Industry-focused Collaboratives

I have been listening intently to what the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (DOLETA) is saying about establishing "Sector Initiatives." I’ve read most of the materials they have produced on the topic and spent the better part of my week two weeks ago attending all of the webinars that they produced on the topic. My conclusion is that DOLETA is myopic on this topic and is missing the bigger picture of what can and should be accomplished in these "industry sector initiatives." For this reason…I am coining a new term…."Industry focused collaboratives" which I believe broadens the scope of opportunities for engagement. Yes, it is just semantics, but the word "sector" and the word "cluster" have very specific meanings to economic development data analysts…while the term "collaboratives" allows us to venture into new territories.

Collaboratives are the individual groups that may make up a sector initiative or cluster initiative. A collaborative may, for example, be librarians from the region getting together to dedicate a portion of the library space to a body of knowledge related to that industry..

Full Story: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/industry-focused-collaboratives-colleen-larose