Marriott will be the keynote speaker at the January 23, 2007 summit. The Save the Date mailer was sent out in October and the Summit Planning Subcommittee is working on talking points for speakers, marketing, getting sponsors and completing the program agenda.
Wayne Hockmeyer said that the Bioscience Steering Committee was in the middle of Phase II and taking a committee approach. Issues they are looking at: workforce issues (affordable housing, quality of life, etc), skill sets, impact of the industry on Maryland and the fact that there is a large public sector of the bioscience industry. Steering committees are meeting every other month and have monthly teleconferencing meetings to keep updated.
Kevin Garvey said that the Transportation & Warehousing Steering Committee has its first steering committee scheduled next week. He said that they have identified someone as a liaison to the Challenged Population Committee. Daryl Routzahn described the current efforts with the Retail Trade Steering Committee and said that the National Retail Federation and the Maryland Retailers are involved.
Mr. Gemignani commended Marge Thomas for all of the great work from the Challenged Populations Committee. He said that it needs to look at industries where there is closer alignment, such as transportation, etc. Ms. Thomas said that they have a number of industry representatives on the committee and have made recommendations with regards to ex-offenders. The next population they are looking at is At-Risk Youth.
Bernie Antkowiak said that the MWE is a case management system and database launched two years ago at local one-stops. DLLR has spent time addressing issues with the system. MWE was fully ready in March 2006. There were two major concerns. First, they wanted to ensure there were not disproportionate job seekers versus employers. Secondly, they wanted to make sure jobs were fresh and job seekers were truly active. There are 4500 currently active job orders in system and 38,000 job seekers. This program can be customized as was done for the Anne Arundel County Workforce Development Corporation One-Stop located at BWI Airport. It shows all available jobs in the BWI area, which is one of the largest employment concentrations in the state. The next step will be email marketing. Karen Sitnick suggested holding industry steering committee meetings at the One-Stops. This would be a great way for industry to learn more about them. Bernie said there was also a webpage specifically geared towards veterans. Ron Peterson asked if there was an intellectual property concern. Mr. Antkowiak said that those issues had been addressed. Ms. Pines asked if he would describe the case management aspect of MWE. Mr. Antkowiak said that anyone who works on the MWE keeps a history of all of the job seekers. In addition, case managers work at the One-Stops.
Secretary Fielder said that the excitement is terrific and thanked everyone for their involvement. The business community is engaged with six different departments. 18,500 new people entered the workforce in Maryland in July 2006 alone. 600,000 currently work in retail. DLLR received a $1.5 million grant to address nurse teaching capacity. It is now fully allocated and 60 people are being certified to teach nursing. The MWE came out of one of the initiatives of the GWIB as a result of businesses having trouble attracting people. He mentioned Tomi Hier's phenomenal work with ex-offenders. DLLR also has a full-time person working with returning veterans. He also said that the disability community has yet to be tapped. In the coming years Maryland faces a potential one million workforce shortfall. As a result of the industry initiatives we have between 650 and 700 private sector individuals are making a commitment to this workforce development effort.
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