Partners for Workforce Innovation

South Wood County

, Wisconsin

Formed in 2008, the Central Wisconsin Partners for Workforce Innovation is a collaboration of individuals, employers, and philanthropic funders with entities expert in adult education and training, social services, career development, economic development, labor issues, and faith-based and ethnic-based support.

The creation of the Partners for Workforce Innovation is part of a larger, almost-decade-long response to changes in regional employment brought about by the relocation of the local paper industry abroad and to new opportunities in the biotech, health care, and chemical manufacturing sectors, which have begun to supplant “old” industries and have promulgated the need for new skills, new collaborations, and a desire to reach community members who have been underappreciated or marginalized. The goal of the PWI is to create a sustainable funders collaboration that will operate with a long-term orientation toward transforming Central Wisconsin’s public/private workforce development system.

PWI serves multiple counties in Central Wisconsin, mainly northern Adams County and Greater South Wood County, but also parts of four counties served by Mid-State Technical College, one of its partners.

Funding Collaborative

Partners for Workforce Innovation has two elements: a Funders Council and a Community Solutions Advisory Group. The members of the Funders Council—individuals and organizations donating to the initiative—make cash donations and participate in grant decision making and strategy implementation. Its formal structure includes bylaws, grant making guidelines, and organizational policies, such as conflict-of-interest rules. It convenes quarterly and is supported by a full-time staff person and the Community Solutions Advisory Council. The Funders Council’s goal is to raise $1.5 million over three years.

As a local partner in the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, the Funders Council receives $100,000 a year for three years; the remainder of the $1.5 million is raised locally. Members of and contributors to the Funders Council are the Community Foundation of Greater South Wood County, the Alexander Charitable Foundation, the Wood Trust/Bell Family Charitable Foundation, Riverview Health Care Foundation, R.C. Charitable Foundation, Paper Cities Savings Charitable Foundation, Ocean Spray Cranberries, Urban Processing LLC, and the NewPage Corporation. The Community Foundation of Greater South Wood County also provides in-kind donations of staff (including their CEO), office space, and equipment.

The Community Solutions Advisory Council provides research and recommendations to the Funders Council on funding proposals, strategies, and implementation of projects.

Key Strategies and Interventions

Over the next three to five years, PWI will implement two core strategies: create articulated career pathways in four industry sectors vital to the region (health care, manufacturing, technology, skilled trades); and develop the region’s skills and competencies through targeted training of new, incumbent, returning, disadvantaged, and dislocated workers, and with the support of social and civic networks. This support will help individuals stay engaged by providing child care, transportation, and counseling, and will target the disadvantaged populations.

PWI partners with existing sector groups and industry clusters identified by the North Central Wisconsin Workforce Development Board and the local chamber of commerce. The PWI supports the WIBs, One-Stop Career Centers, technical schools, and other workforce partners in building their capacity to serve the region’s training and development needs, and it collaborates with the regional businesses to ensure alignment and continuity.

PWI’s evaluation system strengthens the ability of the collaborative to advocate for workforce development systems that meet the new reality of the region’s and state’s economy. PWI collects data on practice and systems changes such as those among employers and institutions, and with regard to policy advocacy and legislative reform.

Labor Market Analysis

The following powerpoint provides an analysis of the Central Wisconsin regional labor market. The analysis is intended to provide a picture into overall employment conditions and structural changes in this local economy, focusing on the period from 2001-2007. Though this data does not capture changes associated with the recent 2008 recession, it should still provide useful insights into medium-term demographic and employment changes.

The data analyzed here comes from two major sources: The American Community Survey 2007 (and 1990 & 2000 Decennial Census for some charts) from the U.S. Census Bureau; and the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

For a full guide to the data content, structure, and how it might be used, please listen to the June 16, 2009, recorded webinar available here.