Archway Education Steering Committee Hosts Luncheon for First Lady and State School Superintendent

The Archway Partnership and its Education Steering Committee recently hosted an education progress luncheon that featured Georgia First Lady Sandra Deal and State School Superintendent John Barge at the Whitfield County Career Academy.  With over 150 local leaders from education, business, government and the community, the event highlighted the progress being made to improve education from birth to work.

Brian Cooksey, a Shaw Industries executive who serves on the Archway Education Steering Committee, made the presentation and shared seven initiatives developed from input from the “birth to work” taskforces.  He also highlighted some of the programs that have come out of the committees’ work.  A panel of students and community leaders represented the beneficiaries of some of these programs and took questions from the audience.

The education initiatives discussed at the event include educating the community on nutrition and healthy lifestyles and their impact on learning; providing Pre-K opportunities for all Dalton-Whitfield 4-year-olds; enhancing career and college readiness among 5th - 12th graders; encouraging the Board of Regents to approve more bachelor’s degree programs and phase in an MBA program at Dalton State College in place of the Kennesaw State program; enhancing students' access to the right technology; further developing relationships and articulation agreements between high schools, Georgia Northwestern Technical College, and Dalton State College so that students can move seamlessly between the systems; and forming an on-going, community-wide education consortium so the community will have a forum where they can discuss emerging education issues.

Since November 2010, almost 200 volunteers have been involved in Archway work groups focused on improving education along the birth to work pipeline in Dalton-Whitfield.  While the work is far from done, the luncheon served as a milestone for sharing information with community stakeholders and celebrating the successes of the projects completed thus far.

To learn more about the event, please watch the following news clip:

http://www.clipsyndicate.com/video/playlist/25770/3316411

The following articles provide additional coverage of the event:

http://archwaypartnership.uga.edu/news/whitfield-news/georgia-first-lady-tours-gntc%E2%80%99s-whitfield-murray-campus/

http://archwaypartnership.uga.edu/news/whitfield-news/dalton-whitfield-students-praise-archway-partnership-success/

http://archwaypartnership.uga.edu/news/whitfield-news/%E2%80%98now-there%E2%80%99s-work-to-do%E2%80%99-students-welcome-georgia%E2%80%99s-first-lady-superintendent/

http://archwaypartnership.uga.edu/news/whitfield-news/first-lady-sandra-deal-georgia-northwestern%E2%80%99s-walker-murray-campus/

http://archwaypartnership.uga.edu/news/whitfield-news/ga-first-lady-talks-education-ga-first-lady-talks-education/

Young Professionals, Jump Started by Rebecca Ryan Event, Present Mission and Plan to Community

When the Dalton-Whitfield Archway Partnership Executive Committee began meeting in November 2009, one of the group’s top priorities was developing and retaining young leaders in the community.  In furtherance of that goal, the Executive Committee formed a Young Professional Steering Committee to help guide the Communit-E³ Visioning Effort in 2010.  The young leaders who were part of that process spearheaded the October 2010 Community Vision Roll Out and have subsequently worked with many of the Dalton-Whitfield Archway Partnership issue work groups that spun out of that event.

In August 2011, Pam Partain, community volunteer and Dalton State College Director of Marketing and Communications, assembled a group of community leaders and entities to discuss the possibility of bringing author and community developer Rebecca Ryan to challenge the community to invest in quality of life initiatives articulated in the Community-E³ Vision.  As the group discussed how to best utilize Ms. Ryan’s expertise, members of the Archway Executive Committee revisited the need to engage young professionals in the community.  On October 14, 2011, the Archway Partnership and many of the organizations represented on the Archway Partnership Executive Committee co-sponsored an event featuring Ms. Ryan called “Creating a Greater Dalton: Rebecca Ryan Shares Strategies for Attracting and Retaining Young Professionals.” 

Following her formal presentation, Ms. Ryan facilitated a breakout session of about 100 area young professionals.  At that breakout session, Ms. Ryan challenged participants to take an active role in the future of Dalton-Whitfield County.  Following that event, Dalton-Whitfield County Joint Development Authority Senior Project Manager Alex Stall began hosting a series of meetings with those interested in revitalizing an effort  that began in spring 2010 to form a young professional organization.

