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issue 8 - february 2006 |
kathy.sweeney@state.mn.us |
In this Issue:
- Commissioner's Corner -- Minnesota: Setting a New Standard in Performance
- WIB Orientation Manual to Further MWCA and GWDC Goals
- Update on the WorkForce Center Customer Registration System
- Update on U.S. DOL – ETA’s Grant Solicitations in 2006
- Now Recruiting 2006 Class of Sectoral Skills Academy Members
- Save Oct. 4-5, 2006 for Development Conference
- DEED Continues Process of Transition in Workforce Development
- Northland Works Project: Successful Collaboration Unique in Covering Two States
- HUD Announces Two $400,000 Federal Youthbuild Grants for Twin Cities Tree Trust and Bi-CAP
- News Notes
- Kudos: Partners for Job Growth Praised for Valuable Content and Appealing Look
Minnesota: Setting a New Standard in Performance
By Matt Kramer
This article was originally written for the Minneapolis StarTribune Op-Ex page and published on Sunday, Feb. 5.
Minnesota has grown so accustomed to top rankings in national surveys – from quality of life and health care to education and economic vitality – that it may be tempting to say, “Chalk up another victory – let’s take a well deserved break.” After all, Minnesota just recently earned a perfect score on the 2006 Development Report Card, the nation’s most broad-based index of the economies of the 50 states.
But the true hallmark of success is our willingness to look beyond the immediate and make investments that extend our winning streak for years to come. In touting Minnesota as one of just two states with the “best economic climate in the United States,” publishers of this year’s report noted, “…the significant bright side for Minnesotans is that their state is focusing on crucial areas like education and R&D to develop the resources needed to sustain and develop the economy in the 21st century.”
This is true now more than ever. Minnesota is hardly a stranger to economic success. For years we have come to expect that our state would garner national attention as a leader in job growth, wages, benefits, and the overall business vitality that has kept our economy strong and productive. We have met those expectations. Our economy is strong and our workforce well prepared. But the economy has changed, and our expectations for future performance must change with it.
Benchmarking our success is important, but we must also recognize that the benchmarks themselves have become suspect as our economy has evolved. For years, economists have told us that the unemployment rate is the principal measure of a market’s vitality. In other words, high unemployment suggested a depressed business cycle, while the opposite meant booming growth.
But how do we reconcile this traditional wisdom when businesses invest hundreds of thousands – sometimes millions – of dollars on state-of-the art equipment that makes them far more competitive but requires significantly fewer, higher skilled staff to operate? This happens daily in the manufacturing sector, where new equipment can allow a business to compete aggressively against lower wage competitors. Is this good? Certainly it may result in a lower rate of job growth, but it also creates lasting businesses that anchor many of our communities.
The same concern might be raised about the types of jobs we are growing. While Minnesota has lagged the nation in overall job growth, national statistics tell a disturbing story about significant growth in low-wage, low-benefit service jobs. Minnesota has experienced this same growth, although at a lower rate than the national average. At the same time, we are growing high-wage jobs in manufacturing, financial activities and business services.
Do we need service jobs? Absolutely. They are an important part of our economy and offer excellent career ladder options for a wide variety of Minnesotans. But do we want this growth to dominate our economy if all it means is “rapid job growth”?
No. A balanced, growing economy across multiple sectors yields far greater dividends than unbalanced acceleration in just a few sectors.
Finally, it is critical to remember that the basis for comparison has changed. There was a time when a 2x4 purchased at the local lumberyard almost certainly came from a Minnesota lumber mill or a regional mill in a surrounding state. Today, much of our lumber comes from either Canada or Western Europe! Our job growth – indeed our economic future – is no longer tied to the Midwest any more than it is tied to our nation’s success. Minnesota is a global competitor and the manner in which we measure ourselves must reflect this new reality.
Our economic performance, whether topping the charts on the Development Report Card to the States or evident in soaring exports or worker productivity, is truly impressive. But to focus on any single metric is to distort the real strength of our state’s economy.
Minnesota has a broad-based economy, spanning multiple sectors, with an emphasis on regional leadership. Increasingly irrelevant statistics focus attention on the past, not on the future. Our role in the global economy is not solely defined by our own actions. It is defined by our competitors in other states and in other nations.
