Call to Order: Chair John N. called the meeting to order at 7:05 a.m.

In Attendance: John Schlagel, Nick Waldoch, Braham School District #314, Ginger Glenn, Glenn Metalcraft Inc., Terry Dalbey, Mora/Cambridge Workforce Center, Dick Young, Oak Land Vocational, Ken Runberg, Cambridge-Isanti Public Schools, Marty Harding, Communities Investing in Families, Natalie Kuehl, CMJTS, Ted Dimberio, East Central Energy, JoAnn Faust, Crystal Cabinets, Vicky Wills, Crystal Cabinets, Jason Spaeth, Pine Technical College, Susan Merritt, Communities Investing in Families/Pine Technical College, John Norris, Atscott Mfg., Susan Edin, Landmark Community Bank, Connie Hockert, East Central Energy, Randy Hatcher, Wright-Link Partnership, Lenore Day, Buffalo Hospital, Bill Zimmerman, Wright-Link Partnership, Dennis Tollefson, Central MN Jobs and Training, Keith Lester, Mora Schools, Angie Lightner, Rise Employment Innovations, Terry Grave, Rise Employment Innovations, Cathy Lund-Ziebarth and Ray Hoheisel, Executive Director.

Introductions: Chair John N. had those present introduce themselves.

Minutes: Partnership meeting minutes of December 11, 2001 were approved upon motion by John S. seconded by Ginger G. Motion carried.

Purpose of Meeting: The meeting was devoted to a review and brainstorming session as to the future direction of the Partnership given the changing workforce climate.

Review of Accomplishments: Chair John N. discussed and distributed East Central Minnesota Workforce Partnership History. The history highlighted Partnership activities from 1993-2001. Also distributed and discussed was Accomplishments Survey on Performance Indicators &endash; Minnesota School-To-Work Indicators &endash; 1997-2001. This survey reflected career planning, career awareness, career exploration and work-based learning experience differences in East Central schools in 1997 and 2001.

Members were asked to elaborate and list accomplishments they felt were important. Listed were: School-To-Work success, Employer Conference, getting workforce related information to employers, Allied Health supervisor training grant, ideas garnered and used from Partnership meetings, Successful Interviewing and Selection workshop, youth apprenticeship program, transcript project, businesses excited to work with schools, contacts we've made, alternative student contact with businesses, contact with employers, synergy of the people and leadership, School-To-Work leadership and grant initiatives.

Addressing workforce issues in East Central Minnesota, John N. and John S.'s leadership, comprehensive opportunities relationships have created for benefit of students, 501©3 establishment, progress documented and willingness to re-evaluate and move forward, different perspectives re-energize and usually learn something useful at meetings.

Following member input John N. summarized points made. Ray H. distributed summary pages from Help Wanted: Workforce Development & The New Economy, a January 2002 report that mirrored Partnership goals and ideals.

Frustrations/Not Accomplished: Members were asked to identify frustrations and what has not been accomplished. Listed were: Failure to meet training on demands as qualified by employers, no frustration, but excitement, Chisago County not involved, getting ahold and involving more businesses, early morning meetings, don't move as fast as one would like, more membership of private industry, been able to overcome stumbling by working together, mentorship program, more business involvement from Braham and Mora areas, we never develop and hand-off, limits new stuff, Princeton Schools involvement, lots of involvement, but it is below the surface and in local communities.

Most businesses are in manufacturing, perhaps customized mini-training modules need to localized using School-To-Work model and involve community education, training in schools more successful than incumbent worker training, joint training effort difficult to sustain, with School-To-Work and Vocational Education funding demise, how do we find resources, diminished involvement of allied health and retail businesses, following a strategic plan to accomplish goals, increase membership and staff, Metro fringe communities need to pick up pace or be left behind, training on demand not successful and limited employer participation.

Where do we Go From Here: Chair John N. asked members to share ideas. Suggestions made included: Start with Mission, Vision, Goals statement, modify goals, revisit beliefs, how people have been impacted most powerful tool we have, need to hear anecdotally about influence of training from retail and allied health, goals need to be reworked, customer needs should be identified, use Employer Conference to identify training needs, our mission is good, need to revamp goals, getting our message out and involving more employers, with funding cutbacks use School-To-Work model and try incumbent training in each community, need to focus on individual community, convene community education directors and identify training needs and potential trainers.

Reality is that many employers are reluctant to pay for training and lose work time for training, training affordability is big issue, most employers want no cost or extremely low-cost training, consider notion of training cooperatives in local communities where employers would identify experts and share an hour or two of their time at no cost, training becomes important only during a crisis, note Allied Health, training more successful at businesses because those being trained don't receive "F's", but get paychecks, training on demand would simply wet the palette and demand for more training and list trainers on closed Web Site within companies or communities.

Pine Technical College considering grant submission to develop demo CD to instruct/perform training on demand, how do we continue to replace energy we are losing with retirements, etc., establish a membership committee and information about the Partnership that pops off the page, identify what it really means to be a member, may need a new business model and realize that in today's climate outside grants may be very difficult to obtain.

Next Steps: Chair John N. summarized the discussion and the group decided to have an extended planning meeting on Tuesday, February 5th at East Central Energy including a majority of the Executive Committee meeting time to work on developing a master plan. Interested Partnership members were encouraged to attend. It was suggested that the meeting be facilitated with a structured plan. Terry D. agreed to contact potential facilitator. Agreed to focus on training on demand cooperative in Princeton, internal Web Page listing of trainers, Pine Technical College demo CD, membership committee and Partnership structure change to get things done.

Information Items: Connie H. distributed and told of an OSHA training session at East Central Energy open to area businesses.

Adjournment: Chair John N. adjourned the meeting at 9:00 a.m.

Minutes by Ray H.