Tom Henry Rolls Out Education-Economic Development Initiatives

Tom Henry held a press conference today at the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center to talk about how he plans to continue to utilize Fort Wayne's current technological infrastructure and why the partnership between education and economic development is so important. He discussed three separate initiatives:(from the press release):

Community Learning Network. Henry will facilitate the formation of a brain-trust Community Learning Network that will bring together the expertise of our colleges and universities, high schools, Verizon, Comcast and the business community to leverage the full potential in Fort Wayne’s exceptional broadband infrastructure. The Network’s goal will be to explore new ways for our colleges and universities to create growth pipelines and advanced educational opportunities for area businesses, our workforce and local students.

Education Summit. This employer-educator conference will help to identify and establish community needs and areas of opportunity in the important interface of the education and business sectors. The event will include officials of secondary and postsecondary schools, as well as business leaders and economic and workforce development professionals. The Summit also will set the stage for future dialogue.

“Learning to Earn” Council. This regularly occurring roundtable of local education, business and economic development professionals would help perpetuate the discussions begun during the Education Summit. It also will foster the private-public partnerships that will move the community’s long-term education and economic development objectives forward, and keep this important topic at the top of the community agenda.

“We have outstanding colleges and universities in Fort Wayne,” noted Henry. “I have already talked with leaders at many of these institutions about creating a Community Learning Network to provide local employers and their employees with business-specific workshops and courses to help them succeed; and to offer college-level courses to local high school students to better prepare them for the next step in their academic careers. By building on the strengths of our institutions of higher learning and our high-tech infrastructure, we can help students, employees and employers maximize their own strengths.”

These three education-economic development initiatives highlight Henry’s commitment to several of his basic leadership principles: promoting private-public partnerships, providing responsive leadership, playing to our community’s strengths and getting the most value from every taxpayer dollar.