FutureForce Strategy & Design Session

On December 12 and 13, 2007 47 people representing a broad group of stakeholders in the future of the economy and workforce in Nebraska gathered in Lincoln for the second FutureForce Forum. Since the previous Forum one year ago there has been significant work developing four specific streams of work to operationalize the vision established a year ago - a vision in which state agencies, educational institutions and employers from throughout the state would collaborate to address the significant workforce shortages in Nebraska. Participants in this years planning process included State and local workforce development, the Department of Labor, economic development, the Department of Education, k-12 educators, higher education as well as representatives from a cross section of employers around the state.

The first day of this planning session focused on broadening the understanding of the value of the FutureForce streams of work (Think Nebraska!, Career Connections, The Talent Pipeline, and Partnerships for Innovation) while also challenging the participants to develop specific goals, milestones and success measures for each.

On the morning of the second day an additional 30 participants joined the group. The morning was spent in a dialog about the FutureForce initiatives and challenged the participants to articulate some key enabling factors to support these work streams as well as to clearly spell out any obstacles that might need to be overcome in order to achieve the goals articulated by the group.

Later in the afternoon of the second day the group that worked on the first day developed action steps to achieve the milestones.

For more information please contact:
Richard Katt, State Director, Nebraska Career Education
Nebraska Department of Education
Telephone: 402-471-4808

Email: rich.katt@nde.ne.govNebraska

For more details, visit the Innovation Labs website 

FutureForce Forum

On December 13-14, 2006, 110 people representing a broad group of stakeholders gathered in Lincoln to further the work of collaboration. Convening representatives from diverse geographic areas as well as organizational representatives from round the state supported a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities for the future.

Participants included individuals representing state and local workforce development, the Department of Labor, Department of Economic Development, Department of Education, K-12 educators, postsecondary educators, as well as representatives from a cross-section of Nebraska employers. Efforts to ensure a balance of representatives among the different stakeholder groups from across the state provided an environment for an intense dialogue.

The first day of the Forum gave participants an opportunity to understand the key trends and issues facing Nebraska and the constituents of each groups through “trade shows”.

Nebraska is confronted with the potential for a significant workforce shortage over the next 20 years and the economic future of the state could be at risk if the issues are not strategically addressed.

Participants also developed a variety of visions to meet the needs of Nebraska’s future. A crosscutting theme among the visions and possible solutions to the impending challenges reinforced the need and requirement of working together through collaboration. A synthesis of these results is provided in this document.

Building on the results of day one, a smaller group of participants used a second day to focus specifically on Nebraska’s education system that includes career education. The overarching questions driving the conversation were, “How does the education system need to change?” and “How can the education system use the federal Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Grant to support the broader vision and solutions identified on day one?” The synthesis of the results are also included in this document.

For more information please contact:
Richard Katt, State Director, Nebraska Career Education
Nebraska Department of Education
Telephone: 402-471-4808

Download the FutureForce Nebraska Forum Synthesis:

Synthesis.pdf

Visit the Strategy & Design Session Website.