More competitive work force among council's '08 goals 1/13/2008 Finish! program could pay dividends By Joy Campbell Messenger-Inquirer The Greater Owensboro Alliance for Education will begin a new partnership with The Learning Community to seek out residents who are close to completing their bachelor's degree and may need help and encouragement to finish. "There are many people in the community who have college hours, and we want to encourage them to complete their degrees," said Tracy Marksberry, The Learning Community's executive director, about the program called Finish! The organization has been working with employers to offer educational incentives for some time, she said. "We're asking employers to offer not just tuition reimbursement, but also flexible schedules and encouragement," she said. "Sometimes a little encouragement goes a long way. To have your employer support your goals means a lot." Marksberry said some colleges and universities have started programs designed to get former students to come back and finish their degrees. "But I also think there needs to be a communitywide effort since not everyone here attended a regional university," she said. She would like to see a collaborative marketing effort for Finish! "Some people may have gotten within a few classes of completing a degree when 'life' happened, and they had to stop," Marksberry said. "I'm optimistic about reaching these folks." The Finish! project is just one planned for 2008, p-16 members said. Other projects on the alliance's work plan will involve teamwork with public schools, colleges, employers and other groups. "In the big picture, we're asking the question: How competitive can we be in the future?" said Nick Brake, president of the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp. The alliance is a business and education round table organized within the EDC. Its broad-based and large membership includes college and university presidents, public school administrators, elected officials and others from business, the work force and the chamber of commerce. The local group is part of Kentucky's p-16 council. The overall goal is to find ways to improve education for all children from preschool through college graduation and to make sure there are no stumbling blocks from start to finish in career paths. The alliance's co-chairpersons are Daviess County Judge-Executive Reid Haire and Cindy Fiorella, dean of community work force and economic development at Owensboro Community & Technical College. Fiorella just took on the leadership role as Marilyn Brookman's successor. Brookman retired last year as Western Kentucky University's Owensboro campus director. "We have working committees that do the ongoing work, and the alliance meets quarterly," Brake said. "We think it's a good structure." Helen Mountjoy was the EDC's staff person assigned to the alliance before leaving to be the secretary of the state education cabinet. Brake said the EDC will be searching for someone to fill Mountjoy's responsibilities and may start out with a part-time person. Group has goals, work cut out For 2008, the alliance will be focused on two goals. The alliance is a facilitator working with other groups to help students at key transition points -- from high school to college or the workplace and from college to the workplace. The second goal is to play a key role in building a more competitive regional work force -- including adding more college graduates. "That involves employers, colleges and universities, public schools and others," Brake said. "We see the p-16 council as playing a vital role in this." One specific initiative within that framework is "Project Lead the Way" in which colleges and school system employees are putting together a plan to prepare more students for engineering, math and science careers. "The alliance will be advocating for this program locally," Brake said. "The Council on Postsecondary Education has said we need to double the number of science and engineering majors to be competitive." Another specific project brings high school and community college personnel together to create a career pathway for students who want to pursue jobs in the health care industry, Brake said. That aligns with jobs already planned in the local health industry. "We know that OMHS will need 800 jobs, 500 in nursing," he said of Owensboro Medical Health System, which is planning to build a new hospital. Owensboro High School already has added an allied health program this year. "Some areas have been successful in bringing the LPN (licensed practical nurse) program to the high school level," Brake said. "We want to explore that; it's a good alignment with our local opportunities." Students completing the program in high school could go to work as an LPN if they are 18 and pass the licensing exam, he said. OCTC has a bridge program that allows LPNs to get their registered nurse degrees, which could lead to a greater earnings advantage, Brake said. The p-16 council also will continue its Teachers in the Workplace visits in 2008. In this activity, teachers make site visits to industries where they may get ideas for ways to integrate employability skills into their classroom lessons. The experience also is designed to show them how what they teach is carried over into the workplace, organizers said. Joy Campbell, 691-7299, jcampbell@messenger-inquirer.com