From Dubuque to San Antonio: Advancing Workforce Initiatives
Nic Hockenberry, Greater Dubuque Development’s Director of Workforce Programming, serves as the economic development representative on the Northeast Iowa Workforce Development Board (NEIWDB) and chairs the Planning and Operations Committee. NEIWDB is an important workforce partner, serving as the entity that delivers the federal workforce development funding in Northeast Iowa from Dubuque to Mason City. As part of the NEIWDB team, Nic was invited to attend the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals (NAWDP) Annual Conference in San Antonio, Texas from May 20-22, 2024.
The conference provided valuable information on how regions and localities across the country are connecting job seekers to quality employment and developing those workers' skills to enhance the labor pool. With a focus on how economic development can augment services provided by our workforce development partners, Nic attended sessions focused on elevating business services through innovative partnerships and sector strategies. A few of those sessions included:
- Leveraging Cross-Agency Collaboration to Connect Individuals to Jobs
- Teacher Apprenticeship Success at McKendree University
- The New Workforce: Alignment of Community, Education, Training, and Workforce
- Supporting Work Authorized Migrants to Enter the Workforce
This conference also provided an opportunity for Greater Dubuque Development to share the successes of the ongoing Dubuque County Child Care Solutions initiative during a panel discussion. Greater Dubuque Development's work on “soft infrastructure” to address regional child care capacity represents an arena not typically prioritized in traditional economic development work. An innovative consortium of public-private partners in the Greater Dubuque region have chosen to put child care at the forefront in recent years, addressing capacity gaps and access that can keep new parents from reentering the workforce or create barriers for new families seeking to move to our community.
Sharing about innovative public-private partnerships in workforce solutions efforts puts the Greater Dubuque region on the map, and learning about cutting edge strategies at work in other parts of the country helps to move our collaborative work forward and deliver on the promise that YOU can be great here.
To learn more about the National Association of Workforce Development Professional Annual Conference, visit their website. To learn more about Greater Dubuque Development's workforce partnerships, contact Nic Hockenberry, Director of Workforce Programming at nicolash@greaterdubuque.org or 563-557-9049.
