In this Special Issue: Complementary Practices—Community, Workforce, and Economic Development

Purpose – This paper aims to review technical vocational education and training (TVET) literature, identify different components of the TVET system and develop a conceptual framework that integrates human resource development (HRD) and national human resource development (NHRD) outcomes. The renewed focus on technical vocational education and training (TVET) is important for human resource development (HRD), as it expands current understanding of its role in economic development through workforce training. National human resource development (NHRD) perspectives recognize the role of TVET in linking regional and national economic development strategies. Furthermore, TVET’s focus on literacy education, poverty alleviation and inclusion of marginalized and vulnerable populations emphasizes social development outcomes that are critical for NHRD. Using this background, the integration of HRD and NHRD outcomes into one conceptual TVET framework for addressing workforce, economic and social development outcomes has been proposed. Design/methodology/approach – A targeted literature review approach was used for exploring relevant research on TVET systems, identifying the components which support and/or inhibit its effectiveness and an integrative framework that connects education, workforce development, social development and economic development was developed. Findings – Three major themes were identified. The first theme identifies nine sub-themes that make an effective TVET system. These are as follows: national TVET policy, regional TVET policy, training, participation, curriculum, coordination of stakeholder institutions, individual and institutional attitudes toward skill development, managing supply-demand mismatches and economic and social development outcomes. The second major theme underlines the increasing overlap and connection between workforce development, social development and economic development strategies. In the third and final finding, effective TVET systems are positioned as the linking pin connecting the four TVET components (skills, education, innovation and knowledge) to the strategic goals of workforce development, economic development and social development. Originality/value – Integrating national and organizational-based HRD strategies is a unique focus and reflects the broader examination of the differences in the relationship between corporate HRD and more traditional TVET systems. It is argued that the role of TVET in social and workforce development at the regional and societal level cannot be ignored. HRD and NHRD outcomes were integrated by utilizing TVET as a framework for linking economic, social and workforce development strategies.

The community development and economic development literatures have evolved largely independently with little recognition of the critical relationship between the two disciplines. This omission is not so obvious when researchers focus on individual components of each discipline in isolation, but upon examination of how community and economic development systems work in theory and practice overall, this shortcoming becomes apparent. A proposed framework illustrates the links between community and economic development capacities, factors, and functions and shows the importance of community development to economic development outcomes. In particular, it focuses on the link between social capital and the outcome of community development and an economic development ready community. The framework provides an overarching paradigm that helps tie together some of the research in the two fields. Using data from a statewide survey, correlation coefficients are calculated, showing the connections between capacity factors, development factors, and development functions. Strong statistical results provide evidence to support the community and economic development framework and validate the use of subjective data.

This commentary critiques common definitions of economic development (EcD) that wrongly assign political and economic agency to communities while overlooking regional EcD asset markets and business outputs. The authors argue that communities are socially constructed and are not economic agents. As an alternative, they introduce a framework based on the five developments— economic , site , workforce , community , and housing —that, together with productivity gains, drive gross regional product. The model distinguishes between EcD outputs (goods and services) and politically desired outcomes (jobs, income, taxes), and explains how labor, site, and housing markets intersect to define economic regions. Economic developers are portrayed as market-making intermediaries who reduce information and transaction costs, while community developers support neighborhood development, including workforce and site development. Two structural obstacles to effective EcD practice are identified: mismatches between political and economic geographies and between long-term asset development and short-term business decisions. The commentary concludes that EcD can positively impact low-income neighborhoods when practitioners use market-aware intermediaries to connect assets with regional employment and product demand.

Renewed scholarly interest in clusters of firms has increased attention on institutions—including business associations—that serve them. Scholars investigating “labor market intermediaries” also wonder to what extent employers' associations conduct workforce development. Much research has been done on business associations in Europe and less developed countries; less studied are those in the United States. This article fills this gap by reporting survey results from 716 American business associations. The article asks, To what extent do American business associations engage in economic development activities beyond lobbying? Does involvement in economic development predict involvement in workforce development? and Are those who engage in more strategic economic development activities more likely to conduct strategic workforce development? Using regression analysis, we find that a substantial share are involved in more strategic economic and workforce development activities and that economic development—specifically, more strategic activities—is a strong predictor of engagement in workforce-related activities.

