EARN Maryland Webinars

"Building Strategic Industry Partnerships"
Three Part Webinar Series

Strategic Industry Partnerships are partnerships of companies, from the same industry and in their natural labor market region, with education, workforce development, economic development and community organizations that focus on a set of key priority issues identified by the target industry.

Traditionally, these sector partnerships have focused on workforce development issues, but today's sector partnerships focus on issues related to an industry's overall competitiveness.

This 3-part webinar series is the first phase of the roll-out and implementation of Maryland's EARN legislation that will support the creation and expansion of strategic industry partnerships across the state. We strongly encourage you and any partners that you think will benefit to participate.

Participation in all three webinars will position you well to apply for forthcoming EARN Maryland Strategic Industry Partnership Planning Grants.

The EARN Maryland Webinars will be presented by Lindsey Woolsey of The Woolsey Group, LLC. Ms. Woolsey is the President and primary consultant for the Woolsey Group, LLC. She brings national expertise in the field of sector and cluster strategies. For nearly a decade, she has studied the policy and program elements of successful sector strategies, including engaging industry; the role of intermediaries; coordination of programs to support employers and workers (including industry-relevant career pathway systems across multiple education institutions); industry clusters; rural economies; and evaluation and benchmarking models. She is published in each of these areas. Ms. Woolsey has worked in over a dozen states, and with sector/cluster partnerships at both statewide and regional levels in healthcare, manufacturing, energy, technology, agriculture, tourism, bioscience, aerospace, and the creative industries.

WEBINAR 1
Industry Partnerships 101: What, Why, How and Impact (PowerPoint)
Watch Webinar 1, INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIPS 101: What, Why, How and Impact, On Demand

Don't miss this webinar to learn just how far industry partnerships have come in the last decade, and the keys to their success. This is for all stakeholders, those already convening industry or sector partnerships, those just beginning to consider the model; and all your partners, including workforce development, education, economic development, human service organizations, and other community organizations.

Industry partnerships are employer-driven; they are regional; they are coordinated by a credible convener; they act as a coordinating body across multiple education, workforce development, economic development and other programs; they create highly customized responses to a target industry's needs, and therefore highly accurate responses. They can yield powerful impacts related to how jobseekers attach and advance in the labor market; how companies grow and expand; and how state and local programs work better together to do more with less.

WEBINAR 2
INDUSTRY DATA: How to Identify Your Target Industry
Industry Data: How to Identify Your Target Industry (PowerPoint)
Watch Webinar 2, Industry Data: How to Identify Your Target Industry, On Demand

Roll up your sleeves! This webinar will be spent digging into industry data. Using good data is an essential early step to launching an industry partnership, but it can get overwhelming fast. We'll learn how to read and use data without getting "analysis paralysis," including assessing which industries really drive your regional economy.

We'll learn how to weigh multiple factors such as short and long term job growth, density of companies within one industry in your region, number of jobs, and average wages and salaries. Finally, we will discuss what to do with this information, and how to use it to immediately start building buy in and support from public and private partners to launch an industry partnership.

WEBINAR 3
MOBILIZING YOUR PARTNERSHIP: Preparing for the Launch
Mobilizing Your Partnerships: Preparing for the Launch (PowerPoint)
Watch Webinar 3, Mobilizing Your Partnership: Preparing for the Launch, On Demand

This webinar will provide specific how-to tips and tools for these decisions, and will setyou on a solid track for mobilizing the development of your partnership -- or expansion of an existing one.

Industry partnerships require the right balance of good planning and action. You will want to make decisions about the right convener, key partners, employer champions, the geographic scope of your partnership, the right level of industry specialization, and how to use current initiatives in your area already going on that are related to your target industry.