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Smarter Cities Challenge_Workforce SolutionsMasterpiece on the Mississippi TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager SUBJECT: Smarter Cities Challenge - Workforce Solutions DATE: November 12, 2013 Dubuque band AI- America City 1 2007 • 2012 • 2013 Like many cities in the rural United States, Dubuque's future economic vitality is threatened by the prospect of not having the workforce to sustain the level of economic growth necessary to support the community. After speaking with regional employers, the Greater Dubuque Development Corporation advises nearly all of them identify the ability to attract a skilled workforce as the greatest challenge facing their organization. The solution to this problem lies with cities' ability to first identify where current and future members of the workforce are located. Second, cities and employers need the ability to contact those individuals so that they can be recruited or retained. Along with its partners who address workforce development issues, the City submitted an application to the Smarter Cities Challenge. The application asks that IBM experts assist the City of Dubuque in mining existing data and exploring new data sources in an effort to identify, train, recruit, and retain a skilled workforce. There is no financial requirement for this application. If chosen, Dubuque would have the option to review any recommendations made by the consultants and implement only those the City feels appropriate and fruitful. Sustainable Community Coordinator Cori Burbach recommends City Council approval of the IBM Smarter Cities Challenge application. I concur with the recommendation and respectfully request Mayor and City Council approval. Michael C. Van Milligen MCVM:jh Attachment cc: Barry Lindahl, City Attorney Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager Teri Goodmann, Assistant City Manager Cori Burbach, Sustainable Community Coordinator Masterpiece on the Mississippi TO: Michael Van Milligen, City Manager FROM: Cori Burbach, Sustainable Community Coordinator DATE: November 11, 2013 SUBJECT: Smarter Cities Challenge - Workforce Solutions X INTRODUCTION The purpose of this memo is to request City Council approval of the attached Smarter Cities Challenge to address Dubuque's Workforce Solutions. BACKGROUND The Smarter Cities Challenge contributes the skills and expertise of IBM's top talent to address critical challenges facing cities around the world. They do this by putting teams on the ground for three weeks to work closely with city leaders and deliver recommendations on how to make the city smarter and more effective. Over the past three years, 100 cities have been selected to receive these technical assistance grants. The Smarter Cities Challenge is IBM's largest philanthropic initiative, with contributions valued at over $50 million to date. DISCUSSION Like many cities in the rural United States, Dubuque's future economic vitality is threatened by the prospect of not having the workforce to sustain the level of economic growth necessary to support the community. We know this firsthand from speaking with regional employers; nearly all of them identify the ability to attract a skilled workforce as the greatest challenge facing their organization. The solution to this problem lies with cities' ability to first identify where current and future members of the workforce are located. Second, cities and employers need the ability to contact those individuals so that they can be recruited or retained. Along with its partners who address workforce development issues, the City submitted the attached application to the Smarter Cities Challenge. The application asks that IBM experts assist us in mining existing data and exploring new data sources in our efforts to identify, train, recruit, and retain a skilled workforce. There is no financial requirement for this application. If chosen, Dubuque would have the option to review any recommendations made by the consultants and implement only those we felt were appropriate and fruitful. RECOMMENDATION I respectfully request City Council approval of the attached Smarter Cities Challenge application. IBM Smarter Cities Challenge — Summary of Dubuque's Workforce Solutions Application Idea PROPOSED TOPIC: Workforce Solutions — using technology and expertise to help Dubuque and its employers identify, recruit, and retain a talented workforce. (A) What challenge facing the city or region do you propose addressing with a Smarter Cities Challenge grant? Please provide a brief summary of the context surrounding the proposed topic area, including past efforts and current initiatives. If desired, include links to relevant articles, papers or blogs covering the topic, to provide our review team with additional background material. (1,600 characters): Like many cities in the rural United