Social and economic development is a difficult process in which positive and negative factors interact that causes rises and recessions in development of territories and public communities. Indicators of rating act as indicators of efficiency of management decisions at the central and local levels. However, the level of economic development doesn’t coincide with social development in most of regions of Ukraine.
 The purpose of article is adaptation of a matrix method to rating estimates of social and economic development of regions for identification of regional distinctions, definition of priorities and strategic management of development of regions.
 The economic development of the regions was estimated by GRP per capita, the average salary of employees and the unemployment rate (according to the ILO methodology). Social development is characterized by the number of people enrolled in higher education institutions per 10,000 population; coefficient of incidence of the population; volumes of emissions of pollutants in atmospheric air, thousand tons; crime rates.
 The multidimensional average method with the standardization of indicators based on the variation range was used to calculate the integral indicators of economic and social development. On the basis of integral coefficients, the ranking of regions according to economic and social development was executed. It is established that for the regions of Ukraine there is a characteristic imbalance between economic and social development, which is connected, first of all, with different structure of the economy and territorial differences of regions.
 The combination of results of economic and social development of regions was proposed with the help of building a matrix as a tool for strategic management. In the graphs (vertically), the level of economic development is singled out, in lines (horizontally) the level of social development of the regions is singled out, with the identification of three groups: low, medium and high levels.
 Regions with low economic and low social level get to 1 square; in 2 – with low economic and average social; in 3 – with low economic and high social; in 4 – with average economic and low social; in 5 – with average economic and average social; in 6 – with average economic and high social; in 7 – with high economic and low social; in 8 – with high economic and average social; in 9 – with high economic and high social level.
 Calculations show that in Ukraine no region was detected with simultaneous high levels of economic and social development (the 9th square). The vast majority are regions with average economic and average social development and also regions “below or above an average” level of development, that is one of the directions (economic or social) is “low”, and the second, accordingly, “average”. The position of the region in a matrix specifies what development strategy should be chosen. The economic and social development is higher; the capacity of the region for increase in the standard of living of the population is higher. High economic and social development is followed by the high potential of the region to increase the standard of living of the population.

The previous five chapters describe major program components of Children’s Aid Society (CAS) community schools, all designed to contribute to the learning and healthy development of individual children and their families. This chapter describes a different kind of programmatic focus—one that moves beyond individual child and family well-being to influence the health and welfare of the entire community. The central questions to be addressed in this chapter are: How do community schools contribute to community and economic development? How is the community schools strategy both intentional and responsive in making these broader kinds of contributions? How has CAS’s community and economic development work evolved over the past decade in response to changing needs and opportunities? According to John P. Kretzmann, a leading scholar and advocate of community development, schools are ideal partners for community development because they have tremendous assets. They have facilities for meetings and neighborhood celebrations and space for incubating small businesses; they have materials and equipment, purchasing power, the ability to raise funds, employment power, learning opportunities, skilled staff, energetic young people with ideas, and the capacity to attract adult involvement. This analysis is consistent with CAS’s original vision about the potential of community schools to achieve broader outcomes and also consistent with our experience over the past decade in implementing a wide variety of community and economic development strategies, first in the Washington Heights area and more recently in the South Bronx. The central idea of contributing to community and economic development in specific neighborhoods requires a long-term vision and commitment. Just as the early Progressive Era reformers understood the importance of “settling” into neighborhoods to achieve maximum impact, CAS’s leadership perceived the value of committing the organization’s resources to specific neighborhoods over a long term. In another similarity to the Progressive Era, CAS understood the importance of working on several levels or dimensions of activity at the same time. It is true that the original vision of community schools focused on improving outcomes for children and youth by addressing non-academic needs in the context of schools, families, and communities.

