Presentation on Workforce 2008
and Beyond given by CEO, Kris Latimer at Pendleton Economic and
Workforce Summit. This presentation received excellent reviews
and includes a great deal of information about the current and future
workforce.
The Oregon
Workforce Alliance
– Bylaws Re-write in Draft
PDF
available for review here.
TOC/OWA members who would like a
Word version should write to Elisha@tocowa.org
Congressman Walden Visits WorkSource
Oregon-Hermiston
OWA Delegation Hits the
Hill
Late
last month, Scott Koch (OWA Vice-Chair/Governmental
Relations Committee Chair), Terri Simonis (OWA Member) and Kris Latimer
(OWA
Chief Executive Officer) attended the National Association of Workforce
Boards
Annual Forum held in Washington, DC.
While
attending the group was impressed by
keynote
presentations including author of A
Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink as
well
as Newt Gingrich who has authored a new book, Real Change. Both presenters spoke to the need
of new
skills among American workers and systems to support the development of
these
new and essential traits.
As
we do every year, we also participated along with other
members of the Oregon Workforce Partnership in visits to Capitol
Hill.
This year we were able to meet directly with
Congressman Peter DeFazio (thanks to Chuck Forester and his team at
Lane
Workforce Partnership who invited us along to their appointment) and
also with
Congressman Greg Walden (shown in photo taken in the Capitol Building’s Rayburn
Room – Pictured from left to right are Justine (Terri’s Niece),
Jennifer Koch
(Scott’s wife), Terri Simonis, Congressman Walden, Kris Latimer and
Scott
Koch). The group also met with staff in
Senator Smith’s office. Other
representatives of the Oregon Workforce Partnership met with staff
representatives in Senator Smith and Representatives Wu and Hooley.
While the
outlook on the Hill is not
hopeful our delegation
demonstrated a clear understanding for the need for strong publicly
funded
workforce programs.
Visits
have been followed up with individual thank
you
letters and additionally, Congressman Walden’s office called Kris last
week to
arrange for him to visit the One-Stop
Center
in Hermiston.
A VISION FOR 2012
The
Oregon Consortium and Oregon
Workforce Alliance paused
this past year to evaluate where they were headed and what it is that
the
organizations together wanted to achieve. The outcome of this
process was a Vision for 2012. We invite you to review this
vision and to
share your skills, thoughts and efforts to assist us in seeing it to
fruition.
To view the
Vision for 2012 in PowerPoint format – click
here.
To view the
vision as a simple pdf – click here.
To view the
PowerPoint presentation made at the January 2008
TOC and OWA Quarterly Meetings – which described in detail the
re-organization
of functional structure of the Boards, click here.
The TOC & OWA have formed a new committee structure to support the
vision for 2012. For more information on the new committee
structure click on the Boards
and Committee Link
NEW:
OWA MEMBERSHIP & VACANCY INFORMATION AVAILABLE HERE
Annual
Report for the period July 1, 2006-June 30, 2007
The
Oregon Consortium & Oregon
Workforce Alliance:
Supporting
the New Forest Economy – Creating an
Industry Focused Workforce Development Strategy
Representatives
of TOC/OWA together with an advisory board of industry leaders
representing Timber Products Company, Roseburg Forest Products, Stimson
Lumber Company, Umpqua Community College, Associated Oregon Loggers,
Long Rock Timber Co., Swanson Group Inc., Umpqua Training &
Employment, Inc., Oregon Forest Resources Institute, Menasha Log Co.,
LLC, Oregon Employment Department, States Industries, Superior Studs
and the Workforce Institute, just wrapped up work and published a 10
year workforce plan. The Oregon Consortium/Oregon Workforce
Alliance was funded by the State of Oregon to convene an Oregon Forest Products
Symposium that brought together more than 50 individuals from across
the state. Attendees included representatives from the Forest
Products Sector, the Wood Products Industry, secondary and higher
education, organized labor, government agencies and other interested
parties, as well as staff and board members from TOC/OWA. This
symposium was conducted as the starting point in a project to develop a
strategy to address the needs of the Forest Products Cluster and the
Wood Products Industry in Oregon.
An outcome of the meeting was the creation
of a Wood Products Advisory Committee to more closely examine the needs
of the industry as well as the challenges that it faces in replacing an
aging workforce, recruiting young people into the industry, public
policy that adversely impacts the industry and other factors that must
be effectively dealt with in order to address the short, mid and
long-term needs of the industry. The Wood Products Advisory
Committee has met on four occasions to discuss these issues, gather and
analyze data about the industries needs and to work towards resolution
of employer (demand-side) issues that must be reconciled with the
ability of the supply-side (education) to deliver high quality, high
skilled workers that will enable the industry to achieve and maintain
competitiveness in the global marketplace. The overall result of
this process has been the ability of TOC/OWA to develop this statewide
strategy to address the needs of these Oregon industries that are critical to the
State’s economic well-being (click here
to review the 10 year plan).
