Background
Maine Employers' Initiative
The Maine Employers’ Initiative provides Maine's public and private employers with technical assistance, training and statewide recognition for taking steps to promote educational and career advancement opportunities for their employees.
Maine lags New England in the proportion of the adult workforce with two- and four-year college degrees, putting the state at a competitive disadvantage for both employers and employees. While there is a growing focus on our school students to encourage and support them in attending college, the Maine Employers’ Initiative is focused on working with employers to support their adult workers in engaging in further training and education. As we transition to more industries, sectors and jobs that require higher and higher levels of skill and education, Maine must work to ensure that the workforce keeps up with the need, and the opportunities, in our changing economy.
The Maine Employers’ Initiative has three primary strategies:
- Create opportunities for Maine workers in the workplace by working directly with employers;
- Work to align educational programs with the needs of Maine’s employers and businesses; and
- Attract and retain the qualified workers that Maine needs to prosper.
The initiative is one of the five action strategies of the Maine Compact for Higher Education, which seeks to increase the number of degree holders in Maine by 40,000 above current projections by the year 2020. In April of 2007, with the help of the Maine Community Foundation, MDF was awarded grant funding from the Lumina Foundation and the Ford Foundation to launch the initiative. The Lumina Foundation for Education strives to help people to achieve their potential by expanding access and success in education beyond high school.
The Goal
The Maine Employers’ Initiative has a goal of 500 Maine employers committing to take just one more step to promote education and training opportunities for their employees. Research shows that when employers demonstrate their support of skill development and higher education, whether that is mentoring an employee, sponsoring a training program, providing flex time for classes or paying for some portion of tuition, the employees are far more likely to take action to pursue a degree or reach for a career goal. The Initiative envisions that this will result in 5,000 more degree and certificate holders in Maine.
