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Nationally, between 2000 and 2005, jobs requiring imagination and creativity rose more than 10 percent.

To meet this expanding demand, a burgeoning movement is taking place in education that hopes to inspire creative thinking and innovation in America's future employees - integrated arts education.  Over the last year, our research into the business interest in hiring creative and imaginative employees has yielded some surprising and not-so-surprising findings with regard to their support of "arts education". 

To learn more about what we found, please download Innovation and Integrated Arts Education (102.1 KB) (102.1 KB) . 

I am also hosting a forum to further this discussion.  Please join me in the forum Integrated Arts Education Driving Future Workforce Innovation

Audio from more than 50 sessions at Workforce Innovations 2008 are now available on the individual session pages.  To access the complete list click HERE , or click the WI 2008 Sessions tab above to access session audio by Learning Theme or by Workforce Innovations 2008 schedule. 

Each session page includes the complete audio along with blog coverage of that session and links to additional resources related to that session such as interviews or other helpful information.  

Here is a sampling of what is now available.  Please encourage others you work with to take advantage of this valuable resource by joining Innovating Networks.  

Driving Transformation: Strategic Integration Throughout the Workforce Investment System 

Across Boundaries: Models for Regional Workforce Collaboration
 

Stealth Isn't for Fighter Jets - The Sky's the Limit When Collaboration Replaces Competition 

Planning for Sustainability: Lessons from Generation I WIRED Regions 
 

Facebook, MySpace, WIRED: A Social Network Analysis of WIRED Regions 

Accelerating Collaborations with Strategic Doing 

With Workforce Innovations coming to a close, I thought I'd take a minute to assess what I'd learned, to paraphrase "Mr. Energy," Jim Smith. For me, the session that provoked the most thinking definitely was Don Tapscott's session, as I blogged about earlier. From all the informal interviewing I've done of attendees, I would say he wins the "Most Memorable Session" award. But I also was pleasantly surprised with how much useful information I picked up during the learning labs I attended. Not that I didn't expect them to be helpful - it's just a law of numbers. When you've attended several conferences - this is my fourth Workforce Innovations - you tend to wonder how much more information you can learn.

Besides the sessions, I was exceedingly pleased with the good contacts I made/reestablished. Touch base with the relevant ETA staff I can collaborate with on workforce policy and programs? Done. Meet the contact who can help strategize on aligning workforce and adult education programs? Check. Meet people who can help me do my job more effectively? Put two checks in that box.

While conference organizers can continue to improve the session content and programming, I know of no way to bottle the magic of meeting the people you need to meet. But I'm willing to invest in the time and resources to attend based on the results I've had.

What kind of jobs are available in your community? Where do the workers in your community commute to their jobs? How much money are they earning and what industries are they working in?

Today we got to see how easy it is to create maps of this information using the OnTheMap tool from the Census Bureau. I'm very excited about how these maps give us snapshots of jobs and workers. What's especially remarkable is how detailed this data is -- all the way down to the Census tract level!

Key features of OnTheMap

• Draws on Census (and American Community Survey) data to track workers' home locations.
  
• Draws on state payroll tax (Unemployment Insurance) data to track workers' earnings, and their employers' locations
  
• Available free online to the public, 24 hours/day, 7 days/week.
  

Those of you at the conference may want to head to the Exhibit Hall and visit with the Census folks, who can demonstrate the tool.

Even if you're not in New Orleans, check out the OnTheMap web tool. There's even a list of case studies and examples showing how states have already used it. Enjoy!

As an exhibitor and as an attendee, I'm struck by the vast thirst people are expressing for more DATA.  I'm in the OnTheMap presentation by the Census Bureau and it's almost standing-room-only.  It seems like any session with data in the title gets a good turnout.

The fact is, there is a lot of data out there, and a growing number of tools and products for accessing data, slicing and dicing, and organizing it.  I believe that Web 2.0 tool like this site is a perfect environment for sharing how the data is USED.  The amount of raw information that anyone can find, through government and private sector sources, is staggering, and it's becoming a source of confusion (dueling data, as in "my data source is better than yours").  It would be really valuable, as a data analyst and a data provider, to know HOW people in the workforce arena actually UTILIZE the data that they have and what they need.  What is on YOUR "wish list" for data that will make it easier for you to achieve your organization's mission?