Scholars, practitioners, and policy makers have all called for greater connectivity between workforce development and economic development to more efficiently connect people to jobs and improve regional competitiveness. Economic and policy changes of the last decade have created a fertile environment for collaborative models of achieving workforce and economic development goals simultaneously. Employing survey results from 170 workforce administrators across the United States, the author uses regression analysis to examine the factors that influence connection and to understand the relationship between this connection, the use of sector-based strategies, and development outcomes. The results suggest that connectivity is increasing and has a positive influence on the use of sector-based strategies. In addition, both the level of connection and the use of sectors have significant influence on achieving desired outcomes. Understanding and enhancing the strategic linkage across the two functions are critical for connecting people to jobs and building strong economies.

In the this century, the social responsibility of oil and gas companies will include not just health, safety and environment, but also the sustainable economic development of host communities. Today, in most host communities around the world, local community organizations protesting environmental pollution and economic underdevelopment are making it impossible for oil and gas companies to operate without engaging in social engineering or economic development activities. In Nigeria, the local community struggles have interrupted operations on numerous occasions leading to declarations of force majeure. In the last five years, these interruptions have become widespread, better organized, and more violent. Company workers have been kidnapped for ransom, hostages taken, flowstations and other surface facilities occupied and access roads to plants and offices blocked. This paper examines the struggles of local grassroot organizations for sustainable economic development and environmental conservation in the oil and gas producing areas of the Niger Delta of Nigeria. The impact of oil and gas operations on the environment and the development of the communities are also examined. The linkages between environmental conditions and sustainable economic development are highlighted. The relationship amongst the host communities, oil companies and Federal Government of Nigeria is analyzed in detail. A project economics model that captures the cost and benefits of investments in sustainable economic development is developed. The paper concludes that the social responsibilities of oil companies should encompass the sustainable economic development of host communities. An economic evaluation model that captures profitability from the perspertives of the oil companies, the host communities, the Nigerian government and the shareholder is recommended. This approach encourages the cost-effective participation of the inhabitants of the host communities, the oil companies, the shaeholders and the Nigerian government in the economic development process. A balanced growth strategy is proposed for the sustainable economic development of host communities in the Niger Delta of Nigeria.

This paper describes the role of local partnerships in the delivery of workforce and economic development services in the United States. Partnerships include both public and private organizations and increasingly depend upon local business people for leadership. With grassroots organizations traditionally taking the lead in addressing local issues and a long history of decentralized government, it is not surprising that a labyrinth of partnerships characterize the provision of public services. This paper grew out of a study tour that the Upjohn Institute conducted in conjunction with the Local Employment and Economic Development (LEED) Committee of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). Delegates from 16 European countries visited nearly two dozen partnership organizations in the U.S. Midwest. The paper summarizes the history of local partnerships in the United States, tracks the separate evolution of workforce and economic development activities, describes the leadership roles of the federal and state governments in fostering partnerships, and provides case studies of current public-private partnerships that the delegates visited on the tour. The paper concludes by drawing lessons learned from the tour regarding the efficiency of partnerships, the efficiency of service delivery, the local management of programs, and the proper roles of federal, state, and local governments.This paper describes the role of local partnerships in the delivery of workforce and economic development services in the United States. A version of the paper appears in an OECD volume on partnerships entitled Local Partnerships for Better Governance, prepared by Sylvain Giguere.

Economic development interventions often do not account for the social, cultural, and political differences among populations being served. Factors that make economic development projects successful in Native American communities are not well known or adequately studied. Drawing on a capital asset framework and the governance hypothesis advanced by Cornell and Kalt, the authors analyze how six Pacific Northwest tribes applied Northwest Economic Adjustment Initiative funds to diverse projects, which strategies were successful, and why. The data presented show that culturally congruent, community-based projects that meet multiple tribal goals are particularly successful. The authors discuss the necessity of investing in tribal cultural, institutional, and social capital, the value of efficient tribal bureaucracy that maximizes the benefits of sovereignty, the particular importance of building outside entities' understanding of tribal legal and cultural differences, and how the initiative interfaced with existing tribal structures. They offer lessons learned for tribal economic and community development.

