Welcome and Introductions
William Robertson, Chair, Governor's Workforce Investment Board (GWIB), called the meeting to order at 3:40 p.m.
He welcomed Board members and guests. Mr. Roberstson asked that Board members introduce themselves, so
introductions were made around the Board table.
Transitions
Mr. Robertson then announced several transitions:
- Resignation of Edward Rudnic of Union Bridge Management, serving the Board since October of 2007.
- Resignation of Joe Rodriguez of Americana Grocery, also serving the Board since October of 2007.
- Retirement of James E. Lyons, Sr., Secretary of the Maryland Higher Education Commission, a Governor's
Citation was prepared and will be delivered to the Secretary, as he was not present.
- Retirement of Senator Donald F. Munson who was recognized for his service.
- Resignation of Donald W. DeVore, Secretary of Department of Juvenile Services, a Governor's Citation was
presented to Secretary DeVore by Mr. Robertson.
Mr. Robertson thanked all of the members for their service to GWIB. He then called on Board member Martin
Knott of Knott Mechanical to introduce Mr. Robert Aydukovic.
Mr. Knott gave an overview of the establishment of the construction industry initiative project, the Maryland
Center for Construction, Education and Innovation (MCCEI) and introduced the newly hired Executive Director,
Robert M. Aydukovic. Mr. Knott summarized Mr. Aydukovic's extensive experience and referred members to an
overview of his resume in the Board packets.
GWIB Administration Updates
Mr. Robertson then asked Elisabeth Sachs, Interim Executive Director for GWIB updates regarding Board
administration. Ms. Sachs shared that the Executive Committee will be reviewing the By-Laws, and the GWIB
Executive Order, to align the Federal guidelines with the Maryland operating rules. In addition the Committee
will review rules related to quorum, voting, internal operations and Board vacancies.
GWIB Report Released
Ms. Sachs then launched a power point presentation to give an overview of the newly released GWIB 2010 Workforce
Indicators. This report, written by GWIB staff member Tim Bibo, takes into account over 1400 data points and over
400 sources, to provide a clear outlook for Maryland's job growth projections. Some of the main themes found in
the report are the future of a shortage of skilled workers, the aging workforce, and workers increasing the
length of their careers. A copy of the new report was provided to each Board member. Several Board members
commented on important aspects of the report: Delegate Jamison stated that commuting factors are of large concern
in her county, as Charles County workers have the longest commute in not just the state but in the country.
Martin Knott confirmed that the housing factor-affordable housing in Maryland is something that can attract the
talent pool to stay in the state.
Program Updates
Maryland Energy Sector Partnership (MESP) Update
Next Mr. Robertson introduced GWIB staff Bernard Reynolds who gave an overview of MESP: all 4 consortia are
up & running, training and making placements, green navigators-recruiting activities, WIBs are involved in
reaching out to employers for hiring and incumbent worker needs. Mr. Reynolds stated that the Steering Committee
is pleased with employer interface. Mr. Reynolds stated that based on current participation levels, 2011 will be
the banner year for training in this area.
Cyber Security Industry Initiative Update
Cyber Security overview - Larry Letow that 3 meetings are planned for the Steering Committee:
- 1st meeting held in November had an education focus, with the desire to educate students in High School
programs about career pathways to Cyber Security career paths.
- 2nd meeting to be held in early 2011 will focus on industry focus, how to assist employers large and small
with staffing, and to consider long term goals for training and education of 2-4yr degree programs and
certifications.
- 3rd meeting to be held in 2011 will drill down to decipher those areas of specialization and training,
aligned with education and workforce demand, to accommodate industry growth.
PJ Hogan shared that the University of Maryland system held meetings recently with their Cyber Committee and
they are also focusing on the skill gaps and the training needed to meet the industry needs.
Healthcare Reform Workforce Planning Grant
GWIB received $150,000 planning grant for a one year, to develop a plan for the state to meet the need for an
increasing number of primary care professionals. The grant requires state workforce boards to lead the effort to
map out a workforce blueprint to expand the primary care healthcare workforce by 10-25 percent over the next 10
years to accommodate the move than 400,000 Marylanders expected to be covered under the new healthcare plan.
