4CG Addresses Workforce Challenges

Fremont News Messenger – Four area counties are coming together to implement a plan to address workforce challenges to boost job and business growth in the region.

Sandusky, Ottawa, Seneca and Huron counties are combining efforts to provide local leaders with a strategy to address issues they are tracking in the workforce.

The 4CG (Four County Group Four Collaborative Growth) released a summary of the plan June 23 to workforce partners, county commissioners and educational entities and will release the full plan later this summer.

4CG Final Presentation

“The study was just completed in June so the 4CG group will be meeting in July to talk about roll out. At this meeting there will be discussion on prioritizing the strategies and identifying potential funding sources to implement strategies,” Beth Hannam, Sandusky County Economic Development Executive Director said.

The group has been working for six years to address workforce challenges, using analytics to plan.

A $110,000 grant from Ohio Department of Job and Family Services is funding efforts to collect data through means of industry sector meetings, focus groups, online surveys and interviews conducted by Poggemeyer Design Group.

As a result, eight pillars were created to increase business and job growth in the four counties.

Those pillars include:

•  Education and lifelong learning
• Marketing and branding
• Infrastructure and capital resources
• Regional collaboration and continued partnership
• Tourism
• Business and industry activities
• Quality of life
• Legislative action
•  Education and lifelong learning
• Marketing and branding
• Infrastructure and capital resources
• Regional collaboration and continued partnership
• Tourism
• Business and industry activities
• Quality of life
• Legislative action

Key takeaways from the meeting included developing, creating and maintaining a multi-media marketing campaign to enable the area to sell itself, and creating a unique identity and sense of community for the group.

Although the plan is in its infancy stage, Hannam said decisions will be made based on data collected in the study.