Priority Projects and Partnerships

Workforce Development and incubator partnerships and initiatives with educational institutions

The SRPEDD region is home to various higher education institutions, including Bristol Community College and the University of Massachusetts –Dartmouth and private entities that connect the local workforce with modern employment. Some of these partnerships and incubators include:

• Mansfield Bio Incubator

• National Offshore Wind Institute (BCC)

• Business Solution and & Partnerships (BCC)

• Masshire Workforce Boards and Career Centers (New Bedford, Bristol, Plymouth

• Southeastern Advanced Manufacturing Consortium (SAMC)

• SABES

Proposed Investments and Initiatives: Significantly advance/complete at least one prominent Workforce Development project in partnership with the region’s institutions to address a known or discovered skills gap.

Strengths

• Strong regional universities, colleges, and community colleges

• Cities and large towns with growing and increasingly more diverse and educated populations

Weaknesses

• We have higher unemployment

• Despite gains, our workforce development efforts are not keeping pace with competitors and the modern economy

Opportunities

• Improved educational attainment can be advanced through strategic workforce development that is tailored to the “biotech” manufacturing, MST-based, and health care industries

Threats

• Perceptions of persistently high unemployment and low educational attainment