A seven-county region that includes Starke and Pulaski counties is being recognized for its efforts to develop and attract top talent. Northwest Indiana was officially designated as the state’s eighth 21st Century Talent Region during a virtual event Friday.
Indiana Secretary of Career Connections and Talent Blair Milo said the goal of the program is to encourage collaboration to increase education levels, raise household income, and ultimately attract new residents. “That was really a big piece of what drove the idea behind the creation of 21st Century Talent Regions, where we looked to think about, ‘How do we bring all these different pieces together?’” Milo explained.
Part of the process includes developing a “talent dashboard,” which lets stakeholders track the region’s progress at attaining the program’s goals. Specific goals for Northwest Indiana include increasing the number of high school graduates with post-secondary credentials by five percent each year, increasing the number of internship and apprenticeship opportunities by 10 percent each year, and increasing the graduation rate for minority and underserved high school students by three percent each year.
The Center of Workforce Innovations will be one of the groups spearheading the effort, but President and CEO Linda Woloshansky stressed that it will take the entire community. “We need everybody to be part of this, from all of our universities, all of our colleges, our K-through-12 system, and our stakeholders, our economic developers,” she said. “It’s a big job.”
Secretary Milo also presented a proclamation from Governor Eric Holcomb.
