We need 82,000 workers in our region with the credentials and skills to fill workforce demands by 2030. To meet this need, the Collaboration’s four-county region of Buncombe, Henderson, Madison, and Transylvania overall goals include:
The Collaborative has four main strategic goals:
1
Enhance Pre-K and Early Childhood Education programs’ enrollment.
2
Improve student success rates in K-12 education.
3
Improve postsecondary success.
4
Align educational objectives and outcomes to desired employee competencies.
How We'll Do It: P20 Action Teams
Our strategy outlines how we’ll reach our goals. The P20 Council prioritized Action Teams to tackle implementation measures.
- Ensure P20 Council is Operational
- Advocate for Credentials of Value
- Communications & Connections
- Pathways to Enrollment Through FAFSA
- Lead Sustainable Benchmarking Tools
- Identify Policies/Regulations to Enhance Credential Growth
Strategy:
Ensure full implementation of the P20 Council by January 2023.
To do this, we need to:
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Establish the P20 Council’s mission and vision aligned to the local attainment goal. Review, edit, and approve bylaws. Identify Executive Committee and Action Teams. Ensure members understand their local alignment with statewide efforts that have a shared focus towards postsecondary credential attainment. Develop and implement a knowledge campaign for employers and workers to clearly communicate the connection of the P20 Council’s local attainment goal to the statewide myFutureNC 2030 goal.
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Strategy:
The P20 Council will be an advocate for the awareness of credentials offered by the region’s training providers, with a particular focus towards aligning local industry needs to existing or emerging training programs, especially those featured within the new NC Workforce Credentials list.
To do this, we need to:
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Develop a marketing plan for communicating the alignment of P20 to the mFNC 2030 goals, especially pathways to credentials of value. Develop and disseminate a directory of local credentials of value and providers offering those within the Land of Sky region. Identifying credentials that aren’t being supported (or funded, such as Title I in WIOA) by local training providers but are valuable for the local employers. Continue participation as a collaborative liaison on the state’s core team. Assist career advisors and others working with students/job-seekers understand the purpose of the list, those relevant for our region. Lead efforts to help CC’s and WDB’s submit additional credentials to the state for consideration. |
Strategy:
Communicate credential needs of the local employers to the general population.
To do this, we need to:
- Hold an employer to education summit to identify pathways of importance and “information swap” opportunity to share needs and challenges.
- Examine & execute measures for increasing educator awareness of local industry and job growth opportunities in the region.
- Aid training providers in marketing short term credentials to the emerging workforce, particularly career pathways with multiple entry and exit routes and transfer/articulation routes to universities.
Strategy:
Increase FAFSA awareness and completion rates in the region and acquire expository evidence of other barriers that impede student enrollment in postsecondary opportunities.
To do this, we need to:
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Engage partners in the planning and execution of strategies that will increase FAFSA completion rates throughout the Land of Sky counties. Identify opportunities for students and parents/guardians to have a voice in attainment barriers and solutions by engaging with faith-based organizations and other partners. Identify opportunities to highlight success stories in which individuals with barriers started and/or finished a postsecondary journey and connected to a local employer. Create student-centered/led infographics and other marketing tools to resonate messages of overcoming barriers, career pathways and other K-20 options that lead to local employment possibilities. |
Strategy:
Lead the design and implementation of a credential completion data tool using appropriate software as a medium while establishing a long-term sustainability format in partnership with community college liaisons that proves to be an effective structure that can be replicated by other local credential attainment collaboratives statewide.
To do this, we need to:
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Determine gaps in current NC credential completer data tools/references Investigate best practices in NC and beyond for capturing credential completer data Inventory continuing education and curriculum programs of study at training providers with a cross reference to the NC Workforce Credentials list Evaluate the advantages & disadvantages of current methods of tracking credential completers within local training providers Determine a medium that will accurately reflect credential completers in the region and can present the information to stakeholders in a live, consumable format Obtain sustainable software infrastructure and dedicated liaisons at community colleges that will ensure the data’s long-term infrastructure, alignment to local employer needs and value-add in the region. |
Strategy:
Provide policy recommendations, vetted by the P20 Council, to statewide partners and elected officials regarding chronic regulatory barriers that impede growth surrounding the four indicators of credential growth (early education enrollment, K12 success, postsecondary completion and employer credential alignment).
To do this, we need to:
Assemble a policy white paper of recommendations to address regulatory barriers that impede growth along the educational continuum.
Vet the policy recommendations with the Council with the goal of providing to state legislators and agencies.
Work alongside myFutureNC with awareness and advocacy strategies that will lead to local endorsements of the Land of Sky’s attainment goal.
Determine funding opportunities aligned with P20 Council’s policy priorities.
The Educational Attainment Collaborative Ecosystem
The Educational Attainment Collaborative Ecosystem shows the key stakeholders that are critical to reaching our goal.
Many factors, including internal, external, and policies plus initiatives like funding and technology, impact educational attainment and the ability for students to find gainful employment.
Working together, advocacy groups, educational institutions, workforce development councils, economic developers, city and county governments, and employers that need individuals with various credentials can help students get the education and skills they need for everyone to thrive.
The Assets Map
Our assets are entities, organizations, and initiatives that lead to a long-term, sustainable approach to align credentials and degrees to the needs of local employers.
The Assets Map assists with guiding our region’s work and creating a baseline of best practices that would lead to developing strategies for the strategic plan.
Dashboard
Data-driven to measure our progress forward.
To track North Carolina’s goal of reaching 2M employees with high-quality credentials or post-secondary degrees by 2030, myFutureNC measures the state’s progress. It helps determine if the state is on target in attaining its goal or adjustments are needed along the way.
To meet the growing need for talent and produce 82,000 skilled workers in our region by 2030, we must gauge our progress.
County Data and Resources
myFutureNC and Carolina Demography collaborated to create the myFutureNC Attainment Dashboard to help local communities develop action plans driven by data. This tool features profiles for every North Carolina county that highlights county-level education attainment and performance on key myFutureNC education and workforce metrics. This data helps with decision-making to increase educational attainment in our four counties: Buncombe, Henderson, Madison, and Transylvania.