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What was the purpose of your visit with Georgia Quick Start?
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The Ford Foundation is looking at how workforce development is now practiced across the United States. Quick Start came to our attention because one of our colleagues heard a Quick Start staff member speak in Philadelphia. When we arrived, we knew that we would be visiting an organization that operates on a large scale to help people get jobs.
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| What major points stand out about Quick Start?
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The clear link between your programs and the needs of employers is what stands out most strongly. In addition, we are impressed by the role of higher education in workforce development and the innovative financing through the certification programs and the HOPE scholarship. Finally, the true capacity to serve large numbers of people is of great interest to us. We are accustomed to seeing lots of tiny programs that succeed only on a small scale.
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What were your strongest overall impressions from your visit?
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Relatively few states have sought to grapple with workforce development issues such as standards for manufacturing or customer-service workers. When a state as a whole takes on these issues, there is a sense of order. The programs that result generally are more consistent and of higher quality. In addition, Georgia's manufacturing and customer service certification programs have true, emerging value.
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What were your impressions of the Certified Manufacturing Specialist
and Certified Customer Service Specialist certification programs?
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The magic of the programs is not in their content — similar programs are offered elsewhere. But what is unique is that the state is marketing them as certifications that mean something to employers. Because the certificates do have relevance, employers have bought into the whole program. And the certificates can be used as incentives for individual workers in the form of criteria for promotions and salary increases.
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Have you seen economic development efforts that are similar to Georgia's in other states or areas of the country?
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Most states have training incentives that they offer to companies. In fact, there is a renaissance of training offerings across the U.S. right now. But the hands-on approach is where Georgia stands out. The beauty of its strategy is the single delivery entity — Quick Start — linked to the technical institutes. The strategy puts Georgia ahead of the curve for integrating workforce development with economic incentives.
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What will the short- and long-term outcomes of your current nationwide review?
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This review is preparation for a broader funding strategy at the Ford Foundation. The funding will be for projects to connect less advantaged people with paying jobs. Georgia's economic development efforts will help "set the bar" for those projects.
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How will you and the members of your visiting team apply what you saw in Georgia to future projects?
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Georgia's programs illustrate four important criteria for evaluating workforce development project support. Those four are: capacity to serve large numbers of people with training for permanent, growth-oriented jobs; a sustainable financial plan — no boom-bust cycles; leadership by staff who know how to deliver quality performance; and meaningful buy-in from the employer community. The best programs are those with a balance of employer/workforce focus. Georgia Quick Start's programs have that balance.
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Do you have other perspectives that you can share with us concerning your visit with Georgia's economic development community?
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Our visit to Columbus showed that Quick Start has strong links with the real fabric of the communities — with business, public schools and the chambers of commerce.
Everyone we met has a genuine commitment to building a vibrant economy in Georgia and is open to innovative ways of getting there.
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