Greater Waco Chamber Workforce & Talent: Leading Collaboration & Alignment

by Tiffany Gallegos Whitley, Senior Director of Workforce & Talent, Greater Waco Chamber

The purpose of the Greater Waco Chamber’s Workforce and Talent Initiative is to meet the current and future needs of industry with ready and skilled talent.

This initiative builds on existing work within the Chamber and across the community to holistically address the talent pipeline across the K-12, higher education, and adult workforce systems. With industry as the focus, our community work and internal programming is organized around meeting the current and future needs of employers by promoting regional collaboration and alignment of efforts through the development of the Greater Waco Education to Workforce Leadership Committee; implementing elements of the U.S. Chamber’s Talent Pipeline Management (TPM) system to communicate targeted job skill needs consistently and regularly to K-12, higher education, and workforce partners; and building capacity in the Greater Waco Chamber’s industry alliances, including the Area Industry Managers (AIM), to engage in work-based learning opportunities with K-12 partners through a Business to Education initiative.

Regional Collaboration & Alignment: Greater Waco Education to Workforce Leadership Committee

The Greater Waco Education to Workforce Leadership Committee convenes leaders from industry, education, and community-based organizations to enhance communication and collaboration across sectors through the development of a regional workforce and talent action plan. This action plan will align shared goals and efforts around increasing skilled talent for current and future jobs in the Greater Waco region. Additionally, a regional data system will be developed to track and measure the impact of the partnership. The committee met for the first time in May 2023 and over the course of two meetings has identified two priority areas within the action plan:

1. Promote ongoing connection and communication between industry, education, and workforce training providers around high demand, high wage potential occupations.

2. Coordinate and align work-based learning efforts that focus on high demand, high wage potential occupations.

Using these priorities to develop measurable objectives, the leadership committee will have a finalized regional action plan by September 2023. The enthusiasm of partners across education, industry, and workforce along with City of Waco and McLennan County leadership demonstrates our community’s commitment to collaboration around building a strong talent pipeline. Current participating leaders represent the following organizations:

• Area Industry Managers

• Baylor University

• Cen-Tex African American Chamber of Commerce

• Cen-Tex Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

• City of Waco

• Communities in Schools of the Heart of Texas

• Connally ISD

• ESC Region 12

• Heart of Texas Goodwill Industries

• La Vega ISD

• McLennan Community College

• McLennan County

• Midway ISD

• Prosper Waco

• Tarleton State University – Waco

• Texas State Technical College

• Texas Tech University at Waco

• Waco Business League

• Waco ISD

• Workforce Solutions for the Heart of Texas

Utilizing the Talent Pipeline Management System to Communicate Targeted Workforce Needs

At its core, Talent Pipeline Management (TPM) is intentional, industry-led communication using workforce data and building mutually beneficial partnerships to support the talent and employer ends of the pipeline. This process is the foundation of the Greater Waco Chamber’s regional collaboration through the Greater Waco Education to Workforce Leadership Committee and internal business to education programming. As a chamber of commerce, keeping an industry focus through TPM allows us to leverage our role as a voice for local industry and serve as a bridge between employers and education/training partners. The Greater Waco Chamber’s industry alliances, such as the Area Industry Managers (AIM), are key sources of labor market data and feedback. Additionally, understanding the data and information that K-12, higher education, and community-based organizations need from industry is an important part of the TPM process to contextualize industry data for these partners. Our team is meeting with these partners both individually and in group settings to better understand their needs regarding industry data. Building data and communication processes through TPM will further support the development of curriculum and training programs by our partners. In this vein, we will also support workforce and talent projects led by other organizations. One such example is the new industrial training center. Our role is to help ensure the center is highly utilized and achieves its mission.

Engaging in Work-Based Learning Opportunities with K-12 Partners

Quality work-based learning is connected to high-demand occupations and ranges from awareness and exploration activities, such as industry tours and job shadowing, to preparation and training opportunities, including internships and on-the-job training. These activities provide students with hands-on, real-world experience and are key for developing talent and preparing individuals for the workforce and evolving labor market. Work-based learning is also a component of many Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs at local public school districts. These CTE programs prepare students for a wide range of high-demand careers. Within the statewide approved CTE career clusters are programs of study that encompass advanced manufacturing and logistics/supply chain; these two industries are represented by the Chamber’s Area Industry Managers (AIM). This presents a strategic opportunity for the Greater Waco Chamber to facilitate increased connection between AIM members and students through our internal work-based learning programming. Part of developing high quality career pathways is building opportunities for students who are not college bound to obtain the relevant skills and credentials for high-demand, high-wage potential occupations. Through this programming, we will support the growth and development of local talent within our K-12 schools by connecting high demand CTE programs with TPM data and industry engagement. While AIM is our first area of focus, we look to convene other industry groups including the Greater Waco Aerospace Alliance and representatives from allied healthcare businesses in the future.

