Economic & Innovation Mapping
Strategy Lead - Kathy Weaver - Newark Alliance
Goal - To provide an understanding of the North Jersey Partners' regional competitive advantages and capacity for innovation for key strategies to support the execution of the WIRED Implementation Plan.
Status - Harris Interactive completed a survey of 151 business leaders across the region soliciting information about their workforce. This data is being used to align local, county, regional and state economic development plans and workforce demands. Additional data will be collected on an ongoing basis to support this initiative.

Industry Advisory Councils
Strategy Lead - Kathy Weaver - Newark Alliance
Goal - To connect industry leaders to support the North Jersey Partners' initiatives outlined in the Implementation Plan based on the four industry clusters (Transportation, Logistics, & Distribution (TLD) ; Healthcare & Life Sciences (HS); Entertainment, Arts and Retail (EAR); and Entrepreneurship and Small Business).
Status - This strategy has coalesced into all industry sectors. Industry Advisory Councils have been established for TLD, HS, and the Creative Community Collaborative part of EAR.

Integrated Workforce Delivery
Strategy Lead - Tammy Molinelli - North Bergen WIB
Goal - To identify current and future regional workforce competencies and gaps in the region's legacy and transformative industries.
Status - The Workforce Investment Board (WIB) Consortium participated in strategic planning sessions in mid-December facilitated by Alex J. Plinio and Associates, LLC. Attendees included WIB directors and One-Stop operators as well as representatives from the Newark Alliance and NJ Labor and Workforce Development organization. The two-day session developed a vision, mission, priorities, and measures to define strategic priority success; identified gaps and potential actions to be taken in the North Jersey region; and determined information needs to support prioritizing actions. The consortium will reconvene twice in mid-January to continue to address this initiative.

Lifelong Learning Region
Strategy Lead - Gale Tenen Spak - New Jersey Institute of Technology
Goal - To transition the northern New Jersey area into a continual learning region through training and workforce development as well as provide tools to businesses to assist them in becoming a "learning" organization.
Status- Jeanne Meister kicked off this initiative in December discussing the training and development challenges that employers face in dealing with four generations of workers from millenials to baby boomers. The audience included businesses, nonprofit organizations, and academic human resource executives and chief learning officers. Meister is an internationally recognized consultant in designing and implementing learning organizations for Fortune 1,000 firms.

Innovative Partnership Institutes
Strategy Lead - Gale Tenen Spak - New Jersey Institute of Technology
Goal - To develop curricula for high school, two-year and four-year programs to address the skill gaps of workers based upon an employer driven model. The curricula developed for this strategy will be delivered online.

High School Career Academies
Strategy Lead - Anbar Sivaraman - Sussex County Community College
Goal - To assess the use of career academies for the North Jersey Partners targeted industry clusters. However, based on the assessment, a new academy focusing on energy may be warranted.

Project Management Academies
Strategy Lead - Gale Tenen Spak - New Jersey Institute of Technology
Goal - To create a project management certificate program.
Status - A feasibility study is required and a lead expert will be identified.

Healthcare & Life Sciences - Legacy Sector Focus
Strategy Lead - Donna Stankiewicz - Passaic County Community College
Goal - To employ two site coordinators to implement career lattice to train unemployed, underemployed, and incumbent workers for career growth in this industry cluster.
Status - The hiring process is underway and Interviews are currently being conducted.

Healthcare & Life Sciences - Transformative Sector
Strategy Lead - Kathy Weaver - Newark Alliance
Goal - To expand the capacity of existing programs to train industrial laboratory technicians.
Status - Currently 10 students are enrolled in the program.

Entertainment, Arts, & Retail - Legacy Sector
Strategy Lead - Tammy Molinelli - North Bergen WIB
Goal - To create a regional customer service skills training certificate program.
Status - Union County College has agreed to implement this strategy by collaborating with other county colleges to build capacity in the region through train the trainer programs and direct training of individuals.

Entertainment, Arts & Retail Creative Community Collaborative - Transformative Sector
Strategy Lead - Tanya Mitchell - Newark Alliance
Goal - To develop a strategic plan to leverage regional Entertainment, Arts, and Retail (EAR) assets to facilitate job growth.
Status - A Request for Proposal was released in mid-December soliciting a consultant to develop a Master Plan to reach this goal. Proposals are due on January 30, 2009.

STEM Initiative
Strategy Lead - John Carpinelli - New Jersey Institute of Technology
Goal - To inventory and connect all STEM related projects relevant to Transportation, Logistics, and Distribution; Healthcare and Life Sciences; and Entrepreneurship Skills Development in the northern New Jersey region.
Status - A database is currently under development to capture this information.

Entrepreneurial Collaboration Portal Strategy Lead - Judith Sheft - New Jersey Institute of Technology Goal - To provide resource information to North Jersey entrepreneurs. Status - This strategy element is part of the overall North Jersey Partner's web site. Links will be established to web-based state information resources (e.g. NJ State Business Portal). Requirements for base line data metrics have been provided to the North Jersey Partners data team.

Entrepreneurial Training Academy
Strategy Lead - Judith Sheft - New Jersey Institute of Technology
Goal - To develop a specialized financial modeling training program for early stage entrepreneurs that provides instruction and ongoing support for individuals submitting requests for financing to various debt and equity sources of capital including NJEDA, angel, VC investors, and banks.
Status - The training will be provided in three phases; pre-work online webinars, live workshops, and live ongoing support sessions.

Tech-based Businesses & Innovation Development
Strategy Lead - Judith Sheft - New Jersey Institute of Technology
Goal - To establish the New Jersey Center for Innovation Acceleration to provide technical assistance, training, guidance and support to North Jersey technology based entrepreneurs. Programs offered will include technical assistance with how to conduct technology evaluations, develop business plans and marketing strategies, and individual coaching and mentoring.
Status - Initial programs and seminars are currently being planned for 1Q09.

Integrating Entrepreneurship & Workforce Development
Strategy Lead - Judith Sheft - New Jersey Institute of Technology
Goal - To develop tools and events that will assist the Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) to be more effective in dealing with entrepreneurial businesses.
Status - Pending approval.

Capital Asset Network
Strategy Lead - Judith Sheft - New Jersey Institute of Technology
Goal - To increase capital to entrepreneurs through competitions, investment fairs, and conferences.
Status - North Jersey Partners, along with the Venture Association of New Jersey (VANJ) and NJEntrepreneur.com, is sponsoring the New Jersey Innovates Conference on March 10, 2009. North Jersey Partners is an underwriting supporter of the IFEL Business Plan Competition for the North Jersey region. The Competition includes categories for for-profit, nonprofits and student entrepreneurs (Dr. Randal Pinkett Campus CEO Challenge). The competition will conclude with presentations by the finalists on the April 30, 2009 at an awards luncheon.

Opportunity Trust Fund (OTF)
Strategy Lead - Tanya Mitchell - Newark Alliance
Goal - To provide a pool of investment capital for the development of training programs for both new and emerging occupations within the North Jersey Partners region.
Status - The OTF released its first Request for Proposal in mid-December entitled, "Disseminate Career, Occupational, and Skill Development Information." Responses are due on January 15, 2009.