SECTOR STRATEGIES
WHAT IS A SECTOR STRATEGY?
A partnership within a priority sector that brings together education,
economic development, workforce systems, and community organizations.
A sector strategy is a partnership within a priority industry that brings together education, economic development, workforce systems, and community organizations to identify and collaboratively meet the workforce needs of that industry within a regional labor market.
Sector Strategies focus on the needs of local employers in growing industries and prepare individuals with the skills and credentials to meet them. They are an effective way to strengthen regional labor markets and create a more equitable distribution of jobs and wealth. Based on the 2018 Southeastern MA Economic Blueprint, we have seven priority sectors in our SDA.
Workforce Boards play a strategic role in advancing Sector Strategies, building regional talent pipelines, addressing skill gaps, and creating meaningful career pathways for a range of workers in important regional industries.
- Conveners: convening and providing meeting space for industry representatives and sector partners to gather.
- Fiscal agents: fiscal agents for sector strategies, including managing funding streams and pursuing grants, among other duties.
- Systems Change Drivers: leverage relationships with education, training, and supportive services providers to drive new approaches to service delivery and cultivate systems change.
- Data Brokers: intermediaries, performing some mix, or all, of these roles in support of sector strategies. With the implementation of WIOA.
Sector Strategies seek to address the hiring needs of priority sectors, introduce employers to new labor sources and develop skills-training programs to help people compete for quality positions.
Quality workforce programming that equips participants with targeted skill development and industry-recognized certifications.
Engagement with employers in high-growth industries to understand and address their labor force needs.
A commitment to monitoring and tracking participant outcomes.
MANUFACTURING INITIATIVE
The transformation of materials, substances or components into new products is considered manufacturing, and as such this industry encompasses a variety of business sectors from auto, medical, aerospace, technology, energy, and robotics to food & beverage, clothing, fishing agriculture and more. Advanced Manufacturing combines new information technology with advanced machinery. Manufacturing is considered one of the country’s most critical industry sectors, and with over 400 companies on the South Shore it remains a critical driver of our local economy as well. In Massachusetts, manufacturing generates about 10% of the state’s GDP and accounts for about 6% of the total employment base with wage growth of over 27% expected over the next ten years.
CONTACT
Laura Buckley
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
