After Cluster Analysis: Engaging the Community, Aligning Systems, Rewriting the Rules

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After Cluster AnalysisEngaging the Community,
Aligning Systems,Rewriting the Rules

• Scott Sheely
• Executive Director
• Lancaster County (PA)
• Workforce Investment Board

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Industry Cluster Analysis

• Involved with industry cluster analysis since
  State-mandated strategic planning in 2000
• Used Porters theoretical model and mostly
  anecdotal information to focus workforce
  investment planning
• Never enough public money to do everything that
  needs to get done

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Industry Cluster Analysis

• Five industries chosen as priority targets for
  workforce investment in Lancaster County
• Health care
• Construction
• Food processing
• Communications
• Advanced manufacturing

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Industry Cluster Analysis

• In spring 2001, received a Community Audit Grant
  from the US Department of Labor to further study
  and develop metrics to validate the choice of
  clusters
• Engaged Lee Munnich and the State and Local
  Policy Program at the HHH Institute at U of MN as
  consultant
• Adopted the Understanding Your Industries model
  for analyzing ES 202 data

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Industry Cluster Analysis

• Gathered a Steering Committee to do local
  analysis
• Academic economists
• Economic development planners and statisticians
• Private sector planning professionals
• State economic and workforce development staff

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Industry Cluster Analysis

• Used closely supervised student interns from
  local universities to do the number crunching
• Hired local business calling program from
  economic development to do qualitative follow-up
  to the statistical analysis
• Steering Committee met three times to examine
  quantitative and qualitative information

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Sharing the Results

• Began sharing information as developed with
  representatives from key systems
• Important organizations that are business
  intermediaries
• Lancaster Chamber of Commerce and Industry
• County commissioners and staff
• Economic Development Company
• Higher education programs operating in County
• Sixteen local school districts in County.

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The Results

• Original five clusters retained but enhanced
• More broadly conceived
• Detailed data to support conclusions
• Cluster snapshots to use with the general public.
• New clusters in automotive and biotechnology
  added
• Thirteen other clusters studied and rejected as
  priority hospitality, education,
  transportation, and others

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The Results

• Research took the next step of identifying the
  career ladders that support each cluster and the
  skills, knowledge and abilities that support the
  various career ladders
• This work is underway and should be finished by
  the end of 2003.

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During the Years

• As the information was shared and analyzed,
• As people felt more and more comfortable with the
  common sense nature of the process,
• As consensus built around cluster priorities,
• Things began happening

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Among our Business Partners

• Our planning partners from business began
  suggesting some specific interventions that would
  be helpful in their industries
• In 2001, began a major regional (ten county)
  initiative with 35 partners from the health care
  industry to increase the supply of trained health
  care workers using the CareerLink system as a
  primary broker for people needing a connection to
  education and employment

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Among our Business Partners

• In late 2002, responded to the need for more
  skilled tradespeople in the construction industry
  by forming a regional initiative with Associated
  Builders and Contractors, six local homebuilder
  associations, and the PA Homebuilders
  Association by putting together a regional
  consortium to recruit people for the construction
  industry using a television media campaign

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Among our Business Partners

• In 2003, used a Stay! Invent the Future grant to
  study the needs of the manufacturing community
  for more skilled workers to fill the technology
  jobs being created in that sector
• Major regional initiative being planned with
  three workforce investment boards, two
  manufacturers associations, five Chambers of
  Commerce, and seven training institutions

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In Economic Development

• Local economic development planners began using
  the locally-developed industry cluster priorities
  in business attraction and investment programs
• Lancaster County Planning Commission wrote
  priority clusters into County plan
• Local workforce and economic development partners
  working on common measures of economic
  development progress.

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In Education

• The Lancaster County Career and Technology Center
  (vocational-technical school) aligned its
  curriculum into clusters paralleling those of the
  Board
• The School District of Lancaster retooled its
  Small Learning Communities format for curriculum
  organization into programs that align with the
  Board priorities.

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In Local Government

• In early June, the Lancaster County Commissioners
  called all of these groups together to announce
  publicly that the five (now six) industry cluster
  priorities identified by the Workforce Investment
  Board would be priorities for the County for the
  next five years.

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What Happened?

• By having the five major systemic players
  business and industry, workforce development,
  economic development, education, and local
  government involved in the analysis of the
  industry cluster data, we engaged key people and
  developed allies in systems beyond our own

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What Happened?

• By sharing the results of our analysis broadly,
  we allowed policymakers from all five systems to
  contribute to the development of a shared vision
• By communicating that shared vision throughout
  the community with the data to back it up, we
  developed area-wide consensus about the common
  sense of the vision

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What Happened?

• As consensus developed, changes began happening.
• At the policy level
• Endorsement of Commissioners
• Changes in State policy around funding
• Local Board priorities into contracting processes
• At the planning level
• Regional approaches where clusters replace
  geography
• Curricula are realigned and plans change

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What Happened?

• Most importantly, service delivery systems have
  changed
• In Lancaster County, everything we do in the
  delivery of workforce and economic development
  services now has a cluster emphasis
• Cooperative projects among systems
• Planning drives service delivery
• Service delivery is responsive to the needs of
  our customers in the business community
• Industry-led consortia have changed the way we
  deliver service.

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What Happened?

• Who would have thought that
• Data could drive policy development
• Policy could drive planning
• Planning could drive a rethinking of the
  structure and content of service delivery systems
  in workforce development, economic development,
  and in education.

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A Model

• Run the numbers and process the data
• Engage actors from the five system players in the
  analysis of the data
• Business and industry
• Workforce development
• Economic development
• Education
• Local government

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A Model

• Share the analysis broadly and listen to the
  response
• Develop a shared vision and talk about it with
  all of the involved parties
• Push for bringing this vision into the planning
  that drives changes in the service delivery
  system and look for opportunities that develop
• Listen to your business and community partners
• Drive changes in your own system.

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Contact

• Scott Sheely
• Executive Director
• Lancaster County Workforce Investment Board
• 313 W. Liberty St., Suite 114
• Lancaster, PA 17603
• 717-735-0333
• ssheely_at_paonline.com