Pathway to the Workforce & Talent Space

The strategies we are utilizing are a culmination of workforce data and feedback obtained from local employers along with strategic support from the City of Waco and McLennan County to fund the execution of the Workforce and Talent initiative. The Greater Waco Chamber’s economic development work includes support for local businesses through its Business Retention and Expansion program (BRE). Each year the team conducts approximately 100 visits with area employers to better understand their operations, challenges, opportunities for growth and to provide connections to targeted resources and community support. The goal of the BRE program is to hear directly from local employers to ensure Greater Waco remains a business-friendly community. Much like the rest of the nation, workforce has emerged as a common theme in our BRE visits; particularly skilled positions. Greater Waco’s robust talent pool of skilled workers has helped attract many new businesses to the area. With the area’s forecasted growth, meeting the immediate and future labor market needs is a key driver in our talent and workforce efforts. Labor market data also shows that these professions are growing occupations with high wage potential. Using this data and feedback from industry to bring new talent to the region, the Greater Waco Chamber launched the inWaco campaign, a national digital marketing and recruitment strategy to showcase high demand skilled occupations and overall quality of life in Greater Waco. Since introducing the inWaco campaign, the brand has expanded to encompass the majority of the programmatic work that supports our workforce and talent efforts.

While recruiting outside skilled talent is an important component to workforce and talent development, it is also vitally important to grow and develop talent within the community, particularly among K-12 students. On average, there are around 3,000 high school graduates each year in McLennan County. Many high school graduates are going straight to work and not enrolling in higher education. Approximately 30% of students are not trackable after high school graduation, because they do not join the workforce and they are not enrolled in a Texas college or university. Local high school graduate data matches our data on our adult workforce population, which consistently shows Greater Waco has a high rate of residents with high school diplomas, but no postsecondary education or training.

At the same time, we have growing high-demand, high-wage potential occupations in the advanced manufacturing, aerospace, supply chain, and healthcare industries that require some postsecondary credentialing, but not necessarily a 4-year college degree. Examples of occupations within these industries include aircraft mechanics and service technicians, industrial machinery mechanics, electrical engineering technicians, respiratory therapists, and licensed vocational nurses. Postsecondary training pathways include registered apprenticeships or short-term workforce training courses with stackable, industry-based credentials. Based on industry feedback and data, there is ample opportunity for students who do not plan to attend college to obtain the skills training or credentials necessary for these occupations. Engaging industry partners and supporting the development of industry-aligned CTE programs within the K-12 system was one key strategy that emerged throughout the process of developing the Greater Waco Chamber’s Workforce and Talent initiative. This strategy, along with supporting regional collaboration and communication across the talent pipeline using TPM, is key to the investment the City of Waco and McLennan County are making in the initiative. At the same time, this work directly aligns with the Waco Chamber Community Development Foundation’s (WCCDF) strategic priority areas around workforce and talent. The WCCDF is a significant component to supporting the Chamber’s Workforce and Talent initiative, particularly around implementing Business to Education programming.

Developing Programmatic Efforts

In preparation for launching Business to Education programming and events, Chamber staff has consulted with K-12 CTE professionals to understand gaps in work-based learning opportunities. Consistent feedback centered on increased awareness and exposure to local high demand occupations through job shadowing and teacher externships. Starting with this lighter industry engagement is also a best practice when building high quality work-based learning programming. Casting the net wide allows for continual follow up and relationship building for more intensive workbased learning activities such as internships and pre-apprenticeships. This strategy also aligns with building the Chamber’s long-standing Leadership, Education, and Development (LEAD) program by exposing more CTE students to LEAD mentoring opportunities while engaging in high-quality workbased learning.

In June 2023, WCCDF received a grant from the Howmet Aerospace Foundation to support job shadowing and teacher externships through the Business to Education initiative. With this grant, the Greater Waco Chamber has developed the inWaco Industry Spotlight, which launches in fall 2023.

The inWaco Industry Spotlight is a half-day event designed to connect K-12 students and teachers with company-host sites to explore high demand and growing jobs in our region. While attending this event, educators will learn from industry professionals and incorporate their learning into classroom content. Students who participate will gain valuable insight into the skills and education needed for these high demand jobs. The goal of this event is to increase student/teacher awareness and exploration of local Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM)-related occupations across advanced manufacturing, logistics/supply chain, and aerospace/aviation industries. The Chamber is piloting the program with Waco ISD, Midway ISD, La Vega ISD, China Spring ISD, and Connally ISD, starting with the high schools. CTE, Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID), and Gaining Early Awareness of and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) teachers are the target audience for the event, along with CTE students from underrepresented populations in STEM occupations. As we move forward, the Chamber plans to increase the number of school districts, teachers, and students served by the Industry Spotlight event.

Aspirational Goals

As the Business to Education initiative launches the inWaco Industry Spotlight, future goals include increasing internships and pre-apprenticeships available for CTE students in high demand, high wage potential occupations. A comprehensive spectrum of work-based learning opportunities for students is the long-term goal of the initiative. At the same time, increasing work-based learning opportunities for students enrolled in higher education is another area of potential opportunity for the future growth of the Business to Education initiative. Coupled with the movement of the Greater Waco Education to Workforce Leadership Committee’s regional action plan, it is certainly an exciting time to be in the workforce and talent space. Like all good work in our community, this momentum would not be possible without the spirit of collaboration and a willingness to align efforts around building a strong talent pipeline in Greater Waco.