Cultivating a Workforce Pipeline:
Easy Opportunities for Business Engagement
by Molly Crouser, Events & Partnerships Manager, Lancaster Chamber
Amongst issues like inflation, supply chain, a potential recession, and a global pandemic – one critical challenge has risen to the top in our business community: Workforce.
Across Lancaster County, an ecosystem is growing that supports short-term and long-term solutions to our workforce issues. Short-term strategies include improved opportunities for attracting and recruiting new workers to the area, professional development that supports investing in retention and elevation of your current employees, and a greater investment in innovation and technology.
These effective short-term pivots are supported by several long-term solutions. One such long-term solution is a curated network focused on the development of a workforce pipeline. Lancaster County is well positioned to deliver on that pipeline – with an ecosystem of partners dedicated to achieving that goal.
This ecosystem includes school districts and their educators and support staff, businesses, and community benefit organizations, all working towards elevated business and education partnerships across the County. Below are two opportunities that you and your business can engage in, providing support to the future of workforce in Lancaster County!
CAREER READY LANCASTER! (CRL!)
What is it?
What is it?
Career Ready Lancaster! is a career pathways partnership linking people to their career through collaboration of education, business, and community groups. The partnership, a collaboration of education, business, and community, exists to link career seekers with the multitude of opportunities Lancaster has to offer. Currently, CRL! is working with K-12 school districts on connecting curriculum to workforce needs, provide connection between businesses and students, opportunities to explore career pathways and inspiration!
Who is involved?
A structure of several working groups that funnel into a CRL! Council. Voices from all school types, business industries, and community benefit organizations comprise the council! A full list of partnering entities can be found on their website.
How can my business engage?
You can help CRL! by connecting with their team to do the following:
- Partner in a local school – they can help facilitate that partnership!
- Highlight standard curriculum learning into your hiring process (learn more about the High 5, here!)
- Share your business or career story so students can be inspired and learn more about the opportunities for careers and employment across Lancaster County!
INSPIRE LANCASTER
What is it?
The Inspire platform provides is a central hub where students and educators across several Lancaster County school districts can interact with local employers in a safe and secure environment.
Inspire Lancaster has found several barriers to effective business and education partnerships: it is difficult for employers to know which local high school students may be interested in entering their field and an equal difficulty for students to connect with local experts in their field of interest. The Inspire Platform breaks down these barriers, enabling employers and students to interact on many different levels and with what works best for each entity.
Varying industries are already on the platform – small business ownership, hospitality, nonprofit, transportation, marketing, construction, healthcare and so much more! Opportunities Inspire Lancaster recommends promoting include job shadowing, mock interviews or meetups with professionals, work-based learning experiences, internships, company tours, employer profiles, guest speakers, and more!
Who is involved?
Inspire Lancaster is a partnership of the Lancaster Chamber and the Lancaster Stem Alliance.
The Lancaster County STEM Alliance is a group of individuals, organizations, and groups that share a vision for Lancaster County as a hub for STEM literacy and experiential learning. The Lancaster STEM Alliance believes that Lancaster County will attract and retain visionary job creators, inspire learners of all ages to achieve academic excellence, and engage all its citizenry in building a prosperous future.
How can my business engage?
Sign up to be on the Inspire platform, today! If you have opportunities, or just want to be a part of the conversation, we recommend signing up to have your company profile on the platform so that we can continue to advocate for your business and your workforce needs. It’s quick and easy to sign up here and contact Juliane Flood, Inspire Lancaster Coordinator at jflood@lancasterchamber.com
____________
The Lancaster Chamber is committed to championing a holistic approach to building and nurturing workforce initiatives to solve our current issues and plan for our future! We urge you to get involved with the opportunities outlined above to support our next-generation workforce.
The Lancaster Chamber is proud to be celebrating its 150th Anniversary this year, alongside our business and education communities. In the month of August, our content theme will be focused on business-education partnerships – sharing stories of our businesses and education leaders contributing to a thriving workforce pipeline.
not secure