Minnesota’s track record is one of long-term success. Even today, in the midst of an economic revolution, Minnesota is recognized around the world for its leadership in innovation and value-added products and services. Our challenge now is to build on that success, always recognizing that what we’ve accomplished in the past is no guarantee of future success.
From the MWCA Chair
WIB Orientation Manual to Further MWCA and GWDC Goals
By Trish Taylor
A new local Workforce Investment Board (WIB) Orientation Manual is being reviewed in Workforce Service Areas around the state, beginning this week in Dakota County. When finalized, it will support Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) in demand-driven business service integration and in building and enhancing community leadership. The manual is intended to help achieve the goals of the Governor’s Workforce Development Council (GWDC) - Strategic Community Leadership Committee to build strategic community leadership that will strengthen community and state WIBs, as well as achieving the goals set by the Minnesota Workforce Council Association (MWCA).
Our MWCA goals are to do an even better job of assisting employers, large and small, as well as to more systematically share successful strategies for economic development and job training activities by increasing communications among our members and increasing member participation in national forums. In doing so, we hope to improve the quality of services available through Minnesota’s WorkForce Center system. Also, we will continue to build on what members of the WIBs have learned from their economic development training in 2004.
The completion of a local WIB Orientation Manual that can be distributed across Minnesota is one of the projects the Building Strategic Community Leadership (BSCL) committee has undertaken to further these goals. The BSCL committee determined there was a need for such a project because, while many WIBs have manuals for orienting new members to the roles and responsibilities of becoming a board member, some do not. In addition, WIB orientation materials are not consistent across the state. The new manual will enable all WIBs to access the same orientation material.
When completed, the manual could be used as a template for WIBs to insert their own materials, or it could be used in its entirety. The manual will include general information such as, an overview of Minnesota’s workforce development system, a brief history of employment and training programs, and goals of the Workforce Investment Act. In addition, it will include specific information pertaining to relationships and roles of workforce and economic development partners.
Kudos to the BSCL committee members for their efforts:
- LaDonna Boyd, Chair, Dakota County WIB and GWDC
- Sharon Bredeson, Minneapolis WIB and GWDC
- Sandy Mosch, Southwest Minnesota WIB and GWDC
- Madeline Rosinsky, Southwest Minnesota WIB
- Leah Schwachtgen, Southwest Minnesota WIB and GWDC
- Rhonda Sivarajah, Anoka County WIB, Anoka County Board of Commissioners and GWDC
- Trish Taylor, Minnesota Workforce Council Association - Central Minnesota WIB
- Ellen Waters, Ramsey County WIB
- Inez Wildwood, Duluth WIB, Job Skills Partnership Board and GWDC
- Anne Olson, Minnesota Workforce Council Association (Staff)
- Cathy Lattu, Minnesota Workforce Council Association (Staff)
- Kathy Sweeney, DEED (Staff)
And special thanks also to Dakota County WIB for participating in the testing/orientation session and providing feedback on the new manual. I look forward to sharing more with you after the new manual is evaluated further, and updating you on its progress toward final completion and distribution.
Update on the WorkForce Center Customer Registration System
When your WorkForce Center managers tell you how many visits your WorkForce Centers have had, do you ask how many unique customers the Center is serving? Are you curious about how many people attend WorkForce Center workshops? Do you want to know why people come to the WorkForce Centers? And are you tired of hearing that we don’t have that exact information? Your wait is over!
Between now and April, the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) is installing the WorkForce Center Customer Registration System (CRS) in all WorkForce Centers. The CRS is a technology system explicitly designed by WorkForce Center staff and leaders to answer these questions. Seven pilot sites have been testing the software since the fall. They are: Hennepin South (Bloomington), Monticello, Ramsey County (North St. Paul), South Minneapolis, Dakota County – Northern (West St. Paul), Willmar, and Duluth.
Looking at the month of December in the seven pilot sites, we know:
- 3,736 customers made 9,611 visits to Resource Areas. This
represents an average of 2.5 visits per customer.
- Customers identified “looking for a job” as a primary reason for visiting the WorkForce Center on 7,316 visits. The second most common reason identified for visits was writing a resume or a cover letter, identified on 1,761 visits.
