Workforce & Talent
Your Chamber is committed to recruiting, retaining and strengthening the talent pipeline to meet Greater Waco's workforce needs now and into the future. By creating a coalition of community partners and developing programming, the Workforce & Talent team will support a regional strategic plan to connect industry, school districts, institutions of higher learning and community-based organizations.
Regional Initiatives
Greater Waco Regional Education to Workforce Leadership Committee
The Greater Waco Chamber (GWC) will convene leaders from industry, education, and community-based organizations to create a regional strategic plan and action teams that will align shared goals and efforts around increasing skilled talent for high-demand jobs in the Greater Waco region.
Regional Education to Workforce Strategic Plan
The Greater Waco Regional Education Leadership Committee will collaboratively create a regional strategic plan.
Talent Pipeline Management
The GWC will facilitate a series of ongoing workforce and talent meetings with local industry groups using elements of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Talent Pipeline Management (TPM) framework to analyze, align, and communicate high-demand skills needs to education and training providers. This process directly informs the work of the Greater Waco Regional Education to Workforce Leadership Committee.
Get To Work Waco - A Podcast about Building Careers in Waco
The GWC will host a short, weekly podcast focused on highlighting community partners that are developing talent in the region. Those include school districts, higher education partners, and community-based organizations.
inWaco University Fellowship Program
The GWC will create a program that will focus on retaining recent graduates by connecting them to the Waco community as well as internships in our local industries with the end goal of retaining talent in our region.
InWaco Career Fair
The GWC will partner with higher education institutions to bring local industry partners to campus in order to create a pipeline between higher education and our local industries. The best path forward would be to partner with existing career service departments to create those local connections.
inWaco K12 Work-Based Learning Program
The GWC will create programming in partnership with school districts and/or community-based organizations in order to offer work-based learning that is reflective of what our local industry is needing in this region. The team will look to create better awareness, experiences and exposure opportunities starting as early as middle school that will serve primarily students but will communicate with parents as well.
inWaco Job Shadow – program for high school 9th-10th grade students to engage with industry through half day work-based learning. This opportunity allows students to experience career options firsthand and gain skills that align with industry needs.
inWaco Internship – program for high school 11th- 12th grade students to engage with industry through internship experience. This opportunity brings together students and employers to cultivate our local talent pipeline.
inWaco Teachers in Industry
The GWC will create a teacher externship program where high school, middle school and higher education educators can spend time learning from industry leaders. The goal would be to learn through direct experiences about how classroom content and learning strategies are applied to bring relevant student learning.
Questions? The Workforce & Talent Team is Here to Help!
Tiffany Gallegos Whitley
Senior Director of Workforce & Talent
twhitley@wacochamber.com
254-757-5614