I've followed Don Tapscott since he published his first book in the 1990's.  He's fabulous and has only gotten more so! 

My idea is use mass collaboration to design and plan next year's Workforce Innovations in Phoenix!  This process would bring more ideas, more participation, the ability to have a work-in-progress during the year, and an increase in partnerships between regions/states/local areas.  I"m getting so much out of a 3-4 day dialog--I'd love to have a year-long dialog.  How much more could we all grow and share?

Just found this site as well, and want to use it to connect with people and ideas after the conference.  Thanks so much to all those who put in so much time and effort during the year planning WI 08 -- it shows! 

In the plenary today, we've heard a great story from Gus Whalen, CEO of Warren Featherbone. Economic shocks create crises. How we respond to these challenges defines on whether we survive and thrive. Read more about Gus.

The Warren Featherbone Commany has a remarkable history.

Here's some background on how the Warren Featherbone Communiversity came to be.

Organized in 2005 by The Warren Featherbone Company along with local civic-minded investors, the Featherbone Communiversity is designed to provide cross-generational learning through a unique alliance of educational institutions, said Gus Whalen of Featherbone Center LLC, the building owners. Along with the Brenau Nursing School, the Featherbone Communiversity houses a small business and entrepreneurial support system that is unrivaled in the state. Lanier Technical College’s Manufacturing Development Center, a “business incubator” shares space with The University of Georgia Small Business Development Center and the Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute.

Here's a background article:

Evolution of learning: Communiversity combines educational forces

By Ashley Cox
acox@gainesvilletimes.com
Posted: Oct. 19, 2007  1:22 a.m.
POSTED  Oct. 19, 2007 1:22 a.m.

It all began with an idea.

C.E. "Gus" Whalen Jr., former chief executive of the Warren Featherbone Co., wanted to do something unique with the property after it stopped manufacturing baby clothes, which it had done for 50 years.

Whalen knew he wanted to do something with education but wasn’t sure exactly what.

In 2005, Whalen hatched the idea for the Featherbone Communiversity, designed to provide cross-generational learning through an alliance of educational institutions.

"It’s interesting how in life, seemingly chance events change forever the course of what we do," Whalen told a room full of Hall County residents Thursday evening during the official dedication of the Featherbone Communiversity.

The dedication followed the opening of Brenau University’s nursing school at the Featherbone Center about one month ago.

In addition to the nursing school, the Featherbone Center houses Lanier Technical College’s Manufacturing Development Center.

A "business incubator" shares space with the University of Georgia Small Business Development Center and the Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute.

Children’s museum Interactive Neighborhood for Kids is also in the center.

"Everybody wanted to be a part of this," Whalen said. "This has grown and matured way beyond what we could have imagined."

Ed Schrader, president of Brenau University, said communiversity is "intentional synergy," where people get together and do things they would not be able to do apart.

"We know good learning’s going to happen here," he said.

Mike Moye, president of Lanier Technical College, said that in the year since the school’s Manufacturing Development Center opened, 21 jobs have been created that would not have existed without the incubator.

The goal is for businesses to grow, graduate from the Featherbone Center and for new businesses to come into the incubator.

"We see grand things happening in the future because of these opportunities," Moye said.

Will Schofield, superintendent of Hall County schools, said everyone brings different experiences and backgrounds to the communiversity, and that everyone can learn from each other.

"None of us is as smart as all of us," he said.

Education is exemplified by community diversity, which is the foundation for a successful individual and a successful community, said Martha Nesbitt, president of Gainesville State College.

Nesbitt said the community’s dedication to education has made all the difference, and will continue to make a difference in the future.

"When we think about communiversity we need to remember, never underestimate the power of an individual to make a positive change," she said.

Also present at the dedication was Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, who said Gainesville has always been, and always will be, known for its innovation.

In watching the Warren Featherbone Co. over the years, Cagle, a Hall County resident and native, said he has seen successes that have made the community proud.

