Partnership leaders report on ’sound’ alliance
September 30, 2009
By CHRIS TRAINOR/ ctrainor@indexjournal.com
A look back.
A look ahead.
Those who attended the Greenwood Partnership Alliance 2008-09 Annual Report meeting Monday night at Piedmont Tech got a little of both.
Partnership executive in charge of operations Mark Warner and board chairman Thornwell Dunlap III each addressed a room full of local politicians and governmental leaders during the report. Also, Convergent Nonprofit Solutions principal Tom Ralser addressed the group in regards to return on investment.
Dunlap told those gathered that Partnership Alliance is on solid footing despite the stagnant economy.
“The Partnership is financially sound,” Dunlap said. “We’ve reacted to the current economic cycle we are in. Our staff has been good stewards of our investments and has managed those well and put those to good use. We are in good financial standing.”
Dunlap also intimated the economic development group is adhering to its five-year strategic plan.
“We have that plan in place and have been working that plan for about a year now,’ Dunlap said. “We are making progress in every area of that plan.”
In terms of business development activities, Warner said 2008-09 has been a solid year for product development.
“One thing that came out of our strategic plan that was unveiled in in 2008 was that we needed to continue to develop product,” he said. “That is land, industrial sites or buildings. In the 2008-2009 year, we have added almost 1,600 acres of certified property that we gained control of or have done a feasibility studies on.”
The annual report detailed that five buildings totaling 244,296-square-feet have been added to Partnership’s inventory of available sites.
Warner’s report also outlined 902 jobs impacted in the 2008-09 fiscal year. Within that number, new job announcements made up 50 percent, 32 percent were jobs created by existing industry expansion and 18 percent were jobs maintained through existing industry retention.
According to the report, the county has seen nearly $43 million in capital investments in the last year. Of that, 99 percent of the investments were made by existing industry
In terms of the firm’s activity from January through June of this year, the report showed Partnership worked 30 new projects or leads, completed 32 requests for information, hosted 25 project meetings, made 25 business retention and expansion contacts, held 20 consultant meetings and went on four marketing trips.
“It has been a busy half of a year at Partnership Alliance,” Warner said.
Warner also touted the re-branding of Partnership in the last year, as the company has unveiled a new logo and a new Web site in that time period.
Meanwhile, Ralser painted a picture of the return on investment the local area gets from the work done by Partnership Alliance. The study unveiled by Ralser touched on the jobs and earnings data of 14 companies with which Partnership had extensive involvement between July 2007 and August 2009.
Partnership’s expenditures in connection with those companies was $1.9 million. The reported total of new jobs was 1,800, and the reported total of new job earnings from that was $46.3 million, with capital investments of $129.1 million.
As such, the cost per new job created was $1,044 and the capital investment per job created was $71,747. The weighted salary of each new job created was $25,751.
“You are very cost efficient in creating jobs here,” Ralser said. “The challenge is in the wage levels and, folks, it is tough out there. Every organization, like the Partnership, is trying to do the same thing. They are trying to steal your companies and you are trying to steal theirs. It is very competitive. And when it is competitive like that, especially in this economy, it drives wage levels down, so you’ve got another thing working against you.”
Greenwood leaders discuss possible job market in 2029
September 28, 2009
By CHRIS TRAINOR/ ctrainor@indexjournal.com
What will the workforce, educational landscape and job market be like in 20 years?
It’s a subject numerous local leaders discussed Thursday as Partnership Alliance hosted the Workforce: 2029 Summit at Piedmont Tech. Partnership executive in charge of operations Mark Warner and V&R Consulting’s Claire Kuhl led the event.
The summit was attended by a “who’s who” of local leaders, including Greenwood Mayor Welborn Adams, Ninety Six Mayor Arvest Turner, incoming city manager Charlie Barrineau, county manager Vic Carpenter, county councilman Gonza Bryant, Piedmont Tech president Ray Brooks and many more, including representatives from some of Greenwood’s leading employers and industries.
Warner talked about the idea of getting local leaders into one place to discuss the future of economic growth in the area.
“When I started in workforce development back in early 2007, I had three strategic initiatives to work on: work ethic certificates, the ready-to-work credential and the intern and apprentice Web portal,” Warner said. “We’re at a point where the work ethic certificate (program) is up and running, the intern and apprentice Web portal is up and running and I think we’ve taken the ready-to-work credential about as far as it is going to go right now. The question was, what are we going to work on next?
“My thought was, instead of hiring a consultant, like was done in the past, we’ve got great minds in this county that can help come up with what we ought to be working on. That was the genesis of this summit.”
Warner discussed how Partnership will apply the information it gathered as a result of Thursday’s summit.
“I’ll partner with Trisha Craven at Piedmont Tech, Sandra Johnson at the (Upper Savannah Council of Governments), Cynthia Pitts at the (Upper Savannah Council of Governments regional education center), Susan Heath with the state training system and Angelle Laborde, who is with the (Greenwood) Chamber,” Warner said. “That’s going to be the nucleus of the group that will take the suggestions that come out of this summit and start evaluating them and saying, ‘Let’s figure out how this works for the short-term and long-term type strategies.’ Then they will report back with their recommendations.”
Warner was asked whether the short-term vision takes any priority over a long-term vision in the current economic climate.
“My personal opinion is that you have to have both,” he said. “I’ve looked at the data probably way too much. In the long-term, for example, the Kids Count data shows that if a kid is not on (appropriate) reading comprehension levels by the third grade, they’ve got a better than average chance of dropping out of high school. If you look at that age group, we’ve got to be working on them now. But we’ve also got to be working on those potential dropouts and those that are unemployed. Those are the kind of short-term issues.”
As she addressed the group, Kuhl talked about the characteristics people will need to succeed in the future workplace, in an era writer Daniel Pink has dubbed the “Conceptual Age.”
“So, if we are going to succeed in the 21st century and beyond, we’ve got to have the high-concept stuff,” Kuhl said. “Right-brain artistic beauty, the satisfying narrative, the ability to synthesize odd thoughts into a unifying, cohesive whole. Then, combine that with the high-touch, the humanity, the empathy, the ability to relate. To take joy in our callings and our life experiences shared together. Once again, right-brain stuff.”
Workforce 2029 Summit
September 3, 2009
- Cluster Study (Adobe PDF)
- 2008 Greenwood County Kids Count Report (Adobe PDF)
- Training Needs Assessment (Adobe PDF)
- Skills That Work V - Employer View (Adobe PDF)
- Greenwood County Work Ready Certificates (Adobe PDF)