- 281 individuals attended WorkForce Center workshops with the average customer attending 1.5 workshops. The most popular workshops were Job Search workshops, attended by 145 people.
- Of the pilot sites, Dakota County – Northern (West St. Paul) was the busiest with 867 customers paying a total of 2,193 visits.
- Customers of the Ramsey County (North St. Paul) WorkForce Center were the most likely to make multiple visits with the average customer making 2.7 visits. Willmar’s customers were the least likely to return in the same month with an average of only 1.9 visits.
“I see a real value in the reports that are generated from this system," said Gordy Peterson, a WorkForce Center Manager in Duluth. “These are accurate statistics on universal customers using our WorkForce Center. The reports tell us how many customers use the Center and what they are accomplishing. The Duluth Workforce Investment Board appeared impressed and appreciated the more accurate statistics that I shared at our January meeting.”
For more information, contact Mary Ellen Novotny, Director of the DEED’s WorkForce Center Coordination Office, at 651-296-3505 or mary.ellen.novotny@state.mn.us.
Update on U.S. DOL – ETA’s Grant Solicitations in 2006
The U.S. Department of Labor – Employment and Training Administration (ETA) will offer a number of grant opportunities in the next few months. The following highlights upcoming opportunities for proposals, as well as Minnesota’s experience with its Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) proposal that was submitted to the ETA early in January 2006.
Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED)
WIRED, a new initiative to promote workforce development on a regional basis is the "flagship" initiative for the ETA in 2006, according to Emily S. DeRocco, the U.S. Department of Labor’s assistant secretary for the ETA. On February 1, ETA announced the selection of 13 regional economies that are undergoing "transformations” and their plans to provide each with as much as $5 million annually for three years, as well as technical assistance from the public and private sectors on implementing best practices in workforce development. The goal, according to DeRocco, is to "help those regional economies and their leadership develop a strategy to transform their economies and to create an environment where more jobs can be created and the talent of their workforce can be used as an asset to maintain or bring new jobs into the area."
"... The U.S. national economy is in fact a whole variety of regional economies ... and many of them are in transformation for a number of reasons. Such economies may be suffering because of trade, military base closures, or because they relied on a single industry that is no longer as competitive as it once was,” DeRocco said.
She said the WIRED initiative represents the culmination of ETA's efforts to focus the nation's workforce investment system on preparing workers for jobs that will be in high demand in coming years.
WIRED Proposal Submitted January 5, 2006: Minnesota’s Experience
Ninety-seven proposals were submitted to ETA including a collaborative tri-state proposal from Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota focusing on regional opportunities to respond to business needs for workforce development in renewable and non-renewable energy, and advanced manufacturing.
The three-state partnership has requested written feedback on our proposal; the full proposal is posted at www.gwdc.org.
High Growth Job Training Initiative/Plans for the Near Future
DeRocco said she expects ETA to sponsor three solicitations in 2006 – possibly in the next six months – to apply for grant funding under the president's high growth job training initiative. The solicitations will each be for about $10 million, and will be in the fields of homeland security, construction, and advanced manufacturing, she said. The initiative is designed to promote education and training in career fields that are expected to add substantial numbers of new jobs.
In previous solicitations in the health care and biotechnology fields, ETA said eligible grant applicants had to demonstrate that they had built "partnerships" with other entities that include the government-funded workforce investment system, the education and training community, and employers or employer associations and unions.
Community-based Job Training Grant Program
In addition, DOL's budget for fiscal year 2006 allots $125 million for a new round of grants under the community-based job training grant program. DeRocco said a new solicitation for grant funds under the program would be forthcoming.
ETA’s Assistance to Farmworkers
The ETA will be holding two more forums in 2006 to discuss the concerns of agricultural employers, local government officials, labor unions, and other interested parties.
- A Dallas, Texas forum runs April 20 from 11 a.m. – April 21 at 3 p.m. (or earlier).
- A Tampa, Florida forum runs May 9 from 11 a.m. – May 10 at 3 p.m. (or earlier).
The goal is to make sure that the workforce investment system is meeting the needs of agricultural employers, according to ETA.
Once ETA has received additional public input, DeRocco said she expects the agency to announce a new strategy for better serving the agricultural community. "Our intention is to mold the farmworker programs to meet the needs that are better identified and better coordinated through these forums," she said.
