SKILL UP! in Innovation Valley is a partnership among Innovation Valley, Inc. and the Knoxville Chamber, Workforce Connections and the local Workforce Investment Board, and the United Way of Greater Knoxville.
The SKILL UP! initiative strives to prepare and train low skilled, low income workers to enter the health care, manufacturing, and energy/building-trades sectors.
Learn more about this program through the fact sheet.
The Tennessee Career Center is holding a webcast on Monday, July 14 at 10:00 a.m. to describe how to get the most benefit from the Career Readiness Certificate program.
This Career Readiness Certificate program is aimed at helping the upcoming workforce learn valuable, employable skills and also for businesses to identify those employees who have the most promise for their organization.
The Knoxville Chamber has released a report detailing the Workforce + Education Summit Follow Up Meeting events.
Various task forces and groups were created from this event, and will continue to meet to discuss the challenges and issues facing education and workforce.
Over 200 Knoxville businesspeople, area educators, parents, students, and others attended the Workforce Development and Education Summit follow-up meeting sponsored by EdAmerica and South College. Knoxville Chamber Workforce Development and Education Manager Ahnna Estes helped organize the event, hosted by Innovation Valley, Inc. at Cokesbury United Methodist Center, designed to create action plans that will solve issues identified during March’s summit.
“Participants will come away with an understanding of what is required from them as we move forward,” she said.
Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale led a panel discussion and spoke about the value of an educated workforce.
“Businesses are relocating and expanded to areas where a qualified workforce is available,” he said. “Our challenge here in Knoxville, Knox County, and East Tennessee is to make sure we have the country’s best workforce. Regardless of our outstanding quality of life here or our collective marketing efforts to attract businesses to the area, companies will find other places to call home if we don’t have qualified workers available.”
Attendees took part in five breakout sessions designed to develop action plans. Participants separated into Communications Campaign, Effective Teaching/Relevance Taskforce, Attracting and Retaining a Quality Workforce Taskforce, Bridging the Gap Between Higher Ed and Business Taskforce, and Under-Utilized Workforce Taskforce breakout sessions.
Chamber President and CEO Mike Edwards challenged those in attendance to focus on implementing action plans.
“Discipline yourselves not to talk about what the problems are,” he said. “We’ve already done that. Spend your time on action items and how we’re going to go about addressing the issues we face.”
For more information about the summit’s follow-up meeting or information about Workforce Development and Education, please contact Ahnna Estes, 865-246-2658.
Three upcoming high school freshmen students visited the Knoxville Chamber as part of Knox County Schools “Schooled for Success” program.
This program’s purpose is to introduce entering HS freshman to career opportunities. The program is conducted each year after school gets out at various local businesses.
The student’s that participated in the Chamber's events were Abby Burroughs, Carter Middle School; Preston Johnson, Holston Middle School; and Marc Cooper, Powell Middle School.
The student’s spent two work days at the Chamber offices, during which time they had a tour of the building, interviewed staff members in various departments, conducted an internet scavenger hunt of the Chamber website and completed a project. The project was to create a brochure that can be used by the school counselors to help students understand what the chamber does and why it is important to the region.
Knoxville Chamber President and CEO Mike Edwards received the Knox County Council PTA Partner In Advocacy Award May 1st at the Crowne Plaza in Knoxville.
“PTA members honored Edwards for his persistent and persuasive efforts on behalf of the children of Tennessee,” says Karen Davis, Knox County Council PTA president. “He has been unrelenting in his quest to remind all stakeholders that it is the right of every child to receive a quality education and it is our duty to provide them with an education that will give them the tools to be successful no matter the path they take in life.”
“The Chamber has been diligent and focused on providing the children of Knoxville the education they need and deserve,” says Edwards. “We feel very strongly that their future and the future economic prosperity of our region depend on their classroom achievement today.”
The Chamber hosted the Workforce and Education Summit in March at the Knoxville Convention Center. The event gave Knoxville businesspeople and educators a chance to share ideas and goals that will improve the region’s educational systems, which ultimately determine the quality of the workforce. The Chamber will host a follow-up to the summit on June 10th to discuss ideas and responses. The meeting will be from 8:30 - 10:30 a.m. at the Cokesbury United Methodist Center located at 9919 Kingston Pike in Knoxville. Chamber sponsorship of events such as these is part of the reason Edwards was recognized by the PTA.
The PTA’s Evening of Elegance honored individuals and local PTA/PTSA members’ schools for their hard work and dedication to the children of Knox County. PTA/PTSA members, parents, teachers, principals, community partners, and elected officials attended the event. In addition to the Partner in Advocacy Award, the PTA announced its Awards of Excellence for Outstanding Local Unit, Outstanding Teacher, Outstanding Principal, Outstanding Elected Official, Outstanding Volunteer awards, and others were presented.
The spring Workforce and Education Summit dealt with education in broad terms and participants discussed what was necessary for students to successfully complete their education and be functioning members of the workforce.
On June 10, the Chamber will hold a follow-up meeting at Cokesbury United Methodist Center so that the community can share ideas and action items that will positively benefit the local education system and workforce development initiatives.
Read the Knoxville News Sentinel column on the workforce and education follow-up meeting.
For more information on the Summit follow-up, contact Jennifer Evans or Ahnna Estes.
Reports from the Workforce Summit:
Final Summit Report
Appendix 1: Summit Notes
Appendix 2: What to Do For Schools List
Appendix 3: Summit Evaluations
The Knoxville Chamber has sent letters to a number of Knoxville-area legislators urging them to vote against Rep. Niceley's amendment, which would have the superintendent voted by the public, rather than appointed by the school board. Here is a copy of the letter, sent from Mike Edwards, which states the Chamber's position:
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To sustain our economy and continue our economic prosperity substantial improvements are necessary in public education. We need to increase academic rigor and improve the skills of high school graduates so students are ready for the workplace or post-secondary training. These improvements will not come easy and will require the focused effort of a strong, professional school superintendent.
The current legislative effort to allow for an elected school superintendent (Amendment 3 to HB 3857) is bad public policy. The Knoxville Chamber is opposed to this legislation and would look at its passage as hostile to public education. I hope you will not allow such a vote to become part of your public record.
Knox County's superintendent of schools needs to have academic improvement and execution of strategies to increase the skills of graduates as his/her singular focus. That professional cannot be distracted by periodic elections.
The School Board is, and ought to continue to be, the place where public policy is set and the public's desires and the electorate's voice is heard. The Board should continue to formulate policies based on public input. But the implementation of those policies should
be left to the professional staff employed by the Board.
I urge you to vote against the amendment offered by Rep. Niceley.
Sincerely,
Michael Edwards
President & CEO, Knoxville Chamber
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Also, the Knoxville News Sentinel had an editorial on the proposed superintendent policy change, which was attached to Edwards' letter.
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