Internships offer students a way to explore potential career paths, develop early professional skills, and contribute to real-world projects. To be most effective for students and employers, two key components must be in place: access and quality. In this blog post, our 2024 summer intern, Jess Myers, examines both concepts and reflects on her experience at TIP.
Quality and Access: The Blueprint for Effective Internships Read More
Higher education plays an essential role in strong innovation economies. TIP’s Talent, Innovation, and Place framework encompasses the idea that aligning universities with economic development efforts is central to community success. Recent plans for Texas and Mississippi illustrate how states and regions can build an innovation economy through academic and industry partnerships.
Building an Innovation Economy: Lessons from Texas and Mississippi Read More
Connecting workers to job opportunities and long-term career paths is a critical component of sustainable economic growth that is often hampered by a lack of information sharing and coordination among organizations. TIP’s proprietary Job Quality and Access tool, developed in collaboration with the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, provides multi-dimensional data that helps identify higher quality and more accessible jobs across geographies.
Students often feel pressured to pursue four-year degrees despite skyrocketing education costs. However, the value of affordable, shorter educational pathways, such as associate’s degrees and technical certificates, is increasingly evident. Institutions like Texas State Technical College and San Jacinto College demonstrate the benefits of skill-specific training, supported by philanthropic and industry investments, offering promising alternatives to traditional college routes.
Supporting Shorter, More Affordable Pathways to Quality Jobs Read More
As technology advances, a skills gap has emerged between students’ education and employers’ needs, threatening future workforce readiness. Work-based learning programs, which integrate real-world experiences and employer insights into education, offer a viable solution. This blog post explores three examples of programs that help students acquire essential skills and better prepare for high-demand jobs, addressing talent shortages in major sectors.
Limited access to the education and training needed to acquire high-demand skills and systemic biases in hiring decisions continue to perpetuate skills gaps and lead to underrepresentation in high-paying occupations. This post highlights two inclusive strategies—tailored community-based training programs and targeted recruitment—that economic developers can champion to help increase representation and bridge opportunity gaps.
Opportunity, Representation, and Participation In Workforce Development Read More
While generative AI may not be a singular historical moment, it is a significant one in the longer arc of technological change. TIP managing partner Jon Roberts considers the implications of generative AI and offers actions that economic developers can take to both mitigate the challenges and leverage the opportunities facing their local economies and workforces.
Command-and-control leadership no longer works. In a rapidly changing world, economic development organizations face numerous obstacles to sustainable growth. TIP president Tracye McDaniel shares her insights about connected leadership—what it is and how it can be effectively harnessed by economic developers. Rooted in inclusivity, connected leadership can better position organizations and communities for resilience today and tomorrow.
Harnessing the Power of Connected Leadership for Inclusive Economic Development Read More
Faced with tight labor markets and ongoing skills-based shortages, talent attraction efforts benefit from creative approaches. Examples include tailoring talent recruitment initiatives to a specific audience or market; offering prospective residents meaningful information, services, and opportunities; and leveraging community expertise.
Triptychs: Attracting Talent in a Tight Labor Market Read More
Texas has more than 650 registered apprenticeship programs in a wide range of industries including construction, manufacturing, health care, information technology, energy, transportation, and education. As part of our Triptychs series, we feature three registered apprenticeship programs in the state that have had success preparing the next generation of workers.
Triptychs: Registered Apprenticeships Help Prepare Texas’s Next Generation of Workers Read More
