Oklahoma Convention Honors Local Healthcare Sector Effort
October 29, 2008
Region efforts underway to unite the Four-States area for global competitiveness and economic prosperity gained further validation and recognition of excellence this week at the Economic and Workforce Development Summit in Oklahoma City. Sponsored by the Oklahoma Economic Development Council (OEDC), the 2008 conference featured a competition for best practices in Economic and Workforce Development. The Four-States Healthcare Summit through the Quad-States Regional Transformation (QSRT) initiative was among ten entries profiled in the contest, earning one of the Honorable Mention designations.
QSRT includes partnerships in the four local Workforce Investment Boards across Southwest Missouri, Northwest Arkansas, Northeast Oklahoma, and Southeast Kansas. The Best Practices competition specifically recognized the Four-States Healthcare Summit, held in March of 2008 in Miami, OK. More than 120 heathcare business leader, educators, and economic development professionals attended this first-ever summit to chart the future of the sector. Exhibits and presentations on promising practices focused on the skills and availability of the healthcare workforce and opportunities for sector leaders to strategize steps to meet future growth demands.
Other highlights for the Healthcare Consortium in 2008 included a successful Career Day in April and research projects conducted throughout the Spring and Summer. New co-chairs advancing into leadership roles for the Consortium plan to convene members in December to work on projects taking shape for 2009-2010.
The healthcare summit marked one of the early efforts of the QSRT initiative to strengthen the network of economic development, workforce development, education, business, and community leaders across the Four-States region. The Healthcare sector is one of seven industry sectors targeted for the highest impact possible to create economic vitality for the future. Additional sectors include Advance Manufacturing, Transportation/Logistics, Customer Service, Energy/Utilities, Construction, and Creative Technology.
OEDC’s Best Practices competition highlighted projects that demonstrate excellence in four categories: Innovativeness; Transferability; Community Commitment, Leverage, and Partnership; along with Measured Objectives and Impact. “Crossing the Line: Evolving Regional Strategies Real Change, Real Challenges, Real Connections” was the theme of the OEDC conference October 27th and 28th in Oklahoma City.
- March 2008 article for background on the Healthcare Summit
- More on the Oklahoma Economic Development Council
- Download the Best Practices profile from OEDC (PDF)
(See bottom of right corner of third page)
Radio Interview on Workforce Immigration
October 26, 2008
Mike-FM 95.1 (KXML & KDMO Radio) aired an interview on regional workforce immigration as part of the Weekend Special public affairs programming. Cooper Banks interviewed Jasen Jones, Executive Director for Southwest Missouri’s Workforce Investment Board, on workforce immigration trends as well as highlights anticipated in an upcoming workshop for employers slated for November 12th in Joplin.
- Click here to download or stream the interview in mp3 format
Advice on downloadable audio: For each audio link, most users will likely want to right click the link and select “save as” then open the file in their audio player of choice. Clicking the link directly may work as well, but could take longer since the file is over 2mb in size.
Regional Transformation from Fayetteville’s perspective
October 21, 2008
The Northwest Arkansas Morning News on October 17th featured a gathering of Fayetteville leaders on regional economic development strategy. Drafting an economic development strategy now focuses on six “bucket points,” or areas of importance gleaned from the week-long workshop. Focus areas include niches of competence, infrastructure for innovation, human capital, smart community “places”, regional promotional strategies, and city development/finance.
- Click here to check out the article directly from the Northwest Arkansas Morning News