In the meantime, Congress appropriated $80 million in fiscal 2006 for the National Farmworker Jobs Program (NFJP), even though the U.S. Department of Labor proposed eliminating the program. DeRocco said the NFJP is not well coordinated with the rest of the workforce investment system, and that much of the money goes to transporting workers instead of training. Motivation, Education and Training (MET) is the provider of funding from this source for Minnesota. MET is available where there is an impact of migrant seasonal farm workers, according to Gloria Bostic, who monitors the migrant worker program for the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.
2006 Recognition of Excellence Award Application Announced
Innovative practices and programs with commendable outcomes
in the nation’s workforce investment system will be recognized at the 2006 Workforce
Innovations Conference in July. Applications are due at www.doleta.gov/roe by
March 31.
(Source: U.S. Department of Labor staff from Region V from a Washington Alert - re: ETA initiatives in 2006)
Now Recruiting 2006 Class of Sectoral Skills Academy Members
Interest in sector-oriented workforce training is on the rise nationally. To build on this momentum, a national partnership has been formed to train emerging leaders from across the country. Minnesota's Becky Thofson who works for Workforce Development Inc. in Southeastern Minnesota, was selected for this year’s Sectoral Skills Academy and has been very pleased with the training and networking opportunity. More information and an application for the 2006 academy is available at www.sectorskillsacademy.org.
Save Oct. 4-5, 2006 for Development Conference
Plan to come to the 11th Annual Minnesota Development Conference to learn, network, and hear internationally recognized speakers. This conference will focus on innovation and entrepreneurship, drivers of economic development and business growth. It will feature renowned speakers, who are authorities on economic and workforce development. Among those invited are Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Dr. Richard Florida, author of the "Rise of the Creative Class," and Deborah Amidon, author of “The Knowledge Economy.” The conference will be at the Radisson Riverfront Hotel, 11 East Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul. Mark your calendar now so you can benefit from one of the year’s most important learning and networking opportunities. Updates will become available soon at positivelyminnesota.com.
DEED Continues Process of Transition in Workforce Development
New Managers for Business Services Named
By Bonnie Elsey, Workforce Development Director and Erik Aamoth, Business Services Director, Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED)
While Minnesota is further along than most states in integrating workforce and economic development, there is still room for improvement. The United States Department of Labor strongly encourages the integration of services through the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Title IB (Adult, Youth and Dislocated Worker) and WIA Title III (Wagner Peyser) to emphasize customer services rather than programs and to improve services to our primary customer – Minnesota’s employers.
DEED is supporting both goals through the merger of the Workforce Services Division and the Workforce Partnerships Division. Similar and related customer services are leveraged more effectively when housed together in the newly created Workforce Development Division under Elsey's leadership. The division now includes Disability Determination, State Services for the Blind, and Rehabilitation Services, as well as three offices aligned by function: Business Services, Job Seeker Services and WorkForce Center (WFC) Coordination.
In another step in this transition, the management team for Business Services was recently announced. The managers (and coverage areas) are:
Jeri Jost, Northern Minnesota (Business Services Specialists at the following WFCs: Bemidji, Detroit Lakes, Brainerd, Wadena, Fergus Falls, Alexandria, Crookston and Thief River Falls, Duluth, and Virginia.) Jost has experience managing Business Services Specialists, along with a strong record of managing in Northern Minnesota, and brings credibility with our partners in that region. Her office is at the Detroit Lakes WFC.
Larry Roulet, Central Minnesota (Business Services Specialists at the following WFCs: Marshall, Willmar, Hutchinson, Cambridge, St. Cloud, Mora, Litchfield and Monticello.) He has a great mixture of private and public sector experience – including management of Business Services Specialists. Roulet’s office is at the St. Cloud WFC.
Mike Haney, Southern Minnesota (Business Services Specialists at the following WFCs: Albert Lea, Fairmont, Faribault, Mankato, Red Wing, and Winona.) Haney, a veteran at DEED, has experience with the Business Services Specialists initiative, and as a Workforce Service Area director will assist the division in strengthening our partnership with the Workforce Investment Boards. Haney has an office at the Winona WFC.
