News Releases
Office of Governor Gary Locke
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - January 29, 2004
Contact:  Governor's Communications Office, 360-902-4136
Alt Contact:  Tana Stenseng, Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board, 360-664-4232

Gov. Gary Locke Applauds Success of State Workforce Training Programs

Gov. Gary Locke today praised the state Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board (WTECB) for further improving the state’s workforce training programs, and successfully demonstrating the critical link between higher education and economic development.

“Our training programs can truly meet the competitive needs of Washington’s businesses by encouraging business and education to work together to identify needs, resources and partnerships,” Locke told board members at their meeting in Olympia. “We can’t have successful economic development without investing in education, particularly higher education.”

Locke highlighted the success of the WTECB’s skill panels, which create everything from outreach programs to entice high school students to a career in electronics to an internship in the software gaming industry to customized health care training programs for non-English-speaking populations.

Launched in 2000 at the urging of Locke, the WTECB’s skill panels are private/public partnerships that work to ensure employees in key industries have the skills needed to keep Washington competitive. The panels include business leaders, labor representatives and educators serving a specific industry. Each panel is initially funded by the WTECB, and develops strategies to provide:
· Workers with better skills, jobs and career opportunities;
· Employers with more efficiency, less turnover and higher profits;
· Educators with the type of skills students need to succeed in that specific industry; and
· Public agencies with data on employers’ skill needs.

The WTECB’s newly published report, “Competitiveness and Opportunity: Public/Private Partnerships That Work,” features several successful skill panels, including a magnet school program for architecture, construction and engineering in Puyallup; a marine safety training program for Jefferson/Clallam counties; and several training programs across the state for non-English-speaking populations to encourage diversity in the health care profession.

“There remains a high demand for skilled workers in our state,” said David Harrison, WTECB chair. “Industry skill panels ensure that business leaders and labor representatives are actively engaged in developing strategies and programs that better connect our education and training programs to the current and future needs in the workplace.”

The WTECB currently offers skill panels in health care, marine safety, construction, electronics, energy, gaming software, information technology and manufacturing.

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Editor’s Note: The WTECB’s report, “Competitiveness and Opportunity: Public/Private Partnerships That Work,” is available on the agency’s Web site at www.wtb.wa.gov.

Related links: www.governor.wa.gov






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