States, Dubuque's future economic vitality is threatened by the prospect of not having the workforce to sustain the level of economic growth necessary to support the community. We know this firsthand from speaking with regional employers; nearly all of them identify the ability to attract a skilled workforce as the greatest challenge facing their organization. The solution to this problem lies with cities' ability to first identify where current and future members of the workforce are located. Second, cities and employers need the ability to contact those individuals so that they can be recruited or retained. Though this paradigm is currently used by numerous large organizations to recruit prospective employees, technology and big data present an opportunity to do the same for smaller organizations with limited resources. Through the Smarter Cities Challenge, Dubuque envisions developing technology that can assist it - thousands of small and rural communities - to cultivate their future workforce. These offerings hold a great deal of promise for their economic sustainability. Past and current initiatives to address workforce solutions includes Dubuque Works, a collaborative partnership between employers, educators, funding partners, and workforce experts focusing on recruiting and retaining employees, building workforce capacity through training and skill development, and evaluating performance through evidence -based practices. This program is critical for both existing businesses who are looking to expand and prospective clients considering locating in Dubuque. A related partnership is F1 oleo. riUVb, which seeks to improve inter - agency collaboration and increase access to services in order to connect disengaged youth and adults to education and employment opportunities. (B) Which key stakeholders are invested in the proposed topic area, both inside and outside of government? Please describe their current roles and involvement in the topic area. (1,600 characters): Every member of the community is a stakeholder. A region's economy is a lynchpin that effects every facet of life from household income to the level of public services provided. Underpinning a regional economy is its workforce, which is increasingly true given the dynamic shift to service -based economies in the United States. More specifically, key individual stakeholders in this topic include City of Dubuque leadership, community leaders, major employers in Dubuque, and the region's economic development professionals. Some of these stakeholders include: City of Dubuque: The City Council's vision states that "Dubuque is a progressive, sustainable city with a strong diversified economy and expanding global connections." The Economic Development, Human Rights (which includes Training & Workforce Development and Community Engagement Coordinators), Information Services, and City Managers departments are all engaged in this topic. Greater Dubuque Development Corporation (GDDC): GDDC helps shape Dubuque's future through action, and has main goals of business retention and expansion, workforce solutions, and new business recruitment. East Central Intergovernmental Association (ECIA): ECIA, the local council of governments, serves a five - county region and includes economic development, employment & training, and community development programs. Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque (CFGD): CFGD staffs Project HOPE (Helping Our People Excel), which seeks to improve inter - agency collaboration and increase access to services in order to connect disengaged youth and adults to education and employment opportunities, and Inclusive Dubuque. (C) Which senior staff member would serve as the project's sponsor, and potentially lead the implementation of recommendations? Michael Van Milligen, City Manager City of Dubuque 50 W. 13th St. Second Floor Dubuque, IA 52001 Phone: 563.589.4110 Email: ctymgr @cityofdubuque.org (D) Which areas are connected to the proposed topic? Economic Development (E) What systemic factors prevent the city and community from addressing this issue without a Smarter Cities Challenge grant (for example: insufficient budget, organizational culture, regulation, legislation, etc.)