Terrell Towers, Metro-area (Business Services Specialists at the following WFCs: Minneapolis - South, South Hennepin, Dakota County - West St. Paul, Dakota County - Burnsville, Anoka County - Blaine, North St. Paul, and Washington County - Woodbury.) Previously, Towers served as the Director of Business Development in the former Department of Trade and Economic Development, and as the Director of Economic Development for the Minneapolis Community Development Agency. He began working at DEED on Jan. 9 at his office in the South Minneapolis WFC.
This diversity of experience among these managers will allow us to continue to grow the Business Services initiative by developing a culture of best practices, innovation and creativity. We're excited about the entire Business Services effort and our prospects for 2006.
From the Duluth WorkForce Council and Northland Works Task Force Chair
Northland Works Project: Successful Collaboration Unique in Covering Two States
By Kevin C. Snyder
The Northland Works project (www.thenorthlandworks.org) was launched last fall during the Northland Foundation’s Kids Plus Conference. The project is the only one of its kind in the country that not only partners with workforce service areas in the state, but crosses state lines, as it includes northwestern Wisconsin. One of the benefits to come out of this collaborative effort is that we’ve been able to share best practices in workforce development.
Our objective is to inform parents, students, guidance counselors, teachers, career counselors, job changers, and employers about the coming baby boomer retirements in our region, and to let them know that high quality jobs are becoming available in the northland.
Informing everyone is only part of our mission. Letting them know what they can expect in terms of job skills preparation and median wages in each field is another key component. We want students, for example, to make an informed decision when they choose a career, specifically, what they should be studying now to be prepared at graduation.
Additionally, with technology becoming a part of every aspect of work, acquiring computer skills, verbal and written communication skills, a solid math background, and the ability to work with others is vital for success in the workplace.
The website was launched during a conference attended by nearly 2,000 middle school and high school students from 150 communities across Minnesota and northern Wisconsin. The conference, which focused on personal and career development, was the perfect venue to launch the project.
Already we’ve shared several success stories and opportunities for jobseekers on the site:
- Northstar Aerospace - Duluth has collaborated with Lake Superior College to train and hire underemployed or non-traditional workers such as female machinists.
- Star of the North Technical Education Cooperative formed by the Arrowhead Manufacturers and Fabricators Association’s educational trust invited private businesses such as Moline Machinery and the W.P. & R.S. Mars Company to donate money and equipment in a collaborative effort with local school districts to resurrect the machine tool technology program for high school students.
The work for the task force is ongoing – labor market reports change quarterly, and we continue to canvas the region in search of stories about living and working in the northland.
Much credit should go to Inez Wildwood, a member of the Governor’s Workforce Development Council and past chair of the Duluth Workforce Council, who had the vision for the project.
Credit also goes to the other task force members: Stephen Terry, Executive Director of CEP in Ashland, Wisconsin; and Dana Morlock, Marketer/Webmaster from Hayward, Wisconsin – two of the most outstanding workforce development professionals in the region. Other distinguished members include: Mark Truax, Duluth Business University; Candace Barnack, Lake Superior College; Diane Rauschenfels, Proctor Schools Superintendent; Charlie Glazman, Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College; Leslee LeRoux, APEX; Gloria Niska, formerly with Northeast Minnesota Office of Job Training; Matthew Schoeppner and Jim Wrobleski, DEED; and Don Hoag, Duluth Workforce Development.
It’s hard not to feel blessed by working with such wonderful people who are making a difference in our community. I invite you to visit our website and contact me, or any member of our task force, if you have any questions or comments at ksnyder@marssupply.com.
HUD Announces Two $400,000 Federal Youthbuild Grants for Twin Cities Tree Trust and Bi-CAP
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently announced the award of two federal Youthbuild grants to Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) partners – Twin Cities Tree Trust in St. Paul and Bi-County Community Action Program (Bi-CAP) in Bemidji. Each agency will receive $400,000 to train at-risk youth, ages 16-24, in construction, leadership, and job-readiness skills while the youth work on completing a high school diploma. Participants build or rehabilitate single or multi-family housing units that are sold or rented at affordable prices to low-income individuals and families.
"Youthbuild projects benefit the whole community through pride of ownership and accomplishment," said Kay Tracy, Director of the Youth Development Unit, which administers Youthbuild at DEED.
