Last summer, EMSI completed a study of the Walla Walla region’s wine production and tourism cluster. Recently the Wall Street Journal ran this article that focuses on the leadership of Walla Walla Community College, which is arguably responsible for the industry’s rapid growth and which has sparked numerous similar programs at other community colleges across the country.

Among the figures cited in the WSJ article is the stunning result of EMSI’s study: that the wine production and tourism industry has saved the area’s economy from stagnation or decline in the past decade, and that in the next decade over 15% of the area’s jobs will be directly or indirectly dependent on it.

The story is a stellar example of how community colleges can become leaders in economic development–with the right mix of foresight, initiative, passion, and (let’s admit it) a bit of good luck.

Read EMSI’s full report (PDF)

Walla Walla Community College, Institute for Enology and Viticulture

Walla Walla Wine Cluster Economic Development Project

Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance

The Advisory Committee on Measuring Innovation in the 21st Century Economy—which is backed by the Commerce department and includes leaders of industry heavyweights such as Microsoft, 3M, IBM, UPS, and Wal-Mart—has released its first report on innovation metrics.

Among their recommendations are that federal agencies (Commerce, Labor, Census, IRS) step-up data sharing to improve industry analysis and that the Bureau of Economic Analysis collect new measures of industry inputs and productivity.

Read or download the report materials here.

(Via EDPro via BusinessWeek)

On the heels of last week’s STEM Training & Employment Notice, the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration has announced $10 million in competitive grants for workforce boards to develop STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) initiatives. More information is available on grants.gov under funding opportunity #SGA-DFA-PY-07-03. Phase I applications are due March 11, with awards expected to be announced in the fall. Only workforce investment boards (WIBs) and WIB consortia are eligible.

As a recent post showed (“Analyzing your region’s STEM occupations”), EMSI’s tools, reports, and consulting services are extremely useful for analyzing any regional STEM workforce. For any geographic area composed of counties or ZIPs, we can show:

• The hierarchy of occupational pathways/ladders in the STEM “career cluster”
• Labor market trends and forecasts for STEM occupations
• Relative concentration of STEM jobs in an area compared to state(s) and the U.S.
• Wage information for STEM occupations
• Recent postsecondary graduations in STEM-related programs of study
• Industries most likely to employ STEM workers

For EMSI’s current WIB clients, our Customer Solutions staff is available now to help you profile your region’s STEM workforce using Strategic Advantage. Let EMSI’s solutions add a data-driven punch to your STEM grant application — this support is included free as part of your Strategic Advantage subscription.

For WIBs which are not currently EMSI clients, we are available to provide labor market data and analysis in support of your application. Our flexible, cost-effective consulting services can provide you with a report for your region in less than a week. Please contact us (1-866-999-3674, 8-5 Pacific) for details and pricing.

Here’s a sampling of workforce, education, and economic development news from the holidays:

• Dept. of Labor / Employment and Training Administration plans to examine the net impact of WIA Title I programs (link)
• “Bio-science” gains a foothold in Ohio (link)
• Large workforce gap looms in North Carolina (link)
• Oklahoma releases Employer Survey Report (link)
• Are economic impact studies good for the arts? (A pro and con view)
• Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation releases national and state-specific economic impact studies of hunting and angling (link)
• Boston College releases Phase II of The National Study of Business Strategy and Workforce Development, focusing on the employers’ awareness and response to the challenge of an aging workforce (link)

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke recently gave this speech at an awards ceremony of the Charlotte, NC chamber of commerce. His remarks provide an interesting overview of the great challenges and transformations experienced by the region’s economy in recent years, including the decline of textile manufacturing and the explosive growth of professional and business services, financial services, health care, leisure and hospitality, high-tech and R&D, and niche manufacturing. He concluded his remarks with a plug for higher education, with a particular nod to the North Carolina Community College System.

Over all, the speech covers in microcosm many of the similar issues facing regional economies across the U.S.

LesLe: A repository of resources on community and economic development compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Some interesting highlights:

•  HUD’s Office of University Partnerships
• NGA’s Growth and Quality of Life Toolkit
• USDA’s Rural Development Success Stories

From “Firms of a Feather Flock Together,” an article on new research from Washington University in St. Louis:

“High-tech firms locating close to each other benefit from the proximity,” says Barak S. Aharonson, visiting assistant professor of organization and strategy at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis. “The potential for frequent face-to-face interaction, serendipitous encounters and easy scrutiny are facilitated by being near firms that are working on similar things and are open to sharing information.”

These “knowledge spillovers” happen more frequently the closer firms are to each other, and dissipate as the distance between companies grows. In fact, Aharonson said, the benefits of agglomeration are strongest within 500 meters (about 0.31 miles) and fade quickly over distances.

This should be of interest to any area pursuing high-tech, cluster-based economic development strategies.

The Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) has just released their 2007 report, which studies many aspects of engagement from orientation and advising to instructional techniques and use of classroom time. It recognizes five key lessons learned:

1. “Be intentional” — For most community college students, engagement will not just happen.
2. Engagement matters for all, but it matters more for certain groups of students who need extra attention.
3. Embrace part-timers (students and faculty), and make sure that strategies don’t neglect them.
4. Good data are key to understanding and improving performance.
5. Look beyond the data for actual causes.

In addition, the report lists “Five Strategies That Work”:

1. Setting high expectations and clear goals
2. Focusing on the “front door” (reducing 1st-year attrition)
3. Pouring more resources into developmental/remedial education for underprepared students
4. Using instructional approaches that involve active and collaborative thinking on the part of students
5. Making engagement inescapable

Reading this report reminded us how EMSI’s services to colleges can be used in several ways to increase student engagement, especially by keeping them motivated to learn and by informing them of regional career options.

First, EMSI’s Socioeconomic Impact (SEIM) Study uses hard facts and analysis to show students that the time and money they invest in a community college education will pay them back several times over through the course of their career. If a student pays $10,000 in tuition/fees, books, and “opportunity cost” (wages they could have made by working instead of going to class), they might see a $150,000 increase in their lifetime earnings — that’s assuming their education nets them a raise of merely $2.50 per hour.

Second, EMSI’s Career Clusters data can give students excellent advice about their educational goals. Students can choose a broad career area and then explore career ladders (or “pathways”) within it at various educational attainment levels, seeing the regional job outlook and median earnings for occupations at every rung of the ladder. This can show them a clear path to map their educational goals — for example, from “home health aide” (short-term on-the-job training, $11/hour) to LPN (postsecondary award, $19/hour), to RN (associate’s, $29/hour).

The Fund for Our Economic Future, a philanthropic organization in northeast Ohio, publishes a “dashboard” of the area’s economic health, as well as a detailed analysis of dozens of indicator variables used to generate the dashboard results.

The 2007 Full Report is an excellent resource for anyone interested in using socioeconomic indicators to track and improve regional competitiveness.

We have all heard numerous policy reports that predict a grim future for U.S. competitiveness due to the lack of workers well-educated in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines. A new report from the Urban Institute, titled “Into the Eye of the Storm: Assessing the Evidence on Science and Engineering Education, Quality, and Workforce Demand,” disputes these conclusions, arguing that we have an oversupply of science & engineering (S&E) grads and that American high school students are performing at an internationally competitive level (though certainly not an exceptional one) in math and science.

Instead of being concerned about the general state of S&E education in the U.S., the report argues, we should be focused on more fine-grained policy (driven by more fine-grained analyses that have yet to be done) to improve outcomes for specific student populations, or to target real shortages in specific industries and occupations.

The report was also discussed on National Public Radio this past Friday.