Ted K. Bradshaw, Ph.D. Editor: Community Development: Journal of the Community Development Society October 28, 1942-August 5, 2006 The hyphen between Ted Bradshaw's birth and death is filled with an incredible richness and legacy that is difficult to grasp. Ted Bradshaw was born in Ely, Nevada, and died unexpectedly while running on a trail near his home in Oakland, California. He is survived by his spouse, Betty Lou, and sons, Niels and Liam, his father, two brothers, a sister and other family members. Ted Bradshaw was a community development scholar, practitioner and educator. His professional accomplishments are sterling: a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California at Berkeley in 1974; Fulbright Research Scholar in Sweden; an author of four books and over 70 scholarly articles and reports on community and economic development, rural and regional development, alternative technology, the organization of the electrical system, and California's development as a high technology society. He was chair and professor in the Department of Human and Community Development, University of California-Davis. Ted was elected to the Community Development Society Board of Directors and served in that role from 1997-1999. He became editor of the Journal of the Community Development Society in 2001 and worked with the editorial board and the Society's board of directors to implement a bold vision to make the journal the premier community development publication in the field. It led to a significant increase in manuscript submissions and quality; the journal shifted from a biannual publication to quarterly. He inaugurated special issues on community development theory, social capital, entrepreneurship, child care, information technology, and this special issue on disabilities within the context of our field. Guest editors are lined up to deal with other aspects of community development such as poverty, public participation, sustainability, and a range of other issues. It was renamed Community Development: Journal of the Community Development Society in 2005 with a fresh new look to draw attention to our field and to reflect the growing interest in community development programs in the world. A new size brought the journal in line with other relevant social science publications. The journal is part of Ted's legacy to us. Ted was a superb community development educator. His students worked in urban and rural settings as part of class assignments. …

COINS: An economic development tool for education, economic and workforce development in Open Source Economic Development

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the “skills gap” concerns that are increasingly prevalent in the USA and globally. In particular, the paper explores the current skills gap debate as a component of the American economy. This is an important issue as there is an increased economic uncertainty and global competition impacting many sectors. The paper specifically defines the current skills gap dilemma with respect to the USA and uses the Tampa, FL example of the practical implications of these concerns using recent survey and focus group data.Design/methodology/approachThe research for this paper includes an outline of the economic development structures in place in Tampa, FL, a description of the existing mandate(s) to improve workforce training; the review of a key recent, public record report on workforce skills; and, the results of a focus group developed using key stakeholders. Initially, a public record document report titled Clarus Corporation (2013) “Hillsborough Community College: Workforce Development Scan” was reviewed to provide context and preliminary data to guide the research. In the second phase, a survey was conducted to develop a focus group of 18 key stakeholders in Hillsborough County. Nine of these stakeholders represented the education sector. These were purposefully selected from the Tampa Bay Higher Education Alliance (TBHEA) which represents approximately 30 regionally accredited academic institutions in the Tampa community (TBHEA, n.d.). In addition, another nine respondents were selected by purposeful selection representing employers who had experience with workforce training and development initiatives.FindingsThe group survey conducted for this paper confirms concerns by both employers and educators with respect to the existing and the future skill sets of employees. In particular, respondents note that basic skills such as communication and technical skills need more attention. Also, the focus group respondents confirm the importance of technical service certification. Fundamentally, economic development professionals, educators and employers need to develop and implement strategies and action plans to ensure that the skills gap be identified correctly and properly addressed. These initiatives must be developed with broad stakeholder input and these initiatives must be viewed as dynamic reflecting changing circumstances.Research limitations/implicationsThis research should be viewed as exploratory in nature. The research could serve as a template to develop and track the concerns and issues of key stakeholders in the economic development process with respect to skills in the workforce on a regional or indeed a statewide basis.Practical implicationsNations, states and local governments are more active in structuring workforce development support mechanisms and specific training opportunities to assist employees and businesses. All levels of government highlight the fact that they have skilled, competitive employees to assist in recruiting new companies to consider locating in their respective jurisdictions and in retaining companies.Social implicationsHaving a clear understanding of the skills being demanded by employers as they strive to remain globally competitive is important. Local economic development officials, academicians and employers must be on the same page. Although relationships between these sectors are critical flexibility and adaptability are key to reflect changing demands.Originality/valueThe paper provides empirical evidence of the perceptions employers and educators have with respect to the skills gap issue in a fast growth jurisdiction. This jurisdiction promotes itself as having an abundant and skilled labor force. Data suggest that there are some concerns emerging from stakeholders.

