Manufacturers Coalition Advances Toward its Goals
CANFIELD, Ohio – Eric Karmecy recalls a conversation he had not long ago with someone from a company who told him he would double his firm’s production, open a third line and expand his building if he could get 10 qualified machinists.
“He actually asked me if there were any public programs available that could support the import of skilled labor internationally,” he said. “We’ve got record unemployment rates, we’ve got these awesome training facilities in our region that can’t fill classes and we’ve got an employer telling me he wants to import talent from overseas.”
Karmecy is the manager of the Oh-Penn Pathways to Competiveness project, funded by a $6 million workforce innovation fund grant awarded to the Mahoning Valley Manufactures Coalition and the Industry Partners of Lawrence and Mercer Counties by the U.S. Department of Labor. The project's objective is to help meet growing demand for skilled workers in the region’s resurgent manufacturing sector. He spoke at Wednesday's annual meeting of the Mahoning Valley Manufacturers Coalition, formed one year ago with the same objective.
The goals of the grant are to increase across-the border cooperation in the northeastern Ohio/western Pennsylvania region in support of manufacturing, improve training programs and curriculum to be more responsive to the needs of regional manufacturers, and develop clear and efficient career pathways for manufacturing jobs, including training and credentialing, Karmecy said. Plans for the initiative were developed out of the Oh-Penn Interstate Region Manufacturing Workforce Summit held in April.
The project is in the process of recruiting “the staff and talent” to carry out the functions of the grant, and is negotiating and review requests for proposals from third-party contractors “who are going to have a significant role to play in the form of a skills-gap analysis,” Karmecy said.
“We’re also going to be issuing an RFP shortly for a project coordinator component that will help tie in the work of the MVMC and the Industry Partners of Lawrence and Mercer Counties in Pennsylvania, and streamline the efforts of the two groups as it relates to the workforce innovation fund grant.”
Executing the grant, which was awarded in June, is among the items on the to-do list for the Manufacturers Coalition as it enters its second year. The organization looked ahead to that agenda and reviewed its first-year accomplishments at its first annual meeting, which took place at the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center here.
“This first year has exceeded my expectations,” said Jessica Borza, executive director of the coalition. “The level of partnership and commitment we’ve seen from the education community, the workforce development partners and our manufacturers leading the way isoverwhelming and the critical agreement to make some good things happen.” Membership over the past year has grown to 82 members.
The organization’s efforts are “truly making a difference,” said Brian Benyo, president of Brilex Industries in Youngstown and MVMC’s president.
Among the initiatives outlined Wednesday were the many efforts to collaborate with schools and training programs.
Matt Peters, industrial arts instructor at Salem High School in Salem, reported that enrollment in the program is up to 32 students, and six of the students are currently employed by manufacturers.
Through Prodigal, an advertising and marketing firm located in Boardman, the coalition is conducting a survey looking at attitudes and misperceptions about manufacturing in the region. Preliminary results of the survey, which is still being conducted, found about 9% of those surveyed would be inclined to pursue a career in manufacturing, “which is exactly the number that the National Manufacturing Society says is the percentage of manufacturing jobs out of all jobs in the United States, so you’re right on target,” said Adam Richards, Prodigal senior research analyst.
The preliminary data also shows that the likelihood of an individual to consider pursuing a manufacturing career is three times higher for someone who has a family member in manufacturing than in a family without, he added. Interest among students and parents also increases as they get older, he reported.
MVMC is working with the Oh Wow! The Roger and Gloria Jones Children’s Center for Science and Technology to target particularly young people age 14 and younger to help them become familiar with manufacturing by providing “an environment where they can experiment and explore with real materials,” said Suzanne Barbati, executive director. A similar initiative, Makeshop, is in place at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh.
Assistance to help existing workers to upgrade their skills is also on its way through a program being developed by the Ohio Development Services Agency, formerly the Ohio Department of Development, said Matt Falter, regional workforce director. About $20 million is expected to be available for this fiscal year to subsidize the training of incumbent workers, he said.
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.