Public-Private Partnerships Aid Workforce Training
Published Mar 21, 2008
Since 2004, the Portland region has gained more than 60,000 jobs. While this growth might be too much of a good thing in some regions of the country, Portland’s spike in jobs has been met with strategically aligned public-private partnerships aimed at developing a pool of skilled and educated workers to fill jobs in the near term and beyond.
Much of the region’s job growth has been concentrated within certain industry sectors such as health care, construction, high tech, manufacturing, apparel and sporting goods, and creative services.
Portland leaders realize that with such a diverse economy, developing and maintaining a skilled and educated workforce is vital to the region’s continued economic health, which is why government entities, educational institutions and businesses have joined together.
Several initiatives have been put into action, including the Portland Workforce Alliance.
The PWA, founded with the objective to help provide the region with a skilled workforce, is run in coordination with Portland Public Schools and is supported by Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s Strategic Training Fund and a number of companies and industry associations.
The PWA currently is focused on preparing people for possible employment in health care, construction, manufacturing and high tech.
“Through the Portland Workforce Alliance, students are engaged early on to explore the different careers available to them and to determine how their own interests and plans for the future fit these career paths,” says Kevin Jeans Gail, director. “Students are given access to industries and businesses, which not only helps them build a strategy for life after high school but also allows businesses to show students what skills and knowledge they must have in order to qualify for these jobs.”
The PWA works in close coordination with the region’s other workforce development programs. They include those of WorkSource Oregon and Clackamas, Mt. Hood and Portland community colleges, which offer employee training for area companies as well as training for individuals.
By working together, Portlanders are proving that too much of a good thing is, in fact, a good problem to have.
Story by Megan Doern
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