| Governor's Oregon Principles Budget 2005-2007 |
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| Education and Workforce Development |
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What else is the Governor doing to contribute to this principle?
Workforce Development
In October 2003, the Governor launched his Workforce Initiative, a key milestone in the state’s economic development strategy to jump-start the economy. In order to better connect trained workers with the needs of current and future employers, this initiative links economic development efforts together with workforce development and training efforts at both the state and local levels.
Over the past year, the Governor invested $6 million of Oregon’s appropriation from the Federal Workforce Investment Act to help build public-private training partnerships, expand workers’ skills and retain quality jobs in Oregon. The federally-funded grants targeted funding for workforce training opportunities through 127 regional training grants, upgrading the skills of 7,000 Oregonians.
In January 2004, the Governor established the WorkSourceOregon.org website portal. WorkSourceOregon is a unified public-private network of workforce service providers, which streamlines access to services for businesses and workers. In the past year, the network has provided job search, assessments and training to over 210,000 Oregonians seeking work.
Reforming Higher Education
In May 2004, the Board of Higher Education streamlined the management of the university system, saving $3 million annually. In 2004-05, $1 million of the savings was used to mitigate tuition increases. In September 2004 the Board of Higher Education responded to the Governor’s request for a clear policy on the size and use of ending fund balances within the universities and Chancellor’s office.
The Oregon Training Network
The Governor utilized $300,000 of Federal Workforce Investment dollars administered by the Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development, in partnership with the Software Association of Oregon, to build a web-based system to help upgrade the skills of Oregon’s technology workers in traded sector industry clusters. The Oregon Training Network will help market college and university offerings, and will aggregate training across the state’s Internet technology community, creating a more sustainable, competitive and prosperous information technology-based economy.
Statewide Simulation Alliance
The Governor utilized $600,000 of Federal Workforce Investment dollars to launch a Healthcare Workforce Initiative. One element of the initiative facilitated the formation of the Statewide Simulation Alliance to build a network of healthcare coalitions that will use simulation as a training tool and expedite the training of healthcare workers in multiple disciplines and occupations. This effort will increase the number of highly qualified healthcare workers in Oregon.
Vocational English as a Second Language (ESL) Training
The Governor awarded $200,000 of federal funds to Portland Community College and partners to scale their ESL program in the state by training instructors at 10 community colleges and offering demonstration projects at five businesses. This will provide access for businesses and workers across the state to high performance work practices, while providing full participation for non-English speakers in the workplace.
Community Schools Blueprint
The Governor has made expanding the community school model a key strategy in increasing after-school opportunities for Oregon students. Under his leadership a new partnership between several state agencies is being created to draft a blueprint for interested communities throughout the state to establish community school partnerships with schools and educators; parents and children; private and non-profit contributors; community supporters; and other governmental services. The goal is to have this plan available by summer 2005 to enhance the quantity and quality of community/after-school programs for the following school year.
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