Background
Iowa Business Sector Partnerships are regional groups of community and business leaders. Together, they identify the needs and opportunities available for improving Iowa’s workforce.
Such partnerships traditionally have been driven by business and industry leaders who meet with leaders from community colleges, economic development organizations, chambers of commerce, K-12 schools, adult education organizations, and workforce development leaders. Working together, partnership members help speed the development of new career pathways. They create new career training programs and ensure enough is available to meet the needs of regional employers. Thus, they enable their communities to thrive and grow.
The Purpose
Sector Partnership were created to think ahead about future industry needs. Together, members design the training and infrastructure needed to create regional workforce pipelines. This cooperation between industry, education, and government leaders helps create viable career pathways. It ensures that Iowa has enough skilled workers and that those workers will be able to continue developing in fulfilling careers.
What We're Working Toward
IWD took over administration of Iowa's Business Sector Partnerships in September 2022. This was part of the state’s overall effort to better align similar workforce groups and their shared goals. (Workforce development is the heart of all programs within IWD.)
IWD continues working with business and community leaders to help Iowa improve its workforce. We will provide updates on this page as these partnerships continue evolving into entities that work in harmony with Iowa's local workforce development boards.
For more information contact Kathy Leggett at kathy.leggett@iwd.iowa.gov or 515-725-3882.