Demographic factors significantly shape economic development, especially in rapidly transitioning nations like Saudi Arabia. This research explores how demographic dynamics such as population growth, education, health, and employment impact Saudi Arabia's economic development. This analysis of the demographic factors and economic growth model for Saudi Arabia using annual time series observations from 2000 to 2023 utilizes new methods such as the ARDL and co-integration techniques; the study brings new perspectives on the dynamic causal connections between measures of population growth, education and health, and workforce development that are paramount for Vision 2030 economic planning. Also, this research uniquely examines the impact of gender workforce participation and access to new technologies on Saudi Arabia's demographic characteristics and economic development. It aims to uncover how modern societal and technological trends influence economic evolution and support Vision 2030's diversification and sustainable development goals. Results reveal that the Human Development Index HDI, Female participation in the total labour force FPTL, and Internet penetration rate IPR which is a proxy variable of technological advancement, significantly and positively influence economic growth and development, underscoring the importance of human development, gender inclusion, and digital connectivity. Conversely, the unemployment rate shows a marginally significant relationship with GDP. Policymakers should understand the role of demographics as vital for economic development planning and enhancing human development, promoting gender equity, and improving digital infrastructure for sustainable economic growth.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts initiated the Extended Care Career Ladder Initiative (ECCLI) as part of a broader Nursing Home Quality Initiative, adopted by the Legislature in 2000. This legislation is a response to high turnover and vacancies among paraprofessionals in long-term care, creating instability that threatens quality and access to health care. Basic to these initiatives is the equation of good care for consumers with good jobs and opportunities for frontline caregivers. Thus it asks long-term care providers to partner with other organizations (including community based groups, unions, work force development agencies, community colleges, and other long-term care providers) to mount demonstration projects that offer insight into new care-giving and workplace practices that improve the quality of care and the quality of jobs. These projects should also demonstrate how the accomplishment of care giving and workforce quality goals can be mutually reinforcing. Sponsors hope that such projects will offer clear and replicable models for both the long term care industry, and the workforce development community that supports the industry and its potential and existing labor force. ECCLI'S overall program goal is to promote systemic change and build capacity within the long-term care and work force development communities in support of the following goals and objectives: (1) Improve quality of care; (2) Promote skill development; (3) Create and institutionalize career ladders and other workplace practices that support and develop workers; and (4) Improve employee retention. The attached baseline evaluation report is presented as a working paper for the information of researchers and practitioners in the field of nursing home quality and workforce development. It covers the period from March 2001 to June 2001 when the ECCLI program was getting underway, and was submitted to the Commonwealth Corporation of Massachusetts, the quasi-public agency that is administering the funds from the Nursing Home Quality Initiative. Future reports will analyze data collected by the researchers after this baseline and planning period. Major findings include insight into the process of forming consortia across unfamiliar realms of human services (health care and workforce development and education), and challenges for the participants as they consider and implement organizational change as well as training programs for frontline workers as well as supervisors.