? (4,000 characters): Systemic factors that prevent the city and community from addressing the issue without a Smarter Cities Challenge grant are technical capacity and the associated cost. Identifying talented individuals requires the analysis and subsequent utilization of such data. This process requires financial and human capital resources that Dubuque, like thousands of smaller and rural communities, have known to be unavailable. Overall, however the city of Dubuque is a progressive, sustainable city with a strong, diversified economy and expanding global connections. The Dubuque community is an inclusive community, celebrating culture and heritage, and has actively preserved our "masterpiece on the Mississippi ". Dubuque citizens experience healthy living and active retirement through quality, livable neighborhoods and an abundance of fun things to do. They are engaged in the community, and achieve goals through partnerships. Dubuque's city government is financially sound and provides services with citizens getting value for their tax dollars. The City's mission is to deliver excellent municipal services that support urban living and contribute to a sustainable city. The City plans for the community's future, and facilitates access to critical human services. The result is a financially sound city government with citizens receiving excellent service and value for their tax dollar. ANTICIPATED OUTCOMES (A) What would be successful short- and long -term outcomes of a Smarter Cities Challenge engagement for the city? (4,000 characters): Successful short -term outcomes of a Smarter Cities Challenge engagement would be a decrease in the number of regional employers that indicate difficulty in identifying, recruiting and retaining individual members of their workforce. Long -term, the outcomes would be evident through a variety of economic indicators including the growth in number of jobs in the region, increased gross domestic product for metropolitan areas, and more. Elaborating further on the short-term outcomes, one of the key objectives would be using data to uncover pools of individuals with previously untapped skills. Developing a workforce that meets the needs of local employers involves not only identifying new individuals from outside the community, but also locating individuals in the community who currently possess needed skills. A goal of the Smarter Cities Challenge would be devising strategies on how data can be used to assist with locating such individuals. Similarly, a key objective of the engagement would be how data can be utilized to reveal additional audiences interested in Dubuque that we are currently not touching. Using data to identify individuals with a proclivity to locate in Dubuque will help regional employers better focus their recruitment efforts. In the long term, a major objective is the creation of a system that utilizes data and enables multiple partners to manage in the future, predict trends in the workforce, and identify target audiences. Through data and collected information, the City and partners will be able to determine what can we change in our community to recruit individuals who aren't currently looking at Dubuque as a market. Ultimately, these efforts will result in continued and improved economic performance as measured through a number of economic indicators. (B) After the engagement, what specific actions would be taken to implement recommendations? What efforts would be taken to share best practices with other cities and regions? (4,000 characters): After the engagement, specific actions that would be taken to implement recommendations would be making the solution available for use by regional employers. This could serve as a model not only for smaller, rural communities, but for communities of any size and any location to enable employers to cultivate their workforce; an envisioned replicable model. Best practices would be both shared and promoted among peer communities as a designed and mutually beneficial model. Specific actions include the City's GIS Coordinator collaborating with workforce development staff to update and analyze information on a regular basis. City staff will incorporate recommendations into their annual goal- setting sessions in August as appropriate. This information informs the City Council's annual goal setting process. Including these recommendations in the Council's annual priorities ensures that staff focuses on them when they set annual budgets and work plans. Quarterly reports to Council can be used to ensure accountability in achieving the goals. Similarly, weekly meetings between the City Manager, Economic Development staff, and GDDC staff to address pertinent issues currently take place, and will serve as an ideal avenue to discuss implementing recommendations developed through the Smarter Cities Challenge. Additionally, Dubuque frequently hosts conferences and workshops such as the Driftless Area annual conference, the Tri -State conference, and the Growing Sustainable Communities Conference; these events are ideal opportunities to share best practices with other cities and regions. CAPACITY FOR DRIVING CHANGE (A) Please describe the city's accomplishments in encouraging innovation and driving change, that demonstrate the city's and city leaders' capacity for acting on recommendations delivered by an SCC grant. (1,600 characters): The City of Dubuque has partnered with IBM Research on numerous pilot projects since 2009 as part of the "Smarter Sustainable Dubuque" initiative. Through this partnership, the City and IBM