The Building Futures committees are now working on these Actions Plans:

Job Creation Committee Making Strides

Building Futures’ Job Creation Committee has had a busy year.  Working toward the goal of creating new high-skill jobs that provide very competitive wages, they’ve worked hard in 2008 and are continuing to implement Emporia’s goals for 2009, with lots of positive progress. According to committee chair, Brian Lewallen, the focus of the committee in 2008 was workforce development. “Having a skilled and available workforce is critical to the growth of existing businesses and successful recruiting of new businesses to Emporia,” he said. The committee agreed that they will have a strong focus on measuring success. Their goal is to establish baselines of where Emporia is today and begin putting goals together for where the community wants Emporia to be, based on strengths we can leverage as a community. The committee is currently working on these three steps:

Step 1: Workforce Development Survey

To help assess the workforce perceptions of existing businesses, the committee conducted a workforce development survey. Overall, the results indicated that workforce skills are a constraint to many businesses in Emporia today. Growing existing businesses and recruiting additional businesses that will compete for existing resources and face similar challenges will be difficult. Focus on this constraint is critical to support the goal of high skill/pay job creation.

The committee agreed that better connecting business and educators to improve alignment of current and future business needs with education plans and workforce development was critical to growing Emporia’s own skilled workforce. Both K-12 and local postsecondary institutions, Flint Hill Technical College and Emporia State University, provide a tremendous asset in the area. To begin this process, the committee is planning a career fair for business and educators. The goal is to provide educators with a better perspective of the current types of businesses and jobs available in Emporia as well as some of the challenges in workforce skills. It is also an opportunity for business to better understand some of the challenges educators face and opportunities for business to better support our local educators.

Step 3: Utilizing the Kansas Career Pipeline to Connect Stakeholders

The Kansas Career Pipeline is an online tool that connects local stakeholders in the workforce development process. It is currently being implemented in USD 253, and at ESU and FHTC. The committee is currently working with the KCP and local businesses to get buy-in for business participation. The goal is to get local businesses to utilize the pipeline for communicating local business needs and recruiting talent Kudos to the Job Creation Committee and their work toward making the Emporia region a healthy, thriving and prosperous community.

Workforce Survey aims to help Emporia businesses

The survey’s aim is to find out what types of jobs are available in Emporia and to give businesses a baseline measurement. The survey also will identify any hindrances or weaknesses in the community when it comes to hiring for management or other positions and what barriers and selling points there are in Emporia.

After the survey is complete, Building Futures will be able to judge the quality of Emporia’s workforce by identifying the strengths and weaknesses and the number of unfulfilled positions.  The results from the survey will be used for a new campaign to recruit former Emporia High School and Emporia State University students to come live and work in Emporia. The campaign will encourage people to visit EmporiaBuildingFutures.com where actual jobs available will be listed in conjunction with other local online job listings.

The Workforce Survey will tell us what jobs and positions are out there and what we need to be doing to listen to Emporia’s business community needs,” Jeanine McKenna, Emporia Chamber president said.

Emporia wins 2008 Silver Shovel Award from Area Development Online

Three states with populations under three million — Arkansas, Kansas & Utah — received Silver Shovel awards.

Read the full story at Area Development Online:http://www.areadevelopment.com/annualReports/jun08/Silver-Shovel-Winners-2008-AR-KS-UT.shtml

Kansas named a top 10 state in Site Selection magazine’s Competitiveness Awards

State’s high ranking is second in four weeks by a major business publication

Site Selection magazine has named Kansas one of the nation’s 10 most competitive states for capital investment and new facility development.

The rankings were part of Site Selection’s annual Competitiveness Awards, which recognize the states that score the most points on the magazine’s 10-category index of new facility construction. Kansas was ranked No. 10, finishing just behind South Dakota and Nebraska and giving the state its first top-10 finish since the awards began in 2003. Complete coverage of the Competitiveness Awards, along with Site Selection’s annual Top Groups and Top Deals coverage, appears in the magazine’s May issue and at www.siteselection.com.

“We are pleased to be recognized by one of the nation’s premier site location publications,” Governor Kathleen Sebelius said. “Kansas’ top-10 ranking by Site Selection magazine is a testament to our attractive business environment, and our target audience is taking note.”

The announcement from Site Selection comes just one month after Pollina Corporate Real Estate, one of the nation’s leading corporate site selection firms, named Kansas among the Top 10 pro-business states in the country. This was the second time in three years that Kansas has made the Pollina list.

“This has really been an exciting few weeks for Kansas business,” said Kansas Department of Commerce Secretary David Kerr. “Between the Pollina announcement April 2, the Governor’s signing of the Cessna Bill on April 23 and now this ranking by Site Selection, I’m feeling really good about the Kansas business climate and the state’s reputation among business and site location leaders around the nation.”

Fiscal Year 2007 saw the Department of Commerce involved in 43 location, expansion or retention projects in which Kansas was competing with out-of-state locations. These projects resulted in 6,800 jobs created or retained and $780 million in capital investment, an increase of $408 million from the previous year. Companies that built or expanded facilities included Pacific Sunwear, Prescription Solutions, Service Magic, Alorica and Capgemini, among others.

Kansas ranked in 2008 Pollina Corporate Top 10 Pro-Business States Report

The Pollina Corporate Top Ten Pro-Business States 2008, in order are: North Carolina, Florida, Virginia, South Carolina, Wyoming, South Dakota, Georgia, Alabama, Utah and Kansas.

The study evaluates and ranks states based on 29 factors including taxes, human resources, right-to-work legislation, energy costs, infrastructure spending, workers compensation legislation and jobs lost or gained.

Pollina Corporate Real Estate, Inc. is a full service brokerage and consulting firm, representing corporations in real estate matters on a national and international basis.

Pollina Corporate Real Estate, Inc. has advised Fortune 500 clients and start-up ventures alike in commercial real estate matters since 1981 and has stayed at the forefront of the industry by hiring sophisticated individuals with rich and varied backgrounds, and by participating in corporate real estate think tanks and academia.