BROKER

Identifying Overlapping Issues

Meetings between college, high school, and private sector representatives have led to conversations beyond the issues of the automotive sector. The types of projects and partnerships used to address the shortage of automotive workers also affect high-school students' performance and interest in school, facilitate recruiting of college students, foster interest in the development of vocational programs closely linked to industry, and a series of other outcomes that benefit the various partners of the consortium. If the theme of automotive sector is temporarily removed then what is left is a well-integrated effort by different partners to identify and resolve overlapping issues. Quite often, such shared problems end up also being leverage points to the reorganization of the workforce development system from a focus on symptoms, to root causes, and from isolated to coordinated actions.

It is not surprising that participating high schools are becoming more interested in partnering to address other issues associated with enrollment of graduates in college programs (a major measure of success for the institution). Linkages with the private sector help contextualize actions within current industry expectations and facilitate internship and employment placement. Dealership managers are moving away from a practice of "robbing" one another of available workers to a process of "raising" local talent. Overall, addressing problems collectively is naturally leading to an overlapping of success, since the output of an effort is the very input of another.