The first planning meeting took place in early December where a team of professionals agreed to work on this
project. Next steps will be a listening tour across the state to look at demand versus supply which varies
greatly around the state. Ron Peterson shared that his organization's task force to raise awareness to this issue
will share information and build on work that has been done to assist in creating the 10yr plan. Mr. Robertson
shared that Wendy Kronmiller of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene will be working on the committee as
well. Lynn Reed shared that the committee will next meet with hospital administrators to solicit their input.
Career Pathways Grant
Mr. Robertson next introduced Dan McDermott, Executive Director of the Upper Shore WIB. Mr. McDermott thanked
Secretary Sanchez for attending the Upper Shore WIB meeting last night. He went on to describe this grant project
which involves the Chesapeake College. The WIB is located at the college. The Career pathways grant pulls the
workforce partners and the college together to align the continuing education programs. The WIB had previously
incorporated the GED, ESOL, ADE, into their core services, previously taught at college. The grant provides for a
Home Team which is comprised of state policy officials, and a Travel Team which is comprised of local partners.
Last week 15 members taken from both Teams, including WIB Chair and employers, GWIB Staff, LWIB Staff, went to
Washington, D.C. for a U.S. DOL 2-day training workshop. The outcomes from this workshop were to focus on one
sector initially, like the Health Care industry, to gather an employer driven skills gap analysis. Then once the
data is organized, present it to employers and come up with an action plan. Next, secure champions for the
program and recruit the customers.
This systemic design will be used to run a pilot program in early Spring, and will be the outline used and
replicated to sustain the initiative. These steps to implement, evaluate, redesign and sustain will then be used
in other sectors.
The goal will be to focus on preparing people to move from poverty to careers with sustainable wages. ABE is
taught at 44 locations, with 1100 students. Secretary Raggio suggested getting input from end users of other
programs, who have expressed dissatisfaction with some health care occupations training programs. Martin Knott
suggested partnering with the MCCEI and residential construction on the Eastern Shore. Mr. Chaney suggested
looking at the Ladders of Success program run by Anne Arundel County and to explore how these programs could be
connected to the nonprofit and foundation community.
Maryland DLLR Workforce Data Quality Initiative (WDQI)
Mr. Robertson next invited Paulette Francois, Acting Assistant Secretary to provide an update on the WDQI grant.
She shared that a summary report could be found under tab 3 in the Board member packets.
The Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, Division of Workforce Development and Adult
Learning will utilize the WDQI in partnership with the University of Baltimore's Jacob France Institute as a
means of achieving four target objectives: expanding and extending current systems which have been in progress;
improving existing linkages with the educational system; completing and distributing extensive longitudinal data;
and developing user-friendly platforms as a means of generating performance data on both educational and
workforce programs.
The WDQI is intended to help states accomplish a combination of the following objectives:
- Develop or improve state workforce longitudinal data systems.
- Enable workforce data to be matched with education data to create longitudinal data systems with
individual-level information from Pre-K through postsecondary and the workforce.
- Improve the quality and breadth of data in workforce longitudinal data systems.
- Use longitudinal data to provide information about program operations and to analyze the performance of
education and training programs.
- Provide information to consumers to help them select education
Mr. Robertson again stressed the importance of tracking education and skills training.
Veterans Priority of Service
Mr. Robertson introduced Marcus Wardlaw, Assistant Director of the Veterans Employment and Training Service,
U.S. Department of Labor, housed at DLLR. Mr. Wardlaw gave an overview of the new marketing materials developed
for the One Stops which will be used to inform Veterans that they are eligible for many services, and that they
are given priority for services.
Representative Susan Krebs shared that it is important to help Veterans transition into careers, especially the
healthcare fields, and that the civilian employers consider all training and experience these service men and
women have to offer. Andrew Larson shared that the Helmets to Hardhats program has been very successful in
Maryland. President Caret, Towson University shared that there are many programs for Veterans to help them
transfer their skills into many civilian careers.
Then the Lieutenant Governor arrived. Mr. Robertson welcomed Mr. Brown. The Lt. Governor added to the
discussion on Veterans citing the example of the student at CCBC who expressed the need for help but did not
receive the help he needed. While many are offering services collectively, he stressed the need to make sure we
are making Veterans the priority. He has established a new task force with representatives from all the higher
education institutions, in order to establish standards of practice, a mechanism in place, to assist all needs of
Veterans.