have worked to implement technologies that provide residents with information on services such as water and electricity usage, transportation, and solid waste disposal. The goal of these pilots it to identify how citizens' behavior responds simply to having access to this valuable information Due to this continued partnership, the City has developed and demonstrated the capacity to implement recommendations delivered by a Smarter Cities Challenge grant. Additionally, the Greater Dubuque Development Corporation, one of the City's valued partners, routinely interviews area employers to discern the top issues of importance to them. Consistently at or near the top of employer needs is the ability to recruit and retain a workforce with the necessary skills and abilities. Along with the Greater Dubuque Development Corporation, the City would heavily involve the region's major employers to enact recommendations delivered through an SCC grant. Dubuque has received numerous awards and accolades for the strength of our partnerships. For example, the Smarter Sustainable Dubuque initiative was recognized in May 2013 as a Top 25 Innovation in Government by the Harvard Kennedy School Ash Center for Demoratic Governance & Innovation. In addition, Connected World Magazine named Mayor Buol one of the 2010 M2M Pioneers in the US in part due to this work. DATA (A) What role can open data and citizen engagement play in addressing the proposed topic area? (1,600 characters): Open data will be critical to the success of this project. Data collected through the education system, such as enrollment by major and location of recent graduates, can be used to assist regional employers with identifying where the types of employees they need are located. Data available through state agencies and other public sources can also assist with locating concentrations of talent that will enable employers to focus their recruitment efforts in certain geographic areas. Additionally, data available through social media will be explored as a possible source for both locating and recruiting members of the workforce and engaging citizens in helping determine Dubuque's future economic direction. All relevant data requested by the Smarter Cities Challenge team will be shared. A critical element to addressing workforce solutions is the utilization of geospatial data and GIS mapping capabilities, The abiiitJr to ggeographicalhf identify concentrations of individuals meeting possessing certain attributes or to map the location of prospective members of the workforce will be central elements to the project. For example, by utilizing GIS, we know that there are 304,000 college students within a 100 -mile radius of Dubuque. Currently - available tools such as Esri Community Analyst or ArcGIS are envisioned as essential components to the overall solution, as they offer both mapping capabilities and the ability to display information and data graphically. (B) What data relevant to the topic area would be available to a Smarter Cities Challenge team for analysis? (1,600 characters): Data from multiple sources will be available to the Smarter Cities Challenge team to both assess the workforce needs of regional employers and identify prospective members of Dubuque's workforce. One example of data that would be available to the Smarter Cities Challenge team for analysis is data gathered through the Iowa WorkKeys standardized test; the test, which is administered to prospective employees to assess their workplace skills and readiness, yields data on individuals' mathematical, reading comprehension, listening, and technical abilities. The test is administered through IowaWORKS centers across Iowa, which are regional offices under Iowa Workforce Development, a state government agency. Another example, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a division of the United States Department of Education, provides access to a wide variety of education data. These data, which are widely used by government agencies, educational organizations, and news media, have enormous potential with regard to identifying workforce skills and abilities. Similar statistical information is made available by the Iowa Department of Education through the State Data Center of Iowa. These and other data sources will be vital to identifying talented individuals and their attributes. In addition, data on Dubuque's economy and regional employers can also be available from a multitude of sources. These data will enable the research team to develop a detailed understanding of the region's economic composition and its workforce needs. (C) Please describe your city's policy for the publication and release of city data, and, if available, provide links to the following: published open data policy, data glossary, terms and conditions, contact information for Chief Technology Officer or equivalent. (4,000 characters): Currently