Team of 2 tackles workforce development in Nevada

Workforce development efforts in the state have been ongoing and numerous — and now a team of two is working to coordinate all of those efforts and target grant money.

Manny Lamarre, who heads the Office of Workforce Innovation, debuted the initiative Wednesday to the Economic Workforce Development Subcommittee of the Southern Nevada Forum.

The Office of Workforce Innovation (OWINN) was created by executive order in March using federal funds reserved for statewide workforce investment activities.

“It’s really thinking about, systemically, how do we tie everything together and work more effectively together?” Lamarre explained to about 30 attendees.

Those attending represented different workforce development efforts and different industries that rely on those efforts attended Wednesday’s meeting. They voiced concerns including a need to make sure employers know what workforce development opportunities are available in the state, a need to make sure public and private entities understand what types of funding for workforce development programs is available, and a need for better communication among state agencies and nonprofits to avoid duplicating the same workforce development initiatives.

“The mountain that this young man has to climb got really steep today,” said Randy Robison, director of state legislative affairs for CenturyLink.

Lamarre and his “mighty team of two” are tasked with facilitating meetings with eight industry sectors — manufacturing logistics; mining materials; tourism, gaming and entertainment; natural resources; healthcare and medical services; information technology; aerospace and defense; and construction by the end of September, to discover what types of workforce development opportunities there are in the state for that sector and how the OWINN can address those needs in the education system.

Six weeks into his position, Lamarre has already began conversations with stakeholders in education and advanced manufacturing to get a sense of what types of skills are needed to create a skilled workforce for those two industries. Lamarre and OWINN’s program director, Zachary Heit, are also tasked with creating career pathways for information technology and healthcare.

“So, you’ve got all this stuff to do — you’re going to strategize, and think and hold all of these meetings, and on and on — and there are only two of you and two part timers? And you’ve got until November to get the report (a report to the governor outlining the progress that OWINN has made), and then you jump into the legislative session … It’s pretty steep,” Robison said, adding that he’s hopeful that Lamarre and Heit can pull it off.

Another attendee, Terri Janison, vice president of community and government relations for United Way, similarly said, “Poor guy. Welcome to Nevada … If they have the ability to be able to pull everybody together and truly move this work, I think it will be very impactful for us as a community and a state.”

Lamarre said the mountain is not as steep as it seems because he’s not climbing alone.

“Nevada is in a unique position in that all of the stakeholders want to have that conversation,” he said. “We have 30 people just wanting to know about what’s going on; we have all of higher ed— when I reached out to them, they all responded.”

Contact Nicole Raz at nraz@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512. Find @JournalistNikki on Twitter.