White Paper - Talent Attraction Program

TALENT ATTRACTION PROGRAM A White Paper June 12, 2017

A Collaborative of

Branson Chamber of Commerce, Cultural Exchange Network & Taney County Partnership 6/23/2017

Page 1

1.

Introduction / Business Case Introduction: The Branson Chamber of Commerce and Taney County Partnership are developing a sustainable, fully-dedicated program to develop new and maximize existing talent pipelines from the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and to develop the existing J-1 Summer Work & Travel Program to meet the full-time and/or seasonal employment demand in the Branson Tri-Lakes Area.

Business Case: The program’s success will require Taney County Partnership to hire an additional staff person fully dedicated to program objectives and additional funding to run the program. The goal is to secure a minimum investment of $100,000 annually for three (3) years to ensure the successful launch of the program with a $25k investment from Cultural Exchange Network (CENET) toward payroll for the staff person, $25k from TCP plus $25k investment from BLACC and $25k to manage the program.

2. Future Direction / Long-Term Focus The long-term focus of the program is to secure a sustainable pipeline to fill 1,000+ job vacancies over the initial 3 years of the program and through other workforce development efforts. Program success will be based on the number of filled positions in the market and the number of contracts fulfilled through the Department of State and the Department of Labor. A secondary objective is to elevate Branson as a trusted brand name in the J-1 community, in Puerto Rico and beyond through marketing efforts, working with partners for best practices and to identify additional resources for talent.

Future direction includes coordinating the execution of the program, including hiring a dedicated staff person accountable for program development and growth. The Branson Chamber will also adopt the standing J-1 ISOP committee and will host the J-1 Welcome Orientations for the students.

The long-term sustainability of the program will depend on the ability to source pools of qualified talent to move to the market on a contractual basis and beyond, identify solutions to challenges, including quality and affordable housing, transportation and community resources. The staff person will work part time on J-1 activities and development, through a partnership with CENET, and part time to support TCP and BLACC’s workforce development initiatives.

3. Staff Recommendation This program is a part of Taney County Partnership’s overall Workforce Development Plan and is not designed to be a stand-alone solution to the labor shortage issue. Staff recommends we move forward in securing the investment necessary to successfully launch the program with an estimated launch date of July 1, 2017 and hire a dedicated staff person accountable for program development and growth.

6/23/2017

Page 2