there are no publicly available published links for direct data access. Request for GIS data can be made by logging into the City of Dubuque's customer relationship management (CRM) portal: http: // mygovhelpadmin. us/ DUBUQUEIA/ _cs /RequestLogin.aspx ?sSession1 D= &rqst =4 &target= %2fDUBU QUEIA% 2f_ cs %2fRequestOpen.aspx %3frgst %3d4 . GIS data and map layers are available on request. Current guidelines for data acquisition and a data request form can be found at https: / /cityofdubuque. sharefile .com /d/s819de79ee54441c9. All users of available GIS data are required to sign a data use agreement to obtain data. All other data requests are handled on a case by case basis using the GIS data use and access policies and conditions as a guide. For a data glossary, GIS data model and available layers can be found at https: / /cityofdubuque.sharefile .com /d/s143f2ed46f94e21b . All other data schema can be obtained upon request. Similarly, terms and conditions for GIS data access and the use agreement can be found at https: / /cityofdubuque. sharefile .com /d/s1a6ec8f4d5641c28 . Terms and conditions for acquisition and use of data would be similar to those for GIS but would be created on a case by case basis. Contact information for Chief Technology Officer or equivalent: Information Services GIS Chris Kohlmann, IS Manager Nikki Breitsprecker GIS Coordinator /Analyst City Hall Annex City Hall 1300 Main 50 W. 13th Street Dubuque, IA 52001 Dubuque, IA 52001 ckohlman @cityofdubuque.org 563 - 589 -4281 Nbreitsp @cityofdubuque.org 563- 589 -4174 Masterpiece on the Mississippi Dubuque 2007 • 21312 • 2013 Mr. Stanley S. Litow Vice President of Corporate Citizenship & Corporate Affairs IBM Corporation 1 New Orchard Road Armonk, New York 10504 -1722 Dear Mr. Litow, Office of the Mayor City Hall 50 West 13th Street Dubuque, IA 52001 -4864 www. c i tyofd u b u q u e. o rg November 8, 2013 On behalf of the Dubuque City Council and staff, I am pleased to submit this application to the Smarter Cities Challenge to address Dubuque's Workforce Solutions. Dubuque's vision is to be a "progressive, sustainable city with a strong diversified economy and expanding global connections. The Dubuque community is an inclusive community celebrating culture and heritage and has actively preserved our Masterpiece on the Mississippi..." Dubuque businesses have identified workforce as the number one issue affecting theft ability to grow. Like thousands of smaller, rural communities across America, our ability to train, recruit, and retain skilled workers will ensure our ability to remain vibrant, resilient communities. We believe we are uniquely positioned, with a strong history of public - private partnerships, to leverage the capacity and work of our many partners to address our workforce needs. In 2009, the City of Dubuque announced a partnership with IBM Watson Research to launch the Smarter, Sustainable Dubuque initiative. Since then, we have completed successful pilots that have given us insights into resident engagement and resource use in the areas of water, electricity, transportation, solid waste, and health and wellness. We have benefitted greatly from working with our IBM partners, and have proven our ability to capitalize on lessons learned to create sustained change and improvement in our community. I look forward to the opportunity to work with IBM staff to create Smarter Workforce Solutions for Dubuque. Thank you, Roy D. Buol Mayor eat raubuque November 7, 2013 Mr. Stanley S. Litow Vice President, Corporate Citizenship & Corporate Affairs IBM Corporation Dear Mr. Lotow: On behalf of the Greater Dubuque Development Corporation (Greater Dubuque), I would like to welcome the opportunity to partner with the City of Dubuque through the IBM Smarter Cities Challenge. One of Greater Dubuque's main goals and program areas is Workforce Solutions: assisting employers by providing them the tools and information they need to recruit a talented workforce. We are enthusiastic about the potential of utilizing technology and big data to enhance the ability to further develop the region's workforce, and fully support the City of Dubuque's application. A community's ability to meet the future workforce needs of its employers is the number one challenge facing business across the nation. This is especially true of communities located in the Midwestern United States, which have been adversely impacted the outmigration of young, educated, and skilled employees. We know this not only from demographic experts, but from speaking directly to regional employers who increasingly city the difficulty of recruiting the individuals needed for their workforce. Greater Dubuque has proactively taken a unique and unprecedented approach to addressing this challenge by designing mechanisms that deliver the capable workers needed by both incoming and existing businesses. Despite the