Skills2Compete Maryland (S2C)
Next Mr. Robertson introduced Larry Good, Chairman of the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce (CSW). Mr. Good
gave an overview of CSW report for S2C regarding the unique commitment the state has to addressing the skills
deficits of its workforce. S2C Maryland is led by an extensive and diverse interagency coordinating group that
includes education, workforce development, economic development, and multiple human service agencies, all
supported the Governor and Lt. Governor. He outlined ten recommendations for Maryland.
- Create a Community of Practice Learning groups, sharing best practices
- Experiment with workplace-based learning models and increase their use
- Advance concepts of sector partnerships,
- Profile effective processes-look at skill standards, competencies of critical occupations
- Common understanding of Career Pathways,
- Take on the challenge of converting non-credit courses to credit credentials
- Re-purpose existing resources to increase financial aid
- Continue to track post secondary performance across systems
- Push toward shared definitions of outcomes
- Maintain momentum to find solutions for ongoing challenges
Maryland will need 60% of workers with a post secondary education or credential, to fill employer needs over
the coming years, right now Maryland is ahead of most states, but only at 30%.
Next, Mr. Robertson introduced Andy Van Kleunen of the National Skills Coalition gave a national overview of
the Skills2Compete. He summarized 4 important factors related to skills and job training:
- Economy - time is of the essence- train quickly and place people on the job quickly
- Efficiency - where is the money going? How can we make the most of training dollars?
- Equity - people in the workforce, how do we get them moving forward?
- Example - Governor O'Malley was one of only a few Governors who stepped out publicly over the past few years
to call for some big changes in workforce education and training. But of those, he is the only one who is still
going to be Governor after next month; the rest are out of office. There are 29 new Governors who will be
putting forth plans for getting their states' economies back on track, but (as far as I know) none of them are
looking at skills and investing in people the way Governor O'Malley has under Skills2Compete-Maryland. So
Maryland's leaders should see themselves as national leaders on these issues, and continue reaching out to
Governors in other states to show them what Maryland has done in this regard.
To continue the Skills2Compete Maryland discussion, Ms. Sachs directed Board members' attention to Tab 4 in
the packets: Complete College America - Certificates Count report.
Certificates position candidates for a better career path. And several of our Board members attended a forum
on this report earlier in the month. Ms. Sachs asked Dr. Marti Smith, President of Anne Arundel Community
College, where the forum was held, to comment on the discussion that took place at the forum. Dr. Smith shared a
key component to the report was the challenge of a student's career continuum. Colleges will be working to
develop more reciprocity of credits earned from various educational institutions in order to offer students more
continuity.
Next, the Lieutenant Governor thanked the members present who sit on the Interagency Workgroup. He reiterated
this group's key role in assisting attainment of the Skills2Compete Maryland performance goals. He then thanked
Larry Good of the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce for his assessment of Maryland's strengths and successes in
the Skills2Compete Maryland initiative. And the Lt. Governor agreed with Andy Van Kleunen's point about Equity,
and said that Maryland needs to be more focused on how we will help our workers to move ahead in this economy.
Then he addressed the Board members and asked, "So my question to you
is - can we hit that 20% mark? Where are
we with that?"
Lynn Reed of GWIB answered that overall yes, goals would be met, but that some of the partner agencies may
have to stretch to reach their goals, while others will surpass their goals.
Mr. P.J. Hogan of University of Maryland System shared that the USM strategic planning found that a
significant group of students move from one educational institution to another, often earning credits at a
Community College, then transferring to a 4 year institution, and then ending up with no degree, as transfers and
credits do not add up to the required number for degree completion. Dr Caret shared that there are specific
majors where articulation and transfer credits do mesh, but these options are limited. All educational
institutions need to work to make acceptance and articulation of credits a accepted statewide and institution
wide.
Board member George Littrell stressed that any cuts in funding the Community Colleges when enrollment is on
the increase would complicate the issue. Board member Frank Chaney shared that the construction industry is
working to align trade associations and apprenticeships with the appropriate credits for students ease of
articulation. President Steve Pannill also stated that enrollment of part-time students is way up now because of
the economy, and sharing best practices to clearing obstacles so students can get the credit to complete their
degrees is very important. Ms. Paulette Francois shared her commitment and that of DLLR to focus resources to
provide the training needed to reach this goal. Secretary Sanchez confirmed that DLLR is committed to this goal.
Mr. Robertson then thanked the Lt. Governor for joining the GWIB meeting and for putting the 'G' back in GWIB!
Mr. Robertson motioned to adjourn the meeting. The motion was passed.
Meeting adjourned at 5:40pm.
|