Next Gen Sector Partnerships

Next Generation Partnerships are a way to connect business leaders within a community to identify a set of shared priorities in their particular industry sector. Through an industry-driven process, business leaders work with a coordinated team of community support partners across education, workforce development, and economic development.

Regions across the country and Pennsylvania are experimenting with strategies for aligning workforce and economic development to more effectively engage with and respond to the needs of industry. With the passage of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), regions are looking to align their workforce and economic development efforts around the needs of the economy. This nationally benchmarked model of industry-led sector partnerships mobilizes a critical mass of business leaders from a specific sector to work collaboratively to address the competitiveness needs of their industry.

This work began in December 2016 and January 2017, when Team PA worked with DCED and L&I to convene regional summits in each of the 10 Partnerships for Regional Economic Performance (PREP) in Pennsylvania. The summits served as an introduction into the Next Generation Sector Partnerships model. Building on the ten summits, many regions asked for further in-depth training and technical assistance to build capacity among regional teams to launch and sustain Next Generation Sector Partnerships. Team PA, DCED and L&I were happy to oblige and thus planned the Next Generation Sector Partnership Academy. Learn more about Next Generation Sector Partnerships here.