CANFIELD, Ohio -- A consortium of manufacturers, educators, economic development specialists and job-training professionals from the Mahoning and Shenango Valleys are setting priorities for a long "to-do" list that they hope will recruit more workers to the region's manufacturing sector.
Members of the Mahoning Valley Manufacturers Coalition yesterday hosted its first follow-up meeting to the Oh-Penn Interstate Region Manufacturing Summit, held April 12 at Youngstown State University.
The objective of the summit was to identify ways in which the manufacturing sector can encourage and support efforts to improve the skills of the regional workforce to fit industry's future needs. Now, the task is to take the information gleaned from the summit and execute a strategy to make it happen.
"The last that we want to do is have this absolutely wonderful summit where so many great ideas came up and then drop the ball on it," said Colleen Chamberlain, human resources director at Xaloy Corp., New Castle, Pa. "What we would like to do is find solutions to these issues as opposed to finger-pointing."
The goal of Friday's follow-up meeting was to pare down the many ideas and suggestions produced from the seven workshops held during breakout sessions at the manufacturing summit. "That's why we've come together today, to prioritize the areas that we need to address first," Chamberlain told a crowd of about 50 at the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center here.
"Now the real work begins," said Jessica Borza, executive director of the Manufacturers Coalition. "Now that we've identified what our main goals and strategies are, we'll be organizing action teams."
She said the group would be calling upon those who attended the summit, while inviting other interested parties to join in the effort.
The consensus among attendees at the follow-up meeting is to first adopt a marketing and outreach strategy, Borza says. "It's no surprise the two that boiled to the surface were outreach and marketing -- addressing the misperceptions about industry and getting the word out about the good jobs that are available in manufacturing."
A second priority is to develop career pathways for young people who are looking to enter the manufacturing workforce, Borza says. "So, making sure the education and training programs are in place to meet the needs of employers."
Such a goal is a logical next step, Borza says.
"If we can convince individuals to explore careers in manufacturing, then we need to point them to programs that will give them the skills they need for those jobs," she adds.
Borza reports the coalition is close to completing an overall action plan to guide the effort, while each team will create more specific plans. "I think by the next week or two, we'll be putting the action plan on our website."
Bert Cene, director of the Mahoning and Columbiana Training Association, says the follow-up session was equally, if nor more, important and effective as the initial summit. "There are so many ways we can approach this issue," he says. "I think we need to do it in a very strategic way. Results are important and they're right on target."
The coalition has made a strong impression on the local manufacturing community, Cene says, and he anticipates more input from business owners and companies in the months and years ahead.
"We now see employers at the table," Cene notes. "Employers are the ones pushing the effort. That's something we've lacked before."
In the short-term, Cene says that the organization can make a difference in bringing attention to lucrative careers in manufacturing and industry through a strong public awareness campaign. Other more complicated, time-consuming issues would be addressed in the future.
"Some of the issues that we have such as changing curriculum in schools, that's much longer term," Cene says.
Xaloy's Chamberlain says that in Lawrence County, Pa., programs are already in place to help boost the awareness across the community. In the fall, manufacturing leaders sponsor an industrial career fair where students from the county's school districts are invited to learn more about skilled trades.
"We walk them through and do some breakout sessions," Chamberlain says. "Last year, we had a robotics session that was very popular." Then, students engage in a scavenger hunt, seeking information from vendors at the fair. "It forces some interaction between them and the manufacturers," she explains.
Chamberlain says industry has set up what is called a guidance counselor "boot camp," in which guidance counselors, teachers, superintendents and other school officials are taken to different companies in Lawrence County to introduce them on the number of different available jobs in industry.
"We've gotten some exceptional positive feedback from the counselors, who say we didn’t realize the types of jobs that are here in our county, we didn't realize the educational needs," she says.
Many of these programs have been in place for about two years, so it's still difficult to gauge what impact they've had on boosting interest in manufacturing," Chamberlain says. "It's hard to track it, since most of the target groups we're working with are eighth and ninth graders," she explains. "We hope to see additional information and data on what impact we are having in the next few months."
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.