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The Workforce Plan, an in-depth community-driven, workforce development assessment and strategic planning initiative, has concluded the first phase of this impactful body of work. Phase one was conducted by the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education, in partnership with The Thomasville Community Resource Center and Imagine Thomasville, and with support from the Williams Family Foundation.
Phase one began in April of 2022. It included many varied, in-depth interviews and focus groups with education, industry, community, and civic leaders from Thomasville and Thomas County to paint a clear picture of the strengths as well as the challenges to a strong local workforce. These community voices were supplemented with research around educational and economic indicators that resulted in a presentation to the community at large. (The Workforce Plan presentation is available for review on the Imagine Thomasville Website.) During the presentation, leaders identified five community “pinch-points”: topics that require coordinated, multi-sector community investment and attention. “These are areas where local strengths and assets exist but have gaps that can threaten the pipeline as a whole,” said Merrill Kemp-Wilcox, the Georgia Partnership’s lead on this project. “People are already working on these issues but often in siloes or even without the awareness of others in the community who are affected by their work or working on the same challenges themselves. The goal is to bring all the different stakeholders together and create a comprehensive strategy.”
The five areas of focus are:
- Early Learning and Child Care
- Literacy by Third Grade
- Pathways to Post-Secondary Study
- Worker Barriers
- Communication and Community Relationship Building
Leaders and stakeholders came together in multi-sector working groups to identify goals and strategies to bring Thomasville and Thomas County forward in each area. Those strategies are included in the final Workforce Plan report, available through Imagine Thomasville.
The work does not end with that report, and Imagine Thomasville, who has incorporated the findings and goals of phase one into their 2023-2025 Strategic Plan, has taken a leadership role in phase two of the Workforce Plan. The working groups continue to meet and put actions in place around the strategies they previously identified. For example, the School-2-Business Summit on July 17 will be the first phase two initiative. A panel of plan-champions will share their work plan then go on school and industry tours to highlight some of the good work already being done in the pinch-point areas.
In addition, the Communications and Relationship Building team has envisioned a quarterly Longest Table-style event to give updates on the initiative as a whole. These events will also offer a structured, welcoming, and inclusive format to have important community conversations about personal experiences in pinch-point areas.
Andrea Collins, executive director of the Thomasville Thomas County Chamber of Commerce, sees these challenges and their solutions as intrinsic to the overall strength and wellbeing of the community at large. “We can move the needle by addressing initiatives collectively,” she said. “There’s a lot of buy in, and a lot of stakeholders from different pieces of the community that are coming together. That cross-pollination is exciting.”
“This really is a very special community,” said Kemp-Wilcox. “These challenges we’ve identified aren’t unique, but the community love, pride, and commitment to do something about it really is. The Georgia Partnership has been proud to be a partner in this work.”