Reverse Elderly Migration

According to the Census Bureau (as reported by the NY Times), more Americans ages 75 and older have been leaving the South than moving there. Apparently, the trend is largely due to seniors' desire to be near family. Guess what city is mentioned in the article? Pittsburgh! No wonder we need more health care workers.

Workforce Development for Rocket Scientists

Back in January, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) held a panel discussion focused on "Preparing for the Next Generation." While AIAA was speaking to the future aerospace workforce, their comments accurately summarize the broader challenge. "Preparing the future aerospace workforce will involve a complex mix of effectively communicating to students and their parents the opportunities available; adequately preparing teachers; maintaining the right financial and regulatory environment; and drawing on the strengths inherent in the nation's uniquely diverse workforce. Concrete action at both the micro- and macro-levels of academia, industry and government will be required..."

First Biotech, Now Energy

The following sentence was printed in a daily newspaper. Fill in the blank: "A growing economy, revitalized with innovative biotechnology startups and alternative energy ventures, holds the key to ___________’s future." Did you say Pennsylvania or SWPA? Not exactly. This was in a Cleveland paper. My first thought was, "do either Pittsburgh or Cleveland have a shot?" Then, I had a much better thought. "What if we actually functioned as a multi-state region?"

Duh-pressing

For the second year running, no U.S. city has made the list of the world’s top Intelligent Communities of 2007, as selected by global think tank Intelligent Community Forum. Who's got the smarts? Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom; Gangnam District,; Seoul, South Korea; Issy-les-Moulineaux, France; Ottawa-Gatineau, Ontario-Quebec, Canada; Sunderland, Tyne & Wear, United Kingdom; Tallinn, Estonia; Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

NPR Goes Blue Collar

NPR ran a story this morning on alternatives to college. Their story sounded like a HCPI/Ken Gray presentation. Let me repeat, NPR suggested there might be alternatives to college! Also, check out this website set up by a proud blue collar worker -- bluecollarandproudofit.com

Work Life Solutions: Live Near Work

Some lucky Baltimore workers are getting paid to live near their workplace. "Live near work" incentive programs can be a great redevelopment tool. I noticed these in London.. particularly for health care and other emergency service workers. I believe Philadelphia had a similar initiative around Penn. My planner friends are very familiar with these types of programs. But I think they are less known with the HR crowd. I've been doing a lot of research on "work life balance" initiatives and I haven't seen these types of initiatives in any of the literature. Could this be the next generation of work-life balance practices? I would think this would be very appealing to non-profits or public agencies. After all, revitilizing the local area is part of their mission. Why not embrace work-life balance initiatives that serve multiple purposes?

Job Corps Makeover

The New York Times has a nice article about changes at Job Corps. I was a little worried when I read about their focus on increasing educational attainment. (I'm not anti-education... I just want to see it connected to employment!) I'm happy to see that their focus is, appropriately, on ensuring strong economic prospects. I'd love to see this article dig deeper. If our country truly made a commitment to helping poor kids, what would this program need to look like?

The Strength Approach

I'm half way through "Now Discover Your Strengths" -- Marcus Buckingham's latest book. (Buckingham is a Gallup pollster who has authorized, "First, Break All the Rules.") A clever colleague recommended the book. (Thanks MK!) It's very interesting. First of all, I can't tell you how refreshing it is to have some test tell me that I actually have a few strengths. I'm so completely focused on fixing weaknesses, that I think I lost site of my talents. Memory is not one of my strengths, so I only recall three of them... Harmonizing, Connectedness, Intellectualizing. In step with strength, number 3, I'm currently fixated on the methodology behind the assessment. The more interesting part is the author's plea to quit focusing on weaknesses and to further develop your strengths. I suspect we could learn from this when it comes to career counseling and employment policies. A wise person at a meeting I attended last week explained it this way, "We need to focus on the internal, not just the external. We should help kids understand their strengths and abilities." So true.

The Arts, NCLB and Workforce Development

A few weeks ago, I spoke at a MetLife panel put together by the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council. It was a wonderful experience. My fellow panelists and the moderator were amazing. The audience was lively, thoughtful and engaged. It was probably my favorite speaking engagement, ever. How can't you get excited when you talk about inspiring learning and creativity through the arts? Apparently others are excited by the topic, too. The event had very strong attendance, and lots of folks picked up the article about the forum that originally appeared in the Post-Gazette. Then I noticed the title of the article. For the record, the title is just plain wrong. We NEVER suggested that arts are more beneficial than science and math. We talked about how the arts might enhance learning in these areas and that NCLB could, in fact, be an opportunity to enhance arts education. After all, some schools with very strong arts programs have seen tremendous improvement in their PSSA scores. Here's the coverage: January 7: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Feb 6: Washington's Kitsap Sun Feb 7: Blog Feb 11: California's Redding Searchlight Feb 12: Wyoming's Jackson Hole Star Tribune Feb 13: Wyoming's Casper Star Tribune Feb 13: Government Innovator's Network - Harvard School of Law As I said, we had a great conversation at the event. I'm hoping this is the beginning of future discussions about the arts and economic development. I find it odd that when people talk about economic development and the arts, they often discuss the need to attract artists and other creative types to an area. Why don't we try to grow and foster our own creative capital? This was a topic of discussion when I was in London two years ago. Check out their efforts to foster regional creativity via Creative London.

Belated News - Local Employment Dynamics Reflections

Sadly, the HCPI blog has been woefully neglected over the last few months. I'll spare you the excuses and move on to meaningful content... First, I should recognize my colleagues at the Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board and Carnegie Mellon's Center for Economic Development. We recently presented the "Managing an Aging Workforce" report and information-sharing process at the Local Employment Dynamics State Partners conference held at the Brookings Institution in January, 2007. View our presentation here. Here are a few things I took away from the conference:

1. Southwest PA rocks! Our drill down on the aging workforce topic, combined with an information dissemination strategy is noteworthy. Sure, data can be cool and interesting. (Or at least, so say the data geeks.) We went a step further and made it accessible.
2. It's worth thinking about the gender differences of the region's aging workforce. Look at Maine's manufacturing analysis. Would we have skilled labor shortages if we effectively recruited, retained and advanced women in this industry?
3. Data sources such as LED are essential. It's a shame not every state participates and that much time must be spent maintaining support for/funding for this program.
4. LED presents some very cool opportunities for mapping. (See Peter Haas' presentation on the LED site.)
5. There are some frighteningly smart people working on LED. The presentation about synthetic data made my brain hurt.
6. My colleagues at CED and the TRWIB are great presenters, brilliant researchers, pragmatic policy analysts... and a heck of a lot of fun!