successes of these actions, we are always seeking to improve the level of service that we offer, and view the Smarter Cities Challenge as an incredible opportunity to do so. In collaboration with IBM and its Smarter Cities Challenge team, Greater Dubuque will work with the City of Dubuque and other partners to provide expertise, information, and resources where they are needed. We view this not only as an opportunity to meet the needs of our community, but as a chance to develop a model that can be utilized by countless regions across the globe. We look forward to helping ensure the success of this project. Regards, Rick Dickinson President & CEO e -mail gddc @greaterdubuque.org 300 Main Street, Suite 120, Dubuque, Iowa 52001 phone 563.557.9049 www.greaterdubuque.org fax 563.557.1059 November 7, 2013 Mr. Stanley S. Litow Vice President of Corporate Citizenship S Corporate Affairs IBM Corporation 1 New Orchard Road Armonk, New York 10504 -1722 Dear Mr. Litow, On behalf of the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque, I am pleased to submit this application to the Smarter Cities Challenge to address Dubuque's Workforce Solutions. Dubuque businesses have identified workforce as the number one issue affecting their ability to grow. Like thousands of smaller, rural communities across America, our ability to train, recruit, and retain skilled workers will ensure our ability to remain vibrant, resilient communities. We believe we are uniquely positioned, with a strong history of public - private partnerships, to leverage the capacity and work of our many partners to address our workforce needs. The Community Foundation is a proud member of a number of initiatives addressing the workforce needs of our community: • Inclusive Dubuque is a local initiative focused on creating a vibrant and welcoming community tU Liluuic Ulu Ic.:IUI JUL LCJJ toady al lU IIIRU U IUtU(C. SuppUtLH iuLdt UUJII -I .UJCJ CIIuti5 tU attract and retain global talent to position the community for continual economic growth is one of the key principles of Inclusive Dubuque. • DubuqueWorks is a regional partnership to bring employers, funding partners, workforce ex- perts and educators together to meet the workforce needs of local employers. As a partner in DubuqueWorks, the Foundation facilitates Project HOPE (Helping Our People Excel), Opportunity Dubuque, and Bank On, along with supporting the Circles Initiative and Bridges Out of Poverty. These programs support Dubuque's working families, connect young adults to employment op- portunities, and address barriers to employment. The Community Foundation looks forward to the opportunity to work with our local partners and IBM staff in order to create Smarter Workforce Solutions for Dubuque. Thank you, Nancy Van Milligen /%1 COMMUNITY FOUNDATION of Greater Dubuque. The Roshek Building 700 Locust Street, Suite 195 Dubuque, IA 52001 Phone: 563.588.2700 Fax: 563.583.6619 office @dbqfoundation.org www.dbqfoundation.org November 7, 2013 Mr. Stanley S. Litow Vice President of Corporate Citizenship & Corporate Affairs IBM Corporation 1 New Orchard Road Armonk, New York 10504'1722 Dear Mr, Litow, On behalf of the East Central Intergovernmental Association, | am pleased to submit this application to the Smarter Cities Challenge to address Dubuque's Workforce Solutions. Dubuque businesses have dentified workforce as the number one issue affecting their ability ho grow. Like thousands of smaller, rural communities across Annehca, our ability to tnaiO. recruit, and retain skilled workers will ensure our ability to remain vibnant, resilient communities. We believe we are uniquely positioned, with a strong history of public-private partnerships, to leverage the capacity and work of our many partners to address our workforce needs. ECIA serves a five county area, with Dubuque being the largest metropolitan area in our region, We believe this work will not only benefit Dubuque en`p|oyers, but the many small communities and businesses and residents in the tri-state ovea, Er|4 sdrninktere the \x/n,kforre |nvepfnnt nrnornrne for the region ECIA Business Growth. Inc., Prosperity Eastern |oxvo, and is the designated Economic Development District and is responsible for developing the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS). Workforce is a priority in our CEDS document. Each of these programs provide us the unique opportunity to serve the business and workforce needs of the region. Additionally, to continue to support our strong history of partnerships with the City of Dubuque, we are dedicated to sharing data collected through these processes to address the workforce challenges outlined in Dubuque's applications to the Smarter Cities Challenge. EQA|ooks forward to the opportunity to work with our local partners and IBM staff in order to create Smarter Workforce Solutions for Dubuque. Thank ywu. 10 Executive Director