Building Strategic Partnerships in the Eastern Upper Peninsula

Phase 4 – Strategic Assets and Comprehensive Plan

Executive Summary

Comprehensive Plan

In order to examine, assess and improve the career development system in the Eastern Upper Peninsula, the Workforce Development Board has begun a strategic planning process in cooperation

with the Michigan Department of Career Development. By engaging the participation of educators, training providers, employers and other community leaders, the Michigan Works! Agency and its partners have worked together to set forth goals which, we believe, are essential to the growth and prosperity of the region.

This process began with an environmental scan in which data and trends were reviewed with respect to their implications on the local workforce development system. We took a close look at state and national trends and requirements for workplace readiness, as well as factors closer to home, and we determined that many positive things were happening in the Eastern U.P. However, there are important concerns that we hope to address as we continue the strategic planning process and implementation efforts.

General Assumptions

A healthy business climate enables community well being.

Skilled, productive workers are essential to business success.

Solid occupational skills, including skills in technology, and sound employability skills are both necessary ingredients for a productive workforce.

Our education system is the basis for transmitting general workplace skills; it presents the greatest opportunity to strengthen the preparedness of our citizens for success in the careers of their choice.

To retain skilled workers and encourage a balanced economy, we must attract and retain jobs that offer substantial wages and benefits to employees.

Significant Trends and Issues

1. Higher unemployment rates: The unemployment rates in the Eastern U.P. have shown steady declines over the last decade, dropping from 13.8 percent in 1992 to 8.5 percent in 1998. Although this trend has been very positive, the Eastern U.P.’s unemployment rate is still more than twice the state’s rate of 3.9 percent.

2. Seasonal employment: Chippewa and Luce County have relatively stable rates of employment, with seasonal fluctuations impacting them with higher rates during the winter months. Tourism and construction industries are mostly responsible. Mackinac County, however, exhibits extreme shift in unemployment, going from more than 20 percent during the winter months to less than 2 percent in the height of the summer tourist season.

3. Educational attainment: In 1990, the percentage of 25-year-olds or older with a high school diploma in Chippewa County was 73.6 percent; Luce County 69.6 percent and Mackinac County, 71.4 percent, compared to Michigan, 76.8 percent. Those with a Bachelors Degree numbered 10.8 percent in Chippewa; 9.6 percent in Luce, and 10.4 percent in Mackinac, compared to 17.4 percent in Michigan.

25-Year-Olds and Older with H.S. Diploma 25-Year-Olds and Older with Bachelor's Degree

4. Employment distribution by industry: Government jobs comprise approximately 45 percent of all jobs, more than triple the statewide percentage of 14.6 percent. Manufacturing makes up 5 percent of the area’s employment, compared to 21.4 percent statewide. Seven of the Eastern U.P.’s top ten private employment industries are related to tourism.

Employment Sector Comparison

5. Per capita income: In 1997, per capita incomes in the Eastern U.P. averaged $17,098. This was less than 69 percent of Michigan’s per capita income of $24,956. While the state’s per capita income increased by 57 percent from 1987 to 1998, the Eastern U.P.’s increased 55 percent. We have historically had less income, and we don’t seem to be catching up.

Other concerns that were noted in the environmental scan included the perception, which may be evident in the 2000 census, that young adults are leaving the area for better jobs, and a further reduction in our birthrate (11.5 per 1,000 compared to 15 per 1,000 statewide), which leads to declining school enrollments and the associated financial implications. Employers raised issues of deteriorating work ethics and the continuous challenge of attracting and retaining skilled workers, particularly in allied health occupations.

Goals

Upon a review of the environmental scan, the Workforce Development Board adopted these three broad goals:

1. Increase workplace readiness

Employers are troubled about declining work ethics, voicing concerns about absenteeism, high turnover and lack of pride in one’s work. They also note communication skill deficiencies.

Computer literacy and technology skills are also of interest to a broad spectrum of local employers, and they obviously deserve attention from a statewide and national perspective. This factor can be most easily addressed through the K-12 educational system, but we must seek ways to increase the skills of adults in the labor force who have already left public education.

Employability skills can be strengthened if students make the connection between school and work. Educational and business partnerships are essential in teaching young people about employers’ expectations, and students’ grades and attendance are likely to improve if employers use school records in their hiring decisions.