Now that the Featherbone Center has been reinvented, Cagle said it will continue to carry on the legacy of fostering new entrepreneurship within the community.

"Life is not about self. Life is about service," he said. "We have come a long way, and we do get much further in accomplishing our goals when we do it together."

I am here at the United States Department of Labor Workforce Innovations Conference as an exhibitor on talent plaza, promoting register apprenticeship programs and the advantages of apprenticeship programs for employers. Please feel free to stop by my booth, "Southeast Louisiana Building & Construstion Trades Council Apprenticeship Programs" and see me. In addition the Louisiana Department of Labor Office of Apprenticeship has a booth also here at the conference. If you did not have the ability to attend the conference and have some questions regarding "Register Apprenticeship Programs" please contact me.

 Andy O'Brien

 2001 Veterans Blvd

 Suite 200

 Kenner  LA   70062

 Office (504) 468-9598 or 9500

 e-mail obrien@awl53.nocoxmail.com

How can you measure the results of what you're doing?

That's a question that most of us data folks think about a lot. This session provided a helpful snapshop of how one New Jersey project is using a dashboard model to track progress in their biotech initiative.

The presentation itself will be posted on this website shortly, according to the presenters. In the meantime, a few of the wise questions that were raised by fellow data enthusiasts in the room:

• How can you make assumptions explicit? Perhaps by using a logic model as an adjunct to your dashboard.
  
• How to incorporate variables that may not be captured by your data -- for example, if you are tracking your impact based on wage data, you may not be capturing the self-employed entrepreneurs whose income is not recorded as "wages."
  
• How to gauge whether your leading indicators are reliable predictors of your lagging indicators? Perhaps by looking at trends over time.
• How to assess whether your data results are meaningful, if your intervention is a small ripple ($5 million) in a multi-billion-dollar pool? Perhaps by using your data as a helpful snapshot of the industry as a whole, available to provoke discussion among partners in the region on a quarterly or other regular basis.
  

And some recommendations from presenters Mary Ellen Clark of Bio-1 WIRED Region NJ and Aaron Fichtner of the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University:

• Consider using a tool like Survey Monkey to collect data online. Instead of having participants fill out a paper survey, they can fill in a form online and you can dump the results immediately into Excel.
  
• When designing your data collection plan, bring together team members who are well-informed enough to tell you about existing data being tracked by your state or region that you may have access to. For example, Local Employment Dynamics data from the US Census Bureau, or state Unemployment Insurance wage records.

That's all for now. Go forth and measure!

The Employment Training Administration's Annual Recognition of Excellence Awards were handed out this afternoon after the opening of the Workforce Innovation's Expo accompanied by a local New Orleans' Jazz Band.  US Dept of Labor, Deputy Assistant Secretary Brent Orrell presented the awards to two Chicago Workforce organization's.  City Colleges of Chicago was partnered with both awardees.  LaRaza received an award for work with Hispanic populations obtaining higher nursing degrees in partnership with Wilbur Wright's Humbolt Park Vocational College and IDES, Digital Workforce Education Society and the Cook County Boot Camp received an award for their Boot Camp computer recycling and training project in partnership with West Side Technical Institute.  Photos from today's award ceremony are below.  LaRaza will be presented their award on Thursday after the Plenary Session and will have 10 minutes to address the audience on their project.

We all get a huge "information dump" when we attend a conference. But how do we make sure we retain that information and actually use it?

One way is through storytelling. Psychologists and anthropologists could probably tell us why, but human beings remember information best through stories.

Today, presenter Jim Smith Jr. grabbed our attention by telling a story about a time when he flew first class on an airplane and got great customer service. Then he challenged us to meet the "Three As" of conference attendance:

Awareness

Action

Application

My colleagues at the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians and I began that today:

Looking at the conference brochure made us aware of just how much workforce development work is happening through partnerships. As a nonprofit organization, we already work with other nonprofits, and individual employers. And we have begun to explore broader partnerships: When we heard about the pioneering I-BEST program in Washington state, we hosted a forum to discuss related issues in our own community.