Twin Cities Tree Trust will train youth from the Minneapolis Empowerment Zone through a partnership with the Minnesota Internship Center charter school and Urban Homeworks. Urban Homeworks is a grassroots, faith-based organization that develops affordable housing in Minneapolis.
Bi-CAP Youthbuild serves Beltrami and Cass Counties in northern Minnesota. Over half of the participants are Native American youth from the Red Lake, Leech Lake, and White Earth tribes. Major partners in the grant include Rural Minnesota CEP, Cass Lake Area Learning Center, Minnesota Chippewa tribe, Bemidji Central Labor Body, Bemidji State University and Northwest Technical College. Bi-CAP Youthbuild is placing special emphasis on preparing participants for advanced technical training and college. The construction component focuses on building or renovating homes to sell to low-income families or renovations to transitional houses for homeless families. Young women typically represent one-third of the participants served in Bi-CAP Youthbuild.
- Minnesota Earns Perfect Score on 2006 Development Report Card
Minnesota has earned a perfect score on the 2006 Development Report Card for the States, an annual ranking that measures relative state-by-state economic development success.
Released by the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED), a non-profit nationwide economic development organization, the annual report card uses 68 performance criteria to describe the components of a healthy state economy in three key dimensions: performance, business vitality, and development capacity.
Minnesota was one of just two states to earn a perfect score in all three categories – the other was Massachusetts – and one of only seven to make the CFED 2006 Honor Roll, which also includes Colorado, Connecticut, New Jersey, Virginia and Wisconsin. The complete report card is available at drc.cfed.org.
- New Rural Minnesota Journal Says Minnesota Contains Six Economic Regions
According to the first issue of the Rural Minnesota Journal, a new semiannual publication that is the latest project of the Center for Rural Policy and Development:
- The Minnesota state economist, Tom Stinson, and the state demographer, Tom Gillaspy, see Minnesota as containing six economic regions -- a "metroplex" and five distinct "ruralplexes," Up North, Southeast River Valley, Southwest Corn Belt, Northwest Valley, and Central Lakes.
- The state's fastest rate of employment growth from 1970 to 2000 was in the Central Lakes ruralplex, not the metro area. That region is projected to outstrip the metro area in workforce growth from 2005 to 2015.
- If today's average Minnesota farm were the same size as the average farm in the 1950s, it would generate only $16,429 in annual income. No wonder farm size has grown.
- The 50 Minnesota high schools whose graduates are least likely to require remedial classes when they enroll in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system are all from rural Minnesota. Forty-five of the schools were small, graduating fewer than 1,000 students between 2000 and 2003.
(Source: “Editorial: New journal invites ‘thinking rural’,” Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, January 24, 2006) - The Minnesota state economist, Tom Stinson, and the state demographer, Tom Gillaspy, see Minnesota as containing six economic regions -- a "metroplex" and five distinct "ruralplexes," Up North, Southeast River Valley, Southwest Corn Belt, Northwest Valley, and Central Lakes.
Partners for Job Growth Praised for Valuable Content and Appealing Look
Barbara Iverson, Business Development and Marketing Manager, River Valley Workforce Investment Board, in Dekalb, Illinois, sent e-mails praising Partners for Job Growth to Kathy Sweeney and Irene Connors, Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. Iverson was searching for surveys used in workforce development to assess employer needs and found an earlier issue of this newsletter.
Iverson wrote, “I am an admirer of your electronic newsletter. Congratulations on an attractive and informative e-publication. What I recall was a clean, uncluttered look, appealing use of color with good amount of white space, and useful content … I just liked it.”
She also wrote that her organization has a goal to produce an electronic newsletter, so it was great to see a good example.
Key Contacts:
Kathy Sweeney Stephen Larson Connie Ireland |
Rick Roy Dave Niermann Jim Wrobleski Joan Danielson |
We Need Your Feedback
We're trying to make this newsletter as timely and useful as we possibly can and, to accomplish that goal, we need to know what you want to know. We need and welcome any feedback you can offer – especially concerning topics of broad statewide or regional interest to the WIBs and all other partners. To register your questions, comments, complaints and suggestions, simply send an e-mail to Kathy.Sweeney@state.mn.us. We'll do our best to address your concerns directly and use your feedback to help us develop articles for future editions of the newsletter.
Thanks.