2. Improve academic performance in the region

There are many different aspects of academic performance to evaluate. The area’s MEAP scores lag behind the state average in many areas, although improvements have been made. In 1999, the percentage of local students who met or exceeded Michigan standards on all four high school tests was 23.3 percent, compared to 30.3 percent statewide. ACT scores, however, have consistently compared favorably to state and national indicators.

High school graduation rates for the region have declined slightly over the last four years. For the 1997-98 school year, the Eastern U.P.’s rate was 84.1 percent, compared to 82.8 for the entire state. The dropout rate was 4.3 percent. While this is better than the state average, we recognize that graduation is a prerequisite for many career choices, and we believe our schools must be challenged to improve. Area school districts have outlined a number of strategies to address this issue.

3. Attract more high tech/high skill jobs to the region

The environmental scan indicates that seven of the area’s top ten private industry employers are involved with tourism, which is primarily in the service sector with rates of pay ranging from minimum wage to $9.00 per hour, often seasonal. The per capita income for the region is significantly below the state average ($17,098 versus $24,956).

In order to keep people, especially our “best and brightest” young people who contribute to the vitality of the community, from leaving the Eastern U.P. to obtain more lucrative employment, the area needs to attract employers who will pay competitive wages and offer benefits. To complement these economic development efforts, our training institutions need to produce graduates with the competencies to perform high tech/high skill jobs, including industry-recognized certifications and credentials.

These goals were published and put out to the community for discussion and comment. Then conversations were held with the various educational entities and economic development professionals in the area. This was an attempt to identify the strategic assets already available within our communities. With respect to each goal, representatives of these entities were asked to describe activities currently in place that supported or addressed the goal, and any plans that would further enhance those efforts in the future. They were also asked to quantify the financial resources that would be devoted to these activities. These responses were compiled, distributed to the Workforce Development Board, elected officials and the respondents themselves, and presented at community meetings.

With respect to these goals, we will highlight the pertinent strategic assets in the region and set forth the broad strategies intended to address each goal.

The following summarizes the activities and intentions of the various educational providers:

Goal 1 – Improve workforce readiness

Assets:

1. The region is served by Lake Superior State University, a four-year post-secondary institution that also has a state mandate to function as a community college. It is further served by a small but growing tribally-chartered community college, and 13 school districts. Together, these educational institutions have made commitments to continue their existing viable skill training programs and expand their offerings to include additional occupational programs in response to labor demands.

2. Chambers of Commerce have been more involved with educational activities that promote customer service and workforce ethics, and other initiatives, like Character Counts, have increasingly been introduced by schools and organizations like MSU Cooperative Extension Service. These efforts will help to provide a better foundation and lifelong opportunities to increase basic skills in workforce readiness.

Strategies:

1. Strengthen the comprehensive career awareness and exploration system.
2. Promote and market the benefits of career technical and two-year post-secondary occupational education to students and parents.
3. Improve career preparation and technical training for secondary and post-secondary students.
4. Expand work-based learning opportunities for secondary students.
5. Develop and design skill training programs to address skills needed by employers.
6. Ensure that plans for categorical programs include activities that support goals for the area’s strategic plan.

Strategic Partners:

Lake Superior State University: This four-year state university will work with the area career center to continue and expand the 1 + 1 technical programs. There are two such programs in place, construction technology and manufacturing technology. The next one will be transportation services technology.

The University is also exploring the establishment of a Work Keys Service Center.

E.U.P. Intermediate School District: This ISD covers the entire region, containing 13 school districts. They are prepared to

• Provide leadership to local districts implementing career awareness and exploration activities and adopting career pathways;
• Assist in expanding business education partnerships that enhance area career opportunities;
• Apply for state and federal funds to support career and technical education;
• Work toward increased parental awareness of the benefits of career preparation and technical training;
• Facilitate the purchase of MOIS and MOIS products for area districts;
• Operate and expand a regional math/science center; and
• Support and expand the “Character Counts” program in area schools to address work ethic issues.

Consolidated Community School Services: This consortium of school districts administers adult education and alternative education programs, and is the contractor for Workforce Investment Act (WIA) programs for all three counties. They intend to

• Improve skill training and structured work experience activities for adult students and welfare-to-work participants using WIA funds;
• Provide year round work experience opportunities for WIA-eligible youth; and
• Invest WIA funds in post-secondary training and internships for eligible youth who need occupational skills and credentials.

Local School Districts: Across the Eastern U.P., schools have indicated their present and future efforts to promote workplace readiness opportunities. Among those initiatives are

• Encouragements to adopt Career Pathways;
• Improving communications to parents regarding career preparation activities and Career Pathways, including increased parental involvement in EDPs;
• Providing employability skill training and career planning classes in the 8^th grade, with reinforcements in the 11^th grade;
• The addition of career-focused classes for high school juniors and seniors, where state-recognized credentials can be attained, such as First Medical Responder, Emergency Medical Technician, Certified Nurse Aide; as well as classes for Natural Resource Management and Computer Technology/Repair;
• The addition of technology labs at the high school and middle school levels; and
• Increased career awareness activities, including job shadowing, field trips, guest speakers, career bulletin boards, career fairs and other activities.

Targeted Outcomes:

1. By spring of 2002, 95 percent of all students leaving the 8^th grade will have an Educational Development Plan on file.

2. By fall of 2002, 25 percent of the local school districts will have adopted Career Pathways as a component of curriculum.

3. In the fall of 2001, a benchmark will be taken of the percentage of students participating in job shadowing, mentoring or work-based learning. This will increase by 10 percent for the following two years.

4. During the 2001-2002 school year, each school district will describe at least one method of how work ethics and character education were incorporated, with the best practices collected and shared with the other districts.

Goal 2 – Increase academic performance in the region

Assets:

1. Local school districts are already doing what they can afford to enhance curriculum and increase student performance on academic assessments like the MEAP. There is no question that these measures will continue. As funds allow, various districts have supplemented their staffs with paraprofessionals, expanded summer school programs and after school initiatives, hired truancy specialists, and offered special programs for at-risk students.

2. Most districts have access to “second chance” educational programs through the efforts of Consolidated Community School Services and Straits Area Community Schools. These programs provide alternative education programs for students who have not succeeded, for a variety of reasons, in traditional settings. They offer high school and GED completion. Without these resources, many young adults would be attempting to enter the workforce without basic credentials or academic skills.

3. Lake Superior State University and Bay Mills Community College offer a number of developmental classes for students who need a measure of remediation or other academic support as they work toward degree programs.

4. Michigan Works! programs, like the Workforce Investment Act and Work First, provide encouragement and financial assistance to individuals who need training and agree to return to school.

Strategies:

1. Encourage employers to emphasize the value of education and use school records in the hiring process.
2. Improve basic skills curriculum.
3. Provide professional development opportunities for teachers in the area of technology.
4. Provide multiple assessment opportunities for all high school students.
5. Increase active partnerships between business and industry at all levels of education.
6. Align curriculum with state benchmarks and standards to improve MEAP scores.

Strategic Partners:

Lake Superior State University will:

• Continue to offer developmental coursework in English, math and reading and expand it to include all levels of student readiness; and
• Become a Work Keys test site.

E.U.P. Intermediate School District will:

• Train and certify Reading Recovery teachers;
• Upgrade the technology required to ensure all schools can afford to maintain Internet connectivity, interactive television and satellite downlink capacity;
• Continue to offer various technology training to teachers and other staff members;
• Investigate the integration of Work Keys as a component of career technical education; and
• Offer workshops to teachers to increase their understanding and implementation of MEAP assessment.

Consolidated Community School Services will:

• Continue to offer alternative education centers for youth who have left the K-12 system;
• Provide tutors to in-school youth who require academic support; and
• Upgrade GED learning labs with workstations for computer-assisted, self-paced learning.

Local School Districts have listed a wide range of intervention strategies. Most districts have indicated their plans to:

• Provide multiple assessment tools to high school students;
• Align their curricula with Michigan standards;
• Strengthen math and reading recovery programs at the elementary level
• Utilize technology to effect distance learning, advanced placement classes, enhanced science curricula;
• Integrate work-based education opportunities into the curricula;
• Support writing across the curricula;
• Offer summer school, tutoring and supplementary literacy programs;
• Support technology training for all teachers;
• Assist teachers to better prepare students for MEAP success; and
• Link educational expectations with career opportunities.

Targeted Outcomes:

1. During the 2001-2002 school year, we will conduct a survey of major employers and determine how many use school records as part of their hiring process. We will try to increase this by five percent by spring of 2002, with subsequent increases to be determined.

2. Each year, the regional professional development committee will review the technology-related professional development opportunities available to teachers in the area and recommend necessary additions.