Today Secretary Chao told us that there are 1,200 community colleges in the US. The next step for the Welcoming Center will be to take action by learning more about other community-college training partnerships. There are several workshops here at Workforce Innovations spotlighting such partnerships.

We hope to apply our new knowledge when we return home, by setting up a small-scale pilot partnership of our own.

What have you become aware of during this conference so far?

Workforce Innovations '08 provided a venue for regions that participated in DOL's National Business Learning Partnership (NBLP) to come together to share success stories and best practices as the project draws to a close.  This pre-conference session provided lively discussions on emerging issues, promising practices, and the identification of additional learning opportunities to deliver virtually.

ETA's Gay Gilbert opened the session by sharing the department's observations on the peer-to-peer learning model that made NBLP one of ETA's most successful projects.  Gay spoke briefly on ETA's efforts for an integrated technical assistance plan to further replicate regional transformation even down to the level of one-stop service delivery.  NBLP's success with peer-to-peer learning will be built-in to future DOL initiatives.  On another front, e-learning initiatives through ETA are undergoing upgrades to expand the sophistication of the online knowledge-sharing as well.

One of the members shared a joke that provided some humor at the start of the meeting, but actually set the stage for discussion of the challenges faced in change management.  The names are changed to protect the innocent.  How many NIMBYs does it take to change a light bulb?  The answer is three, one to change the bulb and two others to talk about how great the old bulb was.

From my standpoint as a protégé partner within NBLP, there are no burned-out light bulbs in this bunch. WIBs that strive for 21st-century relevance and impact found an array of tools within NBLP to tackle the journey.  Key themes emerged among cultural shifts, fostering of leadership, education reform, and youth pipeline/supply chains, among others.

The "green" movement became popular throughout the scope of the NBLP project in 2007-2008.  While not always expressed as a goal at the beginning of the local pairings, these proactive mentors and learners embraced the green collar jobs movement and considered the opportunities provided.  

Several members shared challenges from the lack of common definitions within the practice of green job development.  Common definitions are needed to manage the diverse facets and channel the momentum of the movement.  Participants discovered that skills common in the green sector deeply permeate other industry sectors beyond alternative energy alone.  Examples are obvious in manufacturing, but can include practically any sector undergoing green-friendly retrofits of existing infrastructure.   

Discussion of the green movement progressed into a natural segue of workforce skill issues.  Participants tackled the challenges of training today's workforce for tomorrow's technologies that are yet to be invented.  It's absolutely essential that the workforce is trained for the capacity to quickly learn and adapt as needed while having a strong STEM skill foundation.  Opportunities abound to populate various elements of competency frameworks and career ladders within the green sector and other sectors closely related in terms of knowledge and abilities.  Event facilitators noted the interest in green development and suggested future offerings of webinars specific to green challenges and opportunities.

In terms of youth engagement and skill enhancement of the workforce pipeline beyond the green sector, members shared challenges along with best practice solutions such as the middle college movement and the convergence of advisory groups to steer education reform discussions for local WIBs.  Extremely positive performance, effective leveraging of WIA resources with education funding streams, and strong return on investment were all noted in middle college and alternative school projects locally in areas of Virginia and Oregon. 

The next section of the pre-con session focused on emerging innovations in labor market intelligence.  One high caliber example included the work2future.biz tool developed within partnerships at San Jose, CA.  The tool is growing with capabilities to include other parts of the nation as demand builds. 

Another promising practice is the localization of state labor market economists placed where things are happening on the ground in WIB and/or economic development offices.  In several states, the practice included decentralizing economists out to local regions previously housed in one state capitol location.   Market data aggregation services, such as EMSI, are used by several NBLP members to fill the gap in data gathering and analysis, even to the degree of becoming the "go to" broker for market data in their regions. 

The closing activity of the meeting had each partner identify one thing they wanted from their partner in the future, one thing from NBLP coordinators, and what’s the next step for the initiative as a whole.  Project facilitators compiled this wish list for use in future strategies to expand the functionality of NBLP, future e-learning activities, and future technical assistance initiatives. 

Posted by Jasen Jones, WIB of Southwest Missouri