Next Generation Sector Partnership Community of Practice

About Next Gen Sector Partnerships

Next Generation Sector Partnerships

What Are Next Gen Sector Partnerships? 

Next Generation Sector Partnerships are partnerships of businesses, from the same industry and in a shared labor market region, who work with education, workforce development, economic development and community organizations to address the workforce and other competitiveness needs of the targeted industry.

Next Gen Sector Partnerships Are…

Industry-Driven. Business leaders come together to define a shared agenda based on the priorities that most impact the vitality and competitiveness of their industry—not the agenda of public programs. In a Next Gen Partnership, business leaders also drive the action. They personally champion priorities, volunteering on task teams to push for outcomes and results.

Community-Supported. Next Gen Sector Partnerships rely on a coordinated team of support partners including workforce development, economic development and education who work together to respond to industry needs. The partnership acts as a "shared table" for business leaders to collaborate with a range of public partners and for public partners to work together to align programs to industry needs.

Sustainable over time. Since Next Gen Sector Partnerships are organized around the topic that interests business leaders most--what it takes to ensure that their company thrives--they are sustainable over time. 

Active across the country. Next Gen Sector Partnerships are active all over the country, from major metro to rural areas. They operate in industries ranging from manufacturing, health care, technology, transportation and logistics, food and agriculture and more. While no two partnerships are exactly alike, they share a common set of distinguishing characteristics and are developed through the disciplined process outlined in the Next Gen Sector Partnership toolkit.

Testimonials

“We believe we can address anything the manufacturing community wants to address—we have a voice, we have some concrete wins, and we have the buy-in of the greater community. We have created this buzz because we get things done! Everybody – both private and public sector— is doing their piece.”

-John Hansen, Laron Manufacturing, Kingman and Mohave Manufacturing Association

“We all realized we were not engaging with manufacturers in a deep enough or sustained enough way, and yet business fatigue was real and problematic because we were all asking for their support. That was the moment we knew we needed to let go of territorialism and ownership of private sector relationships and combine force.”

-Mollie Dowling, OAI Inc., Calumet Manufacturing Industry Sector Partnership

“This is our network, and it’s up to us to make happen what we need to make happen for our patients, our people and our communities. There aren’t any other forums I know of besides the HILT that could get us there. But we do need to get there, together.”

-David Jackson III (DJ3), Healthpoint Community Health Clinics, Seattle-King County Healthcare Industry Leadership Table

“I go back to the early nineties in Chicago, starting with cluster analyses of our local industries and transitioning in the early and mid-2000’s into deeper understanding of the systems change and targeted training needed to connect people to jobs. But more is needed. We organized a team to attend the national Next Gen Sector Partnership Academy in 2017. The approach, process and outcomes are different. The model clearly builds on decades of sectoral initiative experience but adds in the critical piece of engaging the highest level of business leadership in target industries, listening to their needs, and facilitating them to create their own agenda.”

-Tom Dubois, formerly Calumet Area Industrial Commission, Calumet Manufacturing Industry Sector Partnership

“Before we just all just engaged with industry for our own small scale purposes, and we got out exactly what we put in, small scale impact. With the HILT we are starting to see the signs of big impact and bigger reach when we aggregate. We couldn’t do that without a strong industry partnership. More and more healthcare organizations are leaning in and getting active. It’s just the beginning.”

-Liesel Schilperoort, Seattle-King County WDC, Seattle-King Healthcare Industry Leadership Table

“Most organizations in our region were saying were facing some of the same issues but were working on islands. We’re each trying to face some of these similar issues but separately instead of working together. The shared priorities that we brought together by creating this Alliance gave us the ability to solve problems around licensing and education, and the need for increased education in the health care workforce.”

-Jonathon Phillips, Oschner LSU Health Shreveport, Northeast Louisiana Healthcare Alliance

“Pre-Next Gen, we saw every other manufacturer as competition for a small talent pool. That’s how I saw anybody in manufacturing- how much do they pay? How many workers do they have? What’s their skilled labor force? What’s their workforce development strategy? What schools are they pulling from? Every other manufacturing was a competitor. Now I see every other manufacturer as a partner.”

-Ronn Cort, Sekisui Kydex LLC, MADE in Central PA Manufacturing Partnership

“It’s important to understand that I think the success of the Next Gen partnership model is that it doesn’t become a thing that you do, it becomes part of who you are. It’s become part of my vocabulary. It’s what I think about when I need to do something big or bold or different.”

-Ronn Cort, Sekisui Kydex LLC, MADE in Central PA Manufacturing Partnership

“This happens because people of good will, with a common vision, work together, even with not necessarily the same interests, but they work together to a win-win outcome. That’s how everything happens.”

-Jen Miles, Mayor of Kingman AZ, Kingman and Mohave Manufacturing Association (Arizona)

“The difference is output and achievement. In many business boards, groups, steering committees, there are many great ideas, but less than desired output or successes. This model allows for true “Working Groups” to collaborate, drive and achieve in a shorter period of time, to meet the needs of business and industry. This model enforces the premise of Industry leading, rather than asking and waiting. We set the goals, tasks and initiatives, so we as business and industry own the outcomes.”

-Michael Morris, ZF Transmission Gray Court, Greater Upstate Manufacturing Sector Partnership (South Carolina)

“We created a unified business voice that didn’t exist before, and it’s grassroots and grounded in this place. It shifts relationships and old power dynamics; it’s contagious and can transform how this community interacts.”

-Tim Stacy, Twin Disc, East Texas Manufacturing Alliance

Next Gen Sector Partnerships Achieve Impact

For businesses 

  • Direct benefits from increased business-to-business networking

  • More direct access to coordinated network of public partner programs

  • Improved internal operations

  • Improved talent management and advancement practices

  • Reduced time-to-hire for critical occupations

  • Increased staff retention

  • Shared costs of employee training

  • New product lines, services or markets

For Regional Economy

  • New jobs created

  • More local people hired for local jobs

  • New companies recruited to the region

  • More companies retained in the region

  • More companies stabilized in the region

  • Improvements in regional infrastructure including transportation, technology

For Students, jobseekerS and Workers

  • Increased awareness by students of careers and opportunities in regional industries

  • More opportunities for work-based experiences like internships

  • Increased attainment of industry-relevant credentials

  • Increased placement into jobs in target industries

  • Evidence of advancement with associated pay and benefits increases

  • Improved job quality (wage, benefits, equity)

For Community Development

  • Unexpected community projects

  • More businesses investing in community

  • Shifts in community identiy

  • Improvements to social support systems like transportation, childcare

On Public Programs

  • Evidence of reduced duplication by public and community-based organizations

  • Specific examples of system coordination (shared advisory boards, co-staffing of shared initiatives)

  • Increased collaboration between industry and local high schools and CTE programs

  • New cross-system career pathways

  • Formal policies that align programs across secondary, post-secondary and workforce

  • Blended program funding

For Systems Change

  • Formal mechanisms established for multiple systems and jurisdictions to agree and coordinated industry engagement via shared sector partnerships

  • Partnership acts as a shared regional education advisory board, replacing many, smaller education advisory boards

See a sample of real impact indicators from six partnerships around the country in the Next Gen Benchmarking Framework.

Is your partnership Next Gen?
Review the indicators of Next Gen Sector Partnerships here.

Photo Credit: Pam Lindley, City of Phoenix

Photo Credit: Pam Lindley, City of Phoenix