East Central Minnesota Workforce Partnership History

1993

Cambridge area employers and School District representatives begin meeting on an Apprenticeship program initiative for high school students and local manufacturers.

Pine City Technical College and area employers begin meeting on training issues for current employees.

1994

Noel Harness working at PTC is also involved with the Cambridge Chamber and discovers similar objectives for the two groups. Gene Biever, President of the College organizes a joint meeting at the Park Café in Braham. The joint partnership is formed.

1996

Partnership develops a mission, vision, values and goals. Members include: Manufacturers, ECE, School District Superintendents, Minnesota Technology Inc, MN Department of Economic Security, Central MN Initiative Foundation and area colleges in Cambridge and Pine City.

Pine Technical College and ECMWP combine for a Workkey The s Grant from the MN Job Skills Partnership of $400K. MDES trains job assessors, Pine Tech trains educators and 4 companies run employee assessment and training.

The Director of the MN Dept of Economic Security attends a Workforce Meeting in Cambridge.

1997

Workkeys is recognized by the MN Business Council as a viable training assessment tool for the State facilitation. MBC mentions ECMWP in a statewide mailing for a seminar with Governor Carlson as the keynote speaker. St Paul Technical College picks up Workkeys with a seminar and facilitates Polaris investment in the system for training employees.

ECMWP becomes the 5 county region controlling organization for the state School to Work grant over $2M. ECMWP involves 11 school districts over a 5-year period. The organization forms an executive committee to administer the funds and adds a student and union representative to the committee.

ECMWP decides to voluntarily fund a part time director to keep the partnership focused and moving forward. 5 businesses, 2 colleges, 4 school districts voluntarily raise over $30K annually to support the activities.

The Chancellor of MnSCU visits a general Meeting.

The Director of Dept of Children, Families, and Learning visits a general meeting.

1998

ECMWP initiates a high school survey across 11 school districts to find work experiences for area seniors.

ECMWP initiates an 11 district wide Transcript project to ask employers and schools to ask for transcripts for grades and attendance confirmations.

Pine City and Cambridge Retailers apply for a grant to develop retail training standards and education for retail employees. ECMWP testifies of the need for developing retail training as a foundation for entry-level employment. This group is awarded over $200K and are the first retail related grants given in the history of the Job Skills Partnership.

Pine Technical College applies for a $400K grant for a virtual reality center startup. Employers of the ECMWP offer employees and commitments to virtual reality training of their employees

Activities of the 11 school district School to Work organizations are included in the monthly agendas.

1999

The Partnership applies for and receives approval as a 501C3 non-profit status.

Retail and Health Care initiatives are added to regular ECMWP meeting agendas.

ECMWP begins work on a web site presence through ECE hosting.

2000

Cambridge applies receives a $260K grant for supervisor training for the ECMWP Allied Health Group.

Retail Training begins expansion to Other Regional cities through the Chambers.

The Governor’s Workforce Council visits for a special evening meeting followed by a regular morning meeting.

Mn Job Skills Partnership asks if they can help our efforts further.

ECMWP decides to sponsor the regional Employers Conference at Izatys in the Spring. The previous year over 100 people attended the conference.

2001

Received Supplemental School-To-Work grant for $31K to produce retail sales skills training guide and video, adapt and revise Employability Skills checklist and provide electronic access for career planning resources for regional alternative learning center students.

180+ people attended Year III Employer Conference at Izatys.

Pine Technical College hosted ECMWF Partnership meeting and gave site tour and presented information on a number of programs.

Reviewed NetLearning on-line training program in an attempt to meet special training needs of area businesses.

Funded Successful Employee Interviewing and Selection workshops for employers in Cambridge and Pine City.

2002

Reviewed Vision, Mission and Goals statements of the ECMWF Partnership and adopted new Mission and Goals.

Developed plan to meet goal To be a visible and vocal advocate for career and technical education on local, regional and statewide level. Wrote position paper on need for career and technical education opportunities for K-12 students in East Central region.

100+ people attended Year IV Employer Conference at Izatys.

Princeton HR group launched cooperative learning effort involving local experts. Initial steps taken to form Cambridge HR group modeled after successful effort in Princeton.

Developed power point presentation on need to have career and technical education opportunities for K-12 students in the region. Main audience for the presentation will be school boards and legislators.

Communities Investing in Families and partners awarded $250K “Families Forward” grant to help 110 employed low-income family members gain skills to move to livable wage jobs by providing resources to obtain training to acquire needed skills

2003

Approved submitting final School-To-Work reports and gave five-year summary of grants received and managed on behalf of member school districts/communities. Following is a listing of grants and amounts.

Promising and Effective Practice Grant (Transcript Project) $14,650.00

Supplemental Grant (Employability Skills, Retail Sales Class

Video and Guide and ALC/ALP and ABE Career Development $31,490.01

Year VI Extension Grant (Career Awareness, Exploration

and/or Career Pathways and Integrate Career and Technical

Education into Educational Curriculum) $41,521.80

School-To-Work Partnership Grant (Career Planning,

Career Awareness and Exploration, Work-Based and

Service Learning and Training for Educators and

Community Participants)

Year I $65,172.50

Year II $144,682.95

Year III $135,558.80

Year IV $101,668.00

Year V $76,251.00

Assisted in securing Regional Planning Conference Grant of $32,000.00 for central Minnesota to bring together representatives from economic development, workforce development and education to discuss and plan a regional vision for the future.

Assisted Communities Investing in Families in securing Families Forward grant of approximately $250,000.00 from the McKnight Foundation for scholarships to provide training or education that will enable eligible participants to advance in their current job or move into another position that pays a higher wage.

140+ people attended Year V Employer Conference at Izatys.

Career and technical levy authorization for K-12 school districts was enacted into law.

Informed members of Job Opportunities Building Zones (JOBZ) legislation and supported submission of regional application to State of Minnesota. Region application approved late in 2003.