3. Baseline data on the number of students taking the MEAP, ACT and SAT (compared to the number of students eligible) will be collected. By spring of 2003, 50 percent of the districts will show an increase in the percentage of students taking these assessments.

4. Each district will determine an annual percentage level increase to be achieved on the MEAP. At the end of the 2002-2003 school year, 50 percent of the districts will have achieved their predetermined target increase.

5. The active partnerships between business/industry and education will be recorded, and additional partnerships will be established in years two and three.

Goal 3 – Attract more high tech/high skill jobs to the region

Assets:

1. There are several Economic Development Corporations within the three counties, representing Chippewa County, Luce County, Mackinac County, Kinross Charter Township, the City of Sault Ste. Marie, and the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. Although a number of these agencies work within a very limited budget, they are staffed by people who know each other and cooperate effectively in joint ventures. One example occurred three years ago, when the Sault Tribe and City of Sault Ste. Marie worked with local governments, agencies and educators to attract a large telecommunications firm to the area. Recently, most of these EDCs combined with other entities in the peninsula to form a U.P.-wide association that will market the entire region in an attempt to recruit higher wage employers. Seed money was contributed by the MEDC, and members pay annual dues of $1,000.

2. A university, community college and career center offer a variety of occupational programs, many with industry-recognized certifications. These skill training providers are willing and able to tailor their programs to meet the needs of employers, within the funding constraints which exist.

3. The Michigan EDC has been helpful in assisting local employers with grants to enhance the skills of their existing workforce and new hires. They contribute staff time to these efforts, which have been collaborated with local and nearby institutions (Lake Superior State University, North Central Michigan College and Alpena Community College).

Strategies:

1. Support availability of a highly skilled workforce.
2. Attract high-skilled jobs through providing high-tech academic programs.
3. Work with other agencies to attract employers to the region.
4. Work with economic developers to market the area to prospective employers and assist the employers with skill training.

Strategic Partners:

Lake Superior State University will:

• Continue to offer academic programs focused upon high tech skill development; and
• Offer additional academic programs to meet emerging community needs (Example: the University has announced a two-year practical nursing degree in addition to their long-time, highly respected BSN program).

E.U.P. Intermediate School District will:

· Provide opportunities for school districts to award certifications to teachers in several high tech areas;

· Improve career technical programs to meet current certification standards;

· Facilitate tech prep connections between secondary and post-secondary schools; and

· Increase communications with the workforce development board with regard to training and development issues and employer needs.

Consolidated Community School Services will:

· Work with partner agencies to identify high skilled employment opportunities and train individuals for those careers; and

· Develop customized training for high skilled occupations as necessary.

Local School Districts will:

• Investigate the expansion of course offerings through the Michigan Virtual University;
• Better integrate technology into the classroom;
• Improve marketing/public perception of K-12 public schools;
• Provide professional development to teachers to ensure the stay abreast of changing technologies and national skill standards; and
• Strengthen communications between educators and business organizations, like Chambers of Commerce, Economic Development Corporations and other community groups.

Local Economic Development Corporations have indicated that they are currently working with county assessors to persuade former residents operating businesses in other locations to relocate those businesses to the Eastern U.P. They also have embarked on a U.P.-wide marketing strategy, which includes touting the workforce as a reason to locate in the Eastern U.P. They are looking for an affordable way to create a database that captures the skills of underemployed workers in the area, or the “hidden” workforce. Finally, they are attempting to market the philosophy of training workers for the global economy.

In addition, the Michigan Works! Agency is taking an active role in seeing that the funds channeled through it are used for activities that support the goals of the strategic plan. They are promoting career exploration and preparation activities at every educational level, and ensure that adult participants of Michigan Works! programs are offered a broad spectrum of employability enhancement services. They provide a critical link between the business and employer community and the education community, and they have collaborated effectively to assist economic developers and community leaders in the recruitment of new businesses. All of those efforts will be continued.

Targeted Outcomes:

1. Determine the training opportunities that area available in the region, designed to improve technology skills. By mid-2002, publish the information and implement a system to keep it up to date so that it can be shared with employers and economic developers.

2. Continue the participation in the U.P.-wide marketing effort aimed at attracting new employers to the area.

3. Promote the use of the Talent Bank as a means to determine the skill sets of individuals who register for work, and share the results with economic developers. Increase Talent Bank registrants by 20 percent over the next two years.