In January, David Cook, newly-elected president of the young professional organization, shared the group’s progress, including its value statement and leadership structure, with the Archway Partnership Executive Committee.  Members of the Executive Committee advised Cook to share his presentation with local government and civic organizations, which he and Vice-Chair Alex Stall are currently doing.

Over the last several months, the young professional organization has hosted social events at area businesses.  Over 40 area young professionals participated in each of these events. 

The Dalton-Whitfield Archway Partnership Executive Committee has invited David Cook to participate in its monthly meetings as the young professional liaison and has pledged its support to the effort. 

Young Professionals socialize at monthly mixer. 

UGA MBA Student Presents Strategies and Tactics for Attracting and Retaining a Qualified Workforce

In December, UGA MBA Student Charles Simpson wrapped up 11 months of research and idea-generation by presenting the Dalton-Whitfield Archway Partnership Executive Committee with strategies and tactics that the Flooring industry can use to attract and retain a qualified workforce.  Specifically, Simpson shared the following strategies:

·         Strategy #1: Create content and experiences that link flooring industry attributes to middle school students’ aspirations for power and beauty

·         Strategy #2: Create content and experiences that tangibly illustrate to high school students the advanced technology and variety of opportunity in the flooring industry.

·         Strategy #3: Spark a dialogue about Dalton’s role as an incubator for tomorrow’s engineering and manufacturing innovations.

·         Strategy #4: Thrust the flooring industry to the forefront of the national dialogue regarding sustainability and energy/waste conservation challenges.

·         Strategy #5: Tell Dalton’s story to “rust belt” migrants in search of engineering work and “30-somethings” who are seeking a community suitable to raising or starting a family.

Simpson gave the committee several tactics to accomplish each of the above listed strategies.  In addition, Simpson articulated brand “pillars” that the industry can use to influence the manner in which the tactics he provided are executed. 

As part of his presentation, Simpson identified the key audiences that the strategies and tactics should target.  These audiences include the future workforce (middle and high school students); “thirty-something” professionals in large cities considering a move to locales such as Dalton to start or raise a family; Dalton’s education community; the flooring industry; and the Dalton community.   Simpson stated several times that Dalton should purposefully seek to position itself as a family-oriented community within the heart of a multi-billion dollar global industry.

Following Simpson’s presentation, the Successful, Sustainable Industries Issue Work Group met to discuss how the strategies and tactics could be implemented locally.  The Work Group is chaired by Mohawk Sr. Industrial Engineer James Gordy and is co-chaired by Rick Hooper of Shaw Industries Group’s Corporate Legal Department.

Dalton-Whitfield Begins Formal Business Incubator Study with Georgia Tech

Over the past year, the Diverse, Forward-Thinking Economy Issue Work Group has discussed the possibility of developing a business incubator in Dalton-Whitfield.  In furtherance of these discussions, the group has toured the business incubator in Chattanooga and entertained guest speakers on the topic.  In December, the group invited representatives from Georgia Tech to make a proposal for conducting an incubator feasibility study.  During the presentation, Georgia Tech presented a three-phase proposal involving a community readiness study, business plan preparation for the incubator, and a feasibility study.

Following the Georgia Tech presentation, the members of the group voted to formally recommend to the Executive Committee that the community enter into a contract with Georgia Tech to conduct the community readiness study.  The Executive Committee discussed this recommendation at the December meeting and agreed to move forward with the community readiness study with funding from the Joint Development Authority and the University of Georgia Archway Partnership.

In January, the Joint Development Authority entered into a contract with Georgia Tech, and the groups are currently collaborating on the initial stages of the study. 

Georgia Northwestern Tech Seeks Adjunct Instructors at Whitfield-Murray Campus

Georgia Northwestern Technical College is looking for adjunct instructors for their Whitfield-Murray Campus located at 2300 Maddox Chapel Road in Dalton. Currently, the campus is recruiting instructors in the areas of History, Speech, English, Math, Economics, Psychology, and Sociology. Interested applicants must hold a Master’s degree in field or in a closely related field with 18 graduate hours in field.

For more information or to apply, visit www.gntc.edu. At the top of the site click on the “Quick Links” drop down box and select “Employment” to begin the application process. Applicants must upload their